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Chapter 370: Demon-Killing Javelin Lord

Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost

In the following days, Zhang Tie felt like he was entering a dark, disgusting nightmare realm. What torture!

After July 7th, the elites of the Zhang Clan from Huaiyuan Prefecture and the Unrivaled Cavalries of the Taishi Clan from Langye Prefecture withdrew 15 km away from Heavens Cold City and surrounded Heavens Cold City firmly. Any demonized people running out of Heavens Cold City would be struck down by the troops.

Those demonized people included males, females, the young and the old. Most of them were commoners before the event, therefore, their fighting strength was limited. Even though some of them had fighting skills, they couldn't match the troops of the Zhang Clan and the Taishi Clan at all.

Before killing these demonized people, Zhang Tie was struggling inside. The first wave of demonized people came rushing towards him from inside Heavens Cold City and were wearing commoners' clothes.

However, these people's eyes...They looked pretty grim while uttering a strange and meaningless sound. With various weapons in hands such as wooden sticks and kitchen knives, more than 400 demonized people rushed out of Heavens Cold City.

"These residents in Heavens Cold City had been killed by demons and the Zhen Clan. They weren't human anymore. They are just demonized creatures and zombies. They had been controlled by puppet worms in their heads!"

A military officer of Huaiyuan Palace shouted hoarsely. After that, he shot out one bolt and broke the head of a demonized zombie rushing out of Heavens Cold City.

When that demonized zombie's head was broken, his brains sprayed in all directions. Zhang Tie then found a disgusting half-palm sized, pink, smooth demon which looked like an octopus with many tentacles.

When it dropped onto the ground, it started to creep like an octopus going ashore.

Seeing this, Zhang Tie grit his teeth out of fury and started his massacre from then on.

For girls from Hidden Dragon Palace, more than 90% of them could only persist for several hours. They then withdrew from this place, leaving male students here.

For most of them, they would not hesitate at all no matter how cruel the fight was and how ferocious the enemy were. However, facing those commoner's bodies which had been controlled by puppet worms, many of them could hardly accept it.

Zhang Tie didn't know how had he carried on these days. When he chopped off the head of a 7-year old girl, Zhang Tie seemed to hear something break in his heart.

From then on, Zhang Tie became as firm as iron inside and totally turned himself into a machine that reaped the lives of demonized zombies.

On July 8th, some columns of black smoke rose into the sky outside Heavens Cold City. They were collecting the corpses of the demonized zombies and burning them. From then on, the black smoke columns didn't disappear for a long time.

On July 9th, the airships and clan members of the Lan Clan, Ou Clan, Dantai(澹台, a Chinese surname), Wang Clan and Li Clan arrived at Heavens Cold City consecutively. They were 5 of the 6 clans that ruled Jinyun Country.

After they arrived at Heavens Cold City, they encamped 15 km away from Heavens Cold City and joined the clean-up of the zombies running out of Heavens Cold City.

On July 10th, more airships arrived at Heavens Cold City. By then, the sky nearby Heavens Cold City was covered with airships of various countries and powers on the continent. They were here to get first-hand information about the event in Heavens Cold City.

On the same day, although big figures didn't want to release the news of the coming Holy War, the event in Heavens Cold City finally spread out and shocked the whole Eastern Continent.

On July 11th, after knowing about the event in Heavens Cold City, more and more people arrived at Heavens Cold City, including representatives from small clans, wandering warriors, journalists from some famous media outlets, tipsters and those who wanted to make money here.

For some, Heavens Cold City was a dangerous dead city. However, the wealth in this city still existed. All the wealth in Zhen Clan or those powerful households were still in Heavens Cold City. As long as one was fearless enough, he could go in there and find them.

Although many people came here for wealth, nobody was brave enough to go inside. At this moment, there were at least 1 million zombies in Heavens Cold City. Meanwhile, tens of thousands elites from 6 influential clans of Jinyun Country and 40,000 unrivaled cavalries were surrounding the city firmly. Nobody was courageous enough to enter.

At this time, Heavens Cold City was like an alluring prey. Before those ferocious lions ate their fill and left, no wolfhounds dared to draw close. Instead, they could only wander around the prey. Those left by lions might be a grand feast for the wolfhounds.

...

On July 13th...

On the 6th morning since he came to Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie woke up after a nice sleep last night. He had not slept for consecutive 3 days. After pulling open his sleeping bag, Zhang Tie walked out of the tent.

As Zhang Tie slept in clothes last night, he got up directly.

As the sun had just come out, the moment he walked out of the tent, Zhang Tie could see the columns of black smoke in the distance. Although he was far away from, as he was on a plain, Zhang Tie could still smell the slightly scorched odor from those burning corpses in the breeze.

After cleaning up at the riverside, Zhang Tie then started to gnaw his compressed high-heat dried meat and drank water. His mind then gradually recovered from the numbness due to the 3-day endless massacre.

All the provisions for elites and soldiers of Huaiyuan Palace were transported from Huaiyuan Prefecture by Huaiyuan Palace's airships, because all the food close to Heavens Cold City made people scared.

Although based on the experience in the Second Holy War, after the death of the parent puppet worm, except for the eggs that had been incubated in a host's brain, all the other eggs that had no hosts would die. However, after hundreds of years, nobody could guarantee this remained unchanged just like nobody could have imagined that the Zhen Clan had a parent puppet worm one week ago.

The refugee camp of Heavens Cold City was at the riverside, which occupied hundreds of thousands square meters. Now, the riverside had been covered with new tents.

From July 7th to now, there were still live people escaping the city. The number of live people escaping Heavens Cold City together with the troops of the Zhang Clan and the Taishi Clan was the most. In the following days, although they were still trying their best to rescue the living and had assigned small batches of elite troops inside the city to search for people as well as cleaned out the demonized zombies near the city gates several times, the number of living being rescued decreased gradually.

Yesterday, Zhang Tie fought throughout the day near the north gate and killed those demonized near the north gate of Heavens Cold City. However, he only saved 5 live people. Gradually, it became increasingly hopless for people to survive inside.

...

Those in the refugee camp looked numb and dull. Although it was morning, the refugee camp reminded you of the dawn. There was no joy in the refugee camp. It was filled with low sobs and nightmare like screams. Although they had escaped from Heavens Cold City, they had not recovered. Even while they slept, they would still always wake up with a start due to small sounds.

"Argh, stay away from me, stay away from me, don't eat me..."

The door of a tent in front was suddenly opened while the dischevelled man ran out of it. He directly rushed towards Zhang Tie madly followed by some people, "Stop him, he got sick again!"

When he ran in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and lifted him up like he was grabbing a chicken. After that, he lightly patted the back of that man's neck, causing him pass out.

Those people chasing after that man were in doctors' working uniform. They were assigned from Huaiyuan Prefecture and Langye Prefecture to cure people in the refugee camp.

At the sight of Zhang Tie, those doctors became a bit scared as Zhang Tie was in a field combat suit covered with an invisible iron-blood killing qi after several days of killing.

After these days of killing, Zhang Tie didn't remember how many demonized people he had killed, at least 2000. Like those soldiers who had experienced fights many times, Zhang Tie's killing qi due to committing massacres was also an invisible threat to others.

"Argh, thanks, thanks!" Those doctors hurriedly appreciated Zhang Tie.

"It was a pleasure!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.

Realizing that Zhang Tie was easy-going, those doctors let out a deep sigh. Two male doctors directly took the man from Zhang Tie's hands. An elder doctor rapidly checked whether that man was still live. At that moment, even if Zhang Tie killed him, nobody would blame Zhang Tie.

After checking that man's situation, the doctor found that he just passed out. He then became reassured as he ordered the other two younger doctors. "This man has been stimulated too much spiritually, feed him more vermilion soul-easing powders today. Carry him back into the tent first!"

"Yes, sir!" The other two younger doctors then carried the man back into the tent.

"Alas, what a pitiful man..." The elder doctor sighed deeply as he followed them back into the tent.

Similar things happened numerous times in the refugee camp these days. Although many people had escaped Heavens Cold City, they were stimulated severely spiritually and were driven mad. Furthermore, some people who could not accept the fact that all of their relatives had died chose to commit suicide. One or two refugees would commit suicide in the refugee camp everyday.

Walking in the refugee camp and glancing over those refugees who looked numb and rueful, Zhang Tie was filled with mixed feelings inside.

These days, as long as he was free, Zhang Tie would come to have a look in the refugee camp. After glancing over those numb and resentful faces, he then walked towards the battlefield and killed every demonized person he saw.

Even Zhang Tie didn't know how could he become like this. Perhaps, he did this for a bit of comfort and to search for something meaningful.

Zhang Tie gave all the warm dried beef and rations that he received today to some kids who were gazing at him and desiring his food with fearful looks.

At this time, most of female students from Hidden Dragon Palace were doing various jobs in the refugee camp so as to normally run the refugee camp.

Zhang Tie caught sight of Yuan Ziyi. She was very lively in Hidden Dragon Island, however she now looked a bit haggard and sad due to the affairs in the refugee camp these days. She was delivering dried rations and disinfectant to those people in the refugee camp. A lot of people were lining up in front of her for the items looking like they had lost their souls.

"Only so little today? We've got some dried meat yesterday, where's it today? How could this make us full?" One guy shouted loudly with the dried rations in hand, arising the others' attention at once.

"Latest materials are stil under collection in Langye Prefecture. They are on the way now. The road near Overcloud Pass is not convenient for the transport vehicles to pass. These items were transported by airships, therefore, they are limited in quantity!" Yuan Ziyi explained patiently. Having experienced so much these days, this fiery girl also became patient.

"I don't care, I want two packs!" Saying that, he directly took one more item away in front of Yuan Ziyi.

"One pack for one person!" Yuan Ziyi grabbed that man's hand and continued to explain patiently.

"If not for you, how could Heavens Cold City become like this? Heavens Cold City was good before; however, after your arrival, it was ruined; therefore, you need to be responsible for what happened in Heavens Cold City!"

Given that Yuan Ziyi was a young girl, that man became rude instantly as he pointed at Yuan Ziyi's nose and swore. "Little girl, I tell you, this father had numerous wealth in Heavens Cold City. I dressed and ate well every day. If not for you, how could I lose everything? Do you think that you could drive me away with such little things? No way! You should compensate every copper coin that I lost in Heavens Cold City! This father has determined to take two packs today. You owe me! Let go, if not, I will teach you how to do..."

Yuan Ziyi was so angry that she quivered all over. Working so hard in refugee camp everyday, she was still sworn in this way, Yuan Ziyi had never suffered this since she was born. Therefore, tears started to fill her eyes.

With a cold look, Zhang Tie then walked over there. He patted the man's shoulder first. When that guy looked around, Zhang Tie slapped his face directly, causing some of his teeth to go flying out at once along with a clear sound "Pah".

"Argh, help, they're killing me..." That man shouted loudly.

Zhang Tie then smacked him with the back of his hand, causing another tooth to come flying out. The man wanted to continue to scream, however, at sight of Zhang Tie's distant look and killing qi all over, he forcefully swallowed his words back.

Zhang Tie then stared at his hand. Seeing this, that man hurriedly put down the other pack. However, seeing Zhang Tie's eyes were still fixed on his hand, the man hurriedly put down his own pack.

"Senior sister, keep working, no need to shed tears for such a person. There are so many bastards like him in this world. No everybody in the refugee camp is pitiful. I heard this man wanted us to compensate his wealth to him, I will send him back to Heavens Cold City and return his wealth back to him right now!" After saying this, Zhang Tie smiled at Yuan Ziyi before directly holding the man's neck and dragged him out of the refugee camp like dragging a dog. The surrounding people gave way to Zhang Tie automatically.

The refugee camp was next to the station and defense line of the troops that surrounded Heavens Cold City. Zhang Tie dragged the man and walked towards Heavens Cold City after passing by the defense line easily. With his neck being held, the man could do nothing but pant. Seeing Zhang Tie dragging a person, nobody asked him what for, no matter the Zhang's troop or Taishi's unrivaled cavalries. Neither did they glance at that guy at all. After these days, Zhang Tie's performance in Heavens Cold City had won many people's respect.

Even though they didn't know Zhang Tie's name, many of them had remembered Zhang Tie's face and knew that the master of this face had killed and saved the most people in Heavens Cold City these days.

On the battlefield, those who were powerful and liked to save others at the risk of their own lives would certainly gain the respect from their comrades in arms. Since Zhang Tie's javelin throwing skill was too attractive and shocking, he became unique among all the Zhang Clan's powerhouses who excelled at using crossbows. Therefore, Zhang Tie, as a young powerhouse in Hidden Dragon Palace was pretty well-known among the Taishi Clan's unrivaled cavalries. He started to be considered on the same level as Zhang Wumu and became the most powerful man next to Lan Yunxi.

Like that of the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City, the Taishi Clan in Langye Prefecture also had tens of thousands soldiers and was a local power. Of course, young elites like Zhang Tie who would probably become an influential figure in Zhang Clan were more important in the Taishi Clan's eyes. Although the Zhang Clan only had 8 cities, the comprehensive strength of Yiyang City alone was at least more powerful than the sum of 10 common cities. Therefore, a clan's power could not be simply judged by the number of cities it owned.

The comprehensive strength of a clan with 4 knights was at least 100 times greater than that of a local power which only occupied a remote city. Therefore, only after a few days, not only common soldiers, even the greater part of military officers in the unrivaled cavalries of Taishi Clan had been able to recognize Zhang Tie.

After passing by the defense line of the Zhang Clan and Taishi Clan, although being still 10 more km away from Heavens Cold City on the plain in the daytime, they could still see a couple demonized people wandering in the wild. The closer they were to Heavens Cold City, the more demonized people they would see.

Seeing those demonized people in the distance, the man's face turned completely pale.

Right then, a team of 100 unrivaled cavalries of Taishi Clan rushed out of their station. It seemed that they were going to complete their daily task——cleaning the wandering demonized people in the wild. When they passed by Zhang Tie, the head glanced at Zhang Tie. With a voice "Yi?", he raised his head while all the other unrivaled cavalries stopped several meters away from Zhang Tie, indicating their excellent riding skills and fighting strength.

Zhang Tie looked at them. Although being several meters away from him, the warhorses in armor which were pacing in their places seemed being startled by something. With a low neigh in unison, they moved several steps back at the same time, almost causing the cavalries to fall down. The military officer was stunned inside, 'What a heavy killing qi! Even the warhorses are scared. How many demonized people has he killed to form such a heavy killing qi.'

"Zhang Tie..." That military officer directly called his name. He then peered at that person in Zhang Tie's hand and pointed at him, "Who's he..."

Zhang Tie then revealed a smile, 'This military officer looks familiar. I have seen him several days ago. We even fought together and killed many demonized people.'

"This guy wants us to compensate him for his numerous wealth in Heavens Cold City. He even said that we arouse the event in Heavens Cold City and blamed us. I'm taking him into Heavens Cold City and gathering his numerous wealth for him. Now that elder brothers are going to execute your task there, as you are riding horses, you would be faster. Just take him into Heavens Cold City for me and show him whether his numerous wealth was still there or not. By the way, take him to have a look at the running water supply system for our innocence!" Zhang Tie smiled.

Hearing these words, a gleaming light flashed by his eyes as he also smiled, "We should do that!"

"Sorry to trouble you, elder brothers!" Saying this, Zhang Tie casually threw that person of more than 100 kg towards that military officer.

After taking over the man, the military officer directly smacked that person and let him pass out. He then put that guy onto his war horse and laughed out loudly, "Brother Zhang Tie is really straightforward. As you've called me elder brother, just tell me if you need my help from then on; I will never hesitate!" After saying this, that military officer shouted towards the other cavalries behind him, "Brothers, this man called us elder brothers is the most excellent young powerhouse in Huaiyuan Palace, the very demon-killing javelin lord we have mentioned and heard these days. As he called us elder brothers, dare you pull out of your sabers for him?"

"We do!"

"We do!''

"We Do!"

All the cavalries pulled out of their sabers and raised them above heads.

Feeling this guy was not average, Zhang Tie stared at this 30-odd military officer deeply and clenched one hand into the other in front of his chest before asked solemnly, "What should I call you, elder brother?"

"I'm Taishi Ci!" That man replied in a righteous way.

"I will invite elder brother Taishi and the other elder brothers for a drink tonight, how about that?"

"Fine!" Taishi Ci also pulled out of his saber and waved above his head, "Brothers, go forward and kill our enemies now, after coming back at night, we will drink with brother Zhang, hahaha, jia[1]..."

100 cavalries then waved their sabers and passed by Zhang Tie. They then rushed towards Heavens Cold City. Zhang Tie could still hear them singing forcefully, "enemies' heads, brothers' drink, sexy women and galloping horse..."

'That's what heroes do!' Zhang Tie nodded inside.

Not until Taishi Ci[2]and his cavalries disappeared from Zhang Tie's vision did Zhang Tie return to the refugee camp. Zhang Tie didn't even asked the name of that guy who was destined to not come back alive. Anyone who dared to say that Huaiyuan Palace aroused the event in Heavens Cold City and puzzled the others might easily lead to a chaos, which was a death penalty. As more than 1 million people had died in Heavens Cold City, why would such a person still be live? Why would he still be live?

Even Zhang Tie had not discovered that what he did now was totally different from that before. If it was before, he would never make decision on one's fate so easily.

Through numb killings these days, at the cost of the lives of over 1 million innocent people in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie gradually figured out that there was only one way to ensure the survival of himself, his relatives, and friends in this world while fighting with the demons and their lackeys——you have to be more powerful and more merciless than demons.

What was the Holy War? It was a war on who was more powerful and merciless!

When Zhang Tie came back to the refugee camp, he saw some senior brothers from Hidden Dragon Palace who were patrolling and maintaining order in the refugee camp caught some guys who sneaked in the camp. They bound those guys and were escorting them out of the camp.

At sight of one of those guys being bound, Zhang Tie became stunned as he rubbed his eyes, "Zerom? What the hell!"

Mouth being clogged by a piece of cloth, Zerom looked pretty embarrassed. When he caught sight of Zhang Tie, he widened his eyes at once and started to twist all over...

Chapter 371: An Old Friend

Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost

Zerom's struggles irritated one of the students from Hidden Dragon Palace who was escorting him.

Therefore, he knocked onto Zerom's head with the handle of his long sword.

At sight of this, Zhang Tie sped up and stopped him, "Wait, senior brothers..."

"Argh, junior brother Zhang Tie!" The two students immediately revealed smiles at the sight of Zhang Tie coming towards them.

As the two students had assaulted Bluestone Pass together with Zhang Tie several days ago, they had a deep impression of Zhang Tie. Additionally, as Zhang Tie was growing famous as the demon-killing javelin lord, not to mention that Zhang Tie was already well-known when he was in Hidden Dragon Palace and because of his all-purpose medicament, he was ranked first on the Hidden Dragon Wealth List.

Hidden Dragon Palace was the place where the clan elites of Huaiyuan Palace cultivated themselves. Nobody in Hidden Dragon Palace was an idiot. They all knew the importance of human relationships. Therefore, they were very polite to Zhang Tie and didn't look like senior brothers at all.

At sight of Zhang Tie, Zerom looked a bit excited. After recovering his composure, he threw his glances towards his partners to appease them.

"Senior brothers, may I inquire as to what these people have done?" Zhang Tie asked.

"Due to the event in Heavens Cold City, many peripheral forces and those who dream of money want to sneak into the refugee camp. When they get a chance, they would further slip into Heavens Cold City. We've caught a lot of people like these guys!"

Hearing his words, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. They truly had caught a lot of people like that these days. Most of them were looking for money in Heavens Cold City. Whereas, as they were not bad guys, after being caught, they would only be punished by doing hard labor or a few days.

Zhang Tie smiled. Without making any explanation, he directly took off the piece of cloth from Zerom's mouth in front of 2 senior brothers.

"Zhang Tie..." Zerom called Zhang Tie's name at once. After that, he peered at his partners who were also bound.

The 2 senior brothers then exchanged glances with each other and became a bit surprised, "You know them, junior brother?"

"They are my friends. Can you let me deal with them?" Zhang Tie asked.

"Haha, now that they are your friends, they are yours now. It's not a big deal, just deal with them at your will, junior brother!"

"Thanks, senior brothers!"

"You're welcome, junior brother!"

The 2 students from Hidden Dragon Palace then directly undid their ropes. After chatting with Zhang Tie for awhile, they finally left.

There were 3 more people that were caught together with Zerom. After being set free, they all hurriedly moved their arms to relax themselves. At the same time, the other 3 guys started to glance over Zhang Tie out of curiosity.

"Why are you here?" Zhang Tie and Zerom exchanged glances with each other and asked the same question in Hebrew in unison. They then burst out laughing at the same time.

"It's not convenient to talk here, come with me!" Zhang Tie looked at them and brought them into his own tent.

Zerom and the other 3 guys didn't speak; instead, they just followed Zhang Tie and his arrangement.

Zhang Tie's tent was not large and would be a bit crowded with 5 people living in. However, it's okay for 5 of them to sit inside and talk.

After entering the tent, they evidently looked relaxed. After looking at the heavy chain-type armor plate and the symbol on it, one partner of Zerom's eyes brightened up at once as he said in Chinese, "怀远堂(Huaiyuan Palace)!"

Zhang Tie smiled as he let them sit down.

Zerom's partners included a thin old man, a tall and muscled tough man and a 40-odd-year-old guy with short brown hair who looked shrewd, who could speak Chinese.

Because Zhang Tie didn't know Zerom could speak Chinese, he directly chatted with them in Hebrew in case of trouble.

"Mr. Zerom, why are you here?"

Zerom revealed a smile, "I'm not a teacher now. Soon after you left Blackhot City together with Iron-Blood Camp, I had resigned and left Blackhot City. After that, I traveled to Armes, a mercenary empire in the Blackson Human Race Corridor. A few days later, I joined Thor Mercenary Group. This time, we are here in Jinyun Country for 2 tasks. Oh, how about you? Why are you here?"

'Since Zerom left Blackhot City shortly after me, it indicates that he didn't know what happened to me since then.' Therefore, Zhang Tie briefly talked about what happened to him after Blackhot City. Hearing Zhang Tie's experiences, not only Zerom, even the other 3 partners of him kept sighing with feeling.

Zhang Tie's experience was really legendary; Rendering meritorious service on the battlefield for Iron-Blood Camp; Fought the secret police in Norman Empire; Having a warrant issued by the Norman Empire; being picked up to Jinyun Country by Huaiyuan Palace; being involved in the event in Heavens Cold City. Given his current look, Zhang Tie seemed living a well-off life. Zerom then recalled that teenager in the survival training in Wild Wolf Valley one year ago and became thrilled inside as he felt that fate was really marvelous.

"You are in Huaiyuan Palace now?" Zerom asked.

"Yes, I was here to attend the action of assaulting Heavens Cold City arranged by Huaiyuan Palace!"

After exchanging glances with the other 3 guys, Zerom looked hesitated.

At sight of Zerom's look, Zhang Tie had known that they needed his help.

"What can I do for you?" Zhang Tie asked straightforwardly.

"Can you take us to Heavens Cold City. As Heavens Cold City has been surrounded by some big clan's forces in Jinyun Country, we can not even enter by airship. Commoners like us could hardly enter! Zerom took a deep breath as he looked at Zhang Tie seriously.

"How long will you stay in Heavens Cold City?"

"Only a few hours if it's smooth. We know a batch of city guards of Zhen Clan has been controlled by puppet worms, we need to a couple of demonized guards!"

"Do you need to take them away?"

"No need!" Zerom waved his head as he pointed at a thin old man and introduced him to Zhang Tie. "This is professor Simon. He's a demon biologist and the chief legal examiner and coroner in Thor Mercenary Group. We only need to hand the demonized guards to him and let him finish the anatomy. After gaining the information that we need, we will leave."

Hearing Zerom's explanation, Zhang Tie understood at once. During this period, many demonized guards had been taken away by the 6 clans of Jinyun Country and various foreign powers. Zhang Tie had also participated in a task of capturing demonized guards. Commoners could not figure out the function of those demonized guards at all. However, those powers could gather quite a bit of useful information from a demonized guard.

The most important information was when the eggs of the parent puppet worm started to live in the host's brain.

Because the city guards of the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City were the most powerful force of the Zhen Clan. Additionally, they always stayed in Heavens Cold City which meant that they would not cause eggs to die due to being a long distance away from the parent puppet worm. Instead, eggs could grow well in their brains. Therefore, by studying these specimens, they could confirm when the Zhen Clan had started to place the eggs of the parent puppet worm in the water supply system of Heavens Cold City.

As long as they confirmed this time, they would be able to deduce lots of information. For those big powers, this time was of great significance and was the basis for big figures to make major decisions about the Holy War in the future.

Huaiyuan Palace had also taken away more than 40 demonized guards from Heavens Cold City, many of which were even senior military officers in the city guards of Heavens Cold City. After getting these specimens, Huaiyuan Palace handed them to professionals from Huaiyuan Palace for anatomy. After that, they would be burned directly.

"How many of you want to go there, only 4 of you or are there more?" The moment he confirmed their target, Zhang Tie didn't waste time as he asked straightforwardly.

"We have some more partners, but they are in the airship. Therefore only 4 will be going!"

"Well, wait for me for a moment, I will prepare something for you." After saying this, Zhang Tie stood up, "What weapons do you need? It's very dangerous in Heavens Cold City now!"

"I need a longsword!" Zerom replied.

"I need a war ax of 50-100 kg!" The tall tough man said.

"Give me a long spear. I want them to stay away from me!" The one with short brown hair answered.

"For me?" Professor Simon shrugged his shoulder and gave a bitter smile. "I have no fighting strength. Just give me a lighter one!"

Hearing their requests and glancing at them, Zhang Tie turned around. After opening the tent, he walked out...

Chapter 372: A Tough Task

Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost

The moment Zhang Tie left the tent, the other 3 guys had thrown weird glances towards Zerom.

"Zerom, I never would have imagined that you could have such a student! You didn't mention it before!" That tough man said.

"But I didn't even know that he was here Jordan." Zerom shrugged his shoulder. "You heard that just now. When I left Blackhot City, he was in kalur. Several minutes ago, I still thought that he was in the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire. I would never have guessed that I could meet him here."

"This teenager is not weak!" Narrowing his eyes, professor Simon added, "I smelt something related to death from him!"

"This set of heavy chain-type plate armor is nice. Zezeze, this is the best heavy chain-type plate armor produced by Huaiyuan Palace in Jinyun Country. Except for its heavyweight, this is definitely a non-rune equipment that combines defensive capability and flexibility in the perfect way. Battleax Mercenary Army tried to counterfeit such a batch of heavy chain-type plate armor for its middle- and senior-level officers. However, their fake goods could never match this original although at almost the same cost. They finally stopped that plan..."

As the man in short brown hair said that, he touched the chain-type movable metal protective covering over Zhang Tie's armor which was tightly connected; meanwhile his eyes gleamed, "Zerom, your student might have a high position in Huaiyuan palace now. Otherwise, he couldn't get such expensive equipment. It is worth at least 100 gold coins. With him, we could easily finish our task in Heavens Cold City! Oh, what about his current fighting strength? I've been observing him but I failed to figure it out!"

"I don't know either. When I left Blackhot City last year, he was LV 4. I think he might be LV 5 now!" After thinking for awhile, Zerom added, "This youngster is cultivating Iron-Blood Fist and had formed Iron-Blood Hidden Strength[1] easily. He's the most excellent student that I've taught!"

"LV 5? He might have formed Iron-Blood Converted Strength[2] but he's 18 years old at most! Jordan said.

"Perhaps!" Zerom nodded with feelings, "I didn't know that he was a descendant of Count Long Wind. His parents were all commoners in Blackhot City and didn't look special at all!"

"Many clan's ancestral bloodlines and special genes could be expressed through atavistic heredity. His ancestor is Count Long Wind, who should be at least LV 15. Only very powerful knights would be conferred with titles of nobility. In such clans, some descendants might probably have talents in cultivation." Professor Simon concluded in an authoritative way.

"We can also ask him about all-purpose medicament. I was told that all-purpose medicament had appeared in Huaiyuan Prefecture. He must know more than us about that. Our boss paid high attention to this matter. Before we set out, he even especially ordered us to contact the alchemist who could produce all-purpose medicament in Huaiyuan Prefecture even though we failed the task in Heavens Cold City!"

Zerom nodded as he started to frown. After the event in Heavens Cold City broke out, prices of medicament started to surge across Blackson Human Race Corridor. Many people started to stockpile all kinds of medicament. As a result, the source and supply of medicament became tense at once.

Now, not only Thor Mercenary Army, even super-powerful mercenary armies such as Battleax, Hugesnake, Green Highland and the Steel & Iron Alliance in Armes had started to be short of various medicament. They were all thinking about a solution. If all-purpose medicament that appeared in Huaiyuan Prefecture was really more effective than preliminary antidote potion as was said, it would help Armes a lot.

Within the territory of Armes, poisonous substances exist almost everywhere. Therefore, people there need a lot of preliminary antidote potion each year. But due to the shortage of supply of various medicament, preliminary antidote potion was in short supply. For the lack of the other medicament, they might find other solutions. For Armes which was located in the long Snake God Mountain and was surrounded by endless smog and marshes. As long as preliminary antidote potion was in short supply, it meant many people would die every day due to various reasons.

All-purpose medicament was like a bright light in the darkness. For all the mercenary armies in Armes, a medicament that was more effective than preliminary antidote potion and could substitute the other medicament was definitely like a heavy rain after a long drought.

For those mercenaries who lived in Armes and lived using their sabers and swords, all-purpose medicament was definitely the best choice! More than 98% of functions that common mercenaries needed in preliminary antidote potion or low-rank medicament were contained in such a vial of medicament such as detoxification, curing wounds, intensifying spiritual energy, accelerating the recovery of wounds, improving various physical functions and curing various diseases, including chronic diseases without any side effect.

Therefore, before they set out for Jinyun Country, the boss of Thor Mercenary Army emphasized that they had to contact the alchemist who produced this all-purpose medicament. It would be better if the alchemist could provide a batch of the all-purpose medicament for Thor Mercenary Army every year.

The news that all-purpose medicament appeared in Huaiyuan Prefecture was passed from Jinyun Country to Armes by pioneers. When it reached Armes, the message had become obscure. Therefore, hearing this news, everybody there thought it must be an alchemist who could produce all-purpose medicament and probably be a well-known senior alchemist. Because only a well-known senior alchemist might solve the problem that had puzzled the world of alchemist for hundreds of years.

The news of all-purpose medicament influenced Armes more than any other places. In a few days after Armes received the news of all-purpose medicament, the event in Heavens Cold City broke out. Therefore, the boss of Thor Mercenary Army assigned some reliable fighters to Jinyun Country.

At that moment, Zerom only joined Thor Mercenary Army for a short period. But his shrewd brain and fighting strength had won the favor of the management of Thor Mercenary Army. Therefore, he also came here as a director of the mission while the other director of this mission was in the airship.

It was really a surprise for Zerom to meet Zhang Tie here. If he could complete the mission in Heavens Cold City in such a dangerous situation, his position in Thor Mercenary Army would be greatly improved and consolidated. However, thinking of that mission on all-purpose medicament, Zerom became a bit worried.

As long as they came to Huaiyuan Prefecture, Zerom was confident to contact with the alchemist who could produce all-purpose medicament. Although Thor Mercenary Army was trivial in Jinyun Country, after all, it had more than 60,000 mercenaries which meant it was an influential power in Armes and the northern region of Blackson Human Race Corridor. Therefore, that alchemist could not refuse to meet them.

However, to tell the truth, Zerom lacked confidence in establishing a trading relationship with that alchemist and persuading him to provide a lot of vials of the all-purpose medicament for Thor Mercenary Army each year. Even though Thor Mercenary Army had been prepared for a very high purchasing price, Zerom was still not sure whether he could make that. After all, it was all-purpose medicament, not stones in mining pits. If medicament could be easily produced on a mass scale, Armes and the whole Blackson Human Race Corridor would not lack medicament at all.

Additionally, it was said that the other mercenary armies in Armes also assigned people in Jinyun Country with the same goal as Thor. This increased the difficulty of that task for Zerom.

"Could he really realize mass-production of all-purpose medicament?" Thinking of that tough mission, Zerom asked professor Simon.

"It's possible. But I don't know the exact possibility!" Simon shook his head. "Theoretically, an all-purpose medicament is a super enzyme. According to the forming principle of an enzyme, its fermenting process could realize mass-production. However, as I have no relevant intelligence, I'm confused about the producing process of all-purpose medicament in Huaiyuan Prefecture. It might require something special and precious. Therefore, it depends."

"Hopefully, the God of mercenaries could bring some good luck to Thor!" Zerom revealed a bitter smile. "We will finish the task in Heavens Cold City first, then, we will think about the all-purpose medicament!"

"As you say! Now, various medicament started to be in short supply. Only in a couple of days, the prices of various medicament in the market in Armes had risen by at least 20%. Some medicament were even in even shorter supply. We're not the only party that's focused on procuring the all-purpose medicament. Even if that alchemist could realize mass-production of the all-purpose medicament, it's still difficult for us to gain more shares than our opponents."

For the second mission, old Simon became a bit pessimistic. The influence of Thor Mercenary Army was well reflected here near Heavens Cold City. A mercenary army of fewer than 100,000 people was only a trivial group for many big powers and figures; even though they were here, they were not even qualified to enter Heavens Cold City to have a look, not to mention others...

...

[1]Iron-Blood Hidden Strength. With no movement physically, the fighter could hold back the opponent's attack through inner strength; however, if the opponent covered the point where the fighter released his hidden strength, the latter would not able to release his hidden strength.

[2]Iron-Blood Converted Strength. Like Iron-Blood Hidden Strength, with no movement physically, the fighter could hold back the opponent's attack through inner strength; however, being different from Iron-Blood Hidden Strength, even if the opponent covered the point where the fighter released his hidden strength, the latter could still release his hidden strength facing the opponent's attack; however, through displacement of skeletons, the fighter could take preemptive while changing the direction of his strength.

Chapter 373: A Bloody City

Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost

Zhang Tie came back in only 5 minutes with four suits of field fighting clothes like that he was wearing. Meanwhile, he was carrying the weapons of the 4 people——a dagger, a longsword, a long spear and a double-edge huge axe of more than 50 kg in one hand.

"These clothes were chosen in line with your frames. Put them on and take your weapons. Then, we can set out!"

Zerom and his partners were so surprised as they hadn't imagined that Zhang Tie could deal with these things in such an efficient way. Without any hesitation, they then took their own clothes and started to change them as soon as possible.

After professor Simon took off his pants, Zhang Tie found a leather toolkit over this emaciated old man's calf, which contained various tools like a lance and small hooks. With these items, he could almost finish surgeries. Zhang Tie then knew that his senior brothers must not have meant to search him judging from his emaciated look. Therefore, they didn't notice the toolkit over his calf.

When they were changing clothes, Zerom introduced his other 2 partners to Zhang Tie. "The taller guy is Jordan, as a squadron leader of Thor Mercenary Army, he's LV 8 and the one with the highest fighting strength among us. According to the military establishment of Armes, Jordan is a captain."

Although mercenary armies were different than regular armies on establishment, it was still clearly divided into fighting units. In Armes, mercenary armies could be divided into team, corp, squad, detachment, group, league and column, which almost equal to that of class, platoon, company, camp, regiment, brigade and division respectively in many human countries' armies.

Zerom came here with the other 8 people as a standard team in a mercenary army. However, except for professor Simon, the other 8 were all above LV 6. Such a team was qualified to be called "luxury" in a mercenary army.

"The guy with brown short hair is Shrek, the only one among us who can speak Chinese. LV 7, a senior scout in Thor Mercenary Army. He has a deep insight and is very agile. He's excel at spying and street battle in city.

Gazing at this "luxury" team, Zhang Tie didn't have any special feeling. By comparison, when he was in Blackhot City, he and his elder brother both dreamed of being LV 6 fighters. However, Zhang Tie abruptly found that he didn't awe those fighters below LV 10 anymore.

In Zhang Tie's eyes, except for some LV 9 guys who might bring him some trouble, most of the fighters were nothing different than soldiers below LV 5 as Zhang Tie could solve them with only one javelin or a punch.

After these days of fighting against demonized people, Zhang Tie had been able to apply his Iron-Blood Fist in a much more eye-catching way. Gradually, he could use his Iron-Blood Fist as unrivaled as that used by the first emperor of the Norman Empire which shocked the Blackson Human Race Corridor.

After a short while, the 4 guys had put on their field combat clothes. Additionally, they had put on the hat being connected to the field combat coat and had pulled down the respirator which was filled with soft activated carbon. The respirator could filter fresh air, resist coldness and hide their faces, only exposing their eyes.

After that, they took their own weapons.

"Is this okay?" Zerom asked carefully.

"No problem. Some elites of Hurricane Army are still surrounding Heavens Cold City. As the soldiers of Hurricane Army are from everywhere, including all human races, if you just follow me, nobody would ask anything." Zhang Tie answered confidently.

Zerom then nodded, "Thor Mercenary Army owes you!"

Zhang Tie revealed a smile. "Due to various reasons, big figures don't want to expose too much information to commoners about the coming holy war. However, I feel that the more people know about it in advance, the better. After they know about it, at least they would not be easily pushed to the frontline to be fodder ashes. If not, they might even not know how they were killed!"

"Your thinking is very special!" Professor Simon glanced at Zhang Tie, "Few people in a big clan would consider it this way."

Zhang Tie shrugged. "Perhaps it's because I lived at the bottom of society. I know more about commoners. In holy wars, if the frontline was broken, it would be very dangerous. Rich and powerful people would then escape by airships, leaving those innocent commoners to be killed by demons. Those commoners won't even have a chance to escape. I feel this is unfair. If commoners could know more about this in advance, they would have more time to prepare for escape."

"Members in Thor Mercenary Army are all dauntless, instead of cowards who only think about escape. If there's a chance, I will kill those abominable demons with my ax!" Weighing his axe, Jordan said in a low voice.

"Although you are fighters, you also have family members and friends, who were not all fighters. If you were told that demons' army would launch an attack towards Armes 1 year later, would you lead your family members and friends to fight together with you in Armes? If you know that Blackson Human Race Corridor might be covered by demons in 2 years, would you lead your family members and friends to escape to a safe place first? If you know that the holy war would break out in half a year, would you let your family members stockpile food and drinks?"

Jordan then became quiet. Hearing Zhang Tie's words, Zerom nodded inside as he seemed seeing the same diligent and tough teenager in the survival training in Wild Wolf Valley and the handsome boy who didn't slash towards his opponent who had already lain on the duel platform. During the past 1 year, many things and people had changed. However, that teenager was still kind inside.

'Kerlin might also be proud of having such a student if he knew that!' Zerom mumbled inside.

The other guys in the tent started to consider Zhang Tie's questions.

Zhang Tie didn't talk any more, instead, he carried that heavy metal container of 9 bolts inside which had been used to kill so many people these days and opened the tent, "Let's go!"

The other 4 people then followed him out.

After being several hundred meters away from the camp, they came to the wild, from where they could already see Heavens Cold City in the distance. On the way from the camp to here, although many people had noticed the 4 people after Zhang Tie, nobody asked about them.

"This place is 15 km away from Heavens Cold City. It would take a long time to get there if we just walk like this. How fast is your marching speed?" Zhang Tie asked professor Simon considering his age.

"Although I'm not a fighter, at least I'm a LV 5 soldier. I can keep jogging there for 1 hour!" Professor Simon said proudly.

"That's fine. Follow me then. In order to save time, I will choose a route with fewer demonized people! Remember, unless you chop off their heads or break their whole body or head in to pieces by destroying their brain tissues can you kill them!"

Zhang Tie reminded them once again. Everybody else then nodded. After that, with Zhang Tie's guidance, they started to jog towards Heavens Cold City.

On the way, they met many other teams, the sizes of which varied from 3-5 people, dozens of people to over 100 people. They came from everywhere. Some of them were the unrivaled cavalries from Taishi Clan, some were elite troops from Huaiyuan Palace, some were some healthy adolescents recruited from the refugee camp. They scattered outside Heavens Cold City to hunt those demonized people that ran out of the city then collect, burn or bury them.

After encountering so many teams, Zerom's group started to understand that without Zhang Tie, they could hardly get close to Heavens Cold City even if they were not arrested in the refugee camp.

At this time, Zhang Tie's heavy metal container of 9 bolts on his back had almost become his symbol on the battlefield as anyone who caught sight of Zhang Tie dared not to find trouble for him. Instead, many teams even exclaimed out of excitement when they saw him.

"Mie Mo Shen Mo (灭魔神矛)..."

"Mie Mo Shen Mo..."

Except for Shrek, none of Zerom's group spoke Chinese. Therefore, when they saw a team yelling towards them, they were even a bit nervous and thought they might have trouble. However, after seeing this several times, they started to understand that they were exclaiming towards Zhang Tie.

"Shrek, what are they yelling?" Jordon asked behind Zhang Tie while panting.

"They were yelling a slogan!" Shrek then looked at Zhang Tie calmly, "That slogan means marvelous demon-killing javelins. They might be yelling towards Zhang Tie!"

"Is that a praise or honor for Chinese?" Jordan asked surprisingly.

Shrek didn't know how to answer about this question. Because of the cultural difference between Chinese and them, it's hard to explain. In Chinese, the word "魔" and "神" always contained dozens of meanings, such as "魔" referred to demon, ghost, evil, darkness, villain, malice, inhumanity or difficulty in comprehend while "神" referred to marvel, holiness, deity, creator, fantasy, wonder even one's spiritual awareness.

In Hebrew-spoken regions, if a fighter was received an honor, it would be very significant. Because people could never gain any honor without any performance. Additionally, according to the conventions in this age, like being conferred with a title of nobility, a fighter has to gain his honor through fighting with demons. Additionally, honors always had fixed patterns, were always composed of the place where one made a meritorious deed plus his performance or feature (noun). Observably, they were not yelling an honor, neither a eulogy; it should be something between two of them that only existed under Chinese cultural background.

When Shrek scratched his head. Zhang Tie who was ahead of them opened his mouth. "That's not an honor, neither an official and holy eulogy. You can take it as an appreciation and praise, just like some of your nicknames!"

"Like I am called Steel Ax in Thor Mercenary Army, right?" Jordan asked out of curiosity.

"Just like that!"

"However, only a few people in Thor Mercenary Army know me. Nobody knows my nickname on the outside. But it seems that so many people know your nickname!" Jordan became a bit depressed and admirable.

'This tough man is cute." Zhang Tie then revealed a smile, "That's because your nickname is not loud enough or special. If you try harder and go to the extremes when you use your axe on the battlefield such as speed, I will give you a nickname then. I'm sure that more people would know you by then!"

"Argh? What nickname?"

"Black Cyclone!" Zhang Tie joked.

It was really out of Zhang Tie's imagination that Jordan became spirited after thinking for a while seriously, "Fine, that's it, Black Cyclone sounds cooler than Steel Ax. "Shrek, Zerom, you can call me Black Cyclone from then on!"

...

1 hour later, they had successfully arrived in the suburban area of Heavens Cold City after only meeting 10 more common demonized people. Before Zhang Tie moved, Jordan who wanted to show his qualification as "Black Cyclone" had chopped them all into pieces in a split second.

When they arrived at the suburban area of Heavens Cold City, everything became different.

It was already past 9 am when the sun had already risen up. The temperature over the land was gradually increasing, causing a terrifying, suffocating and disgusting stink to drift from inside Heavens Cold City. When they were about 1 km away from the city, Zerom and the other guys' faces instantly turned pale when they smelt this.

Although they were nothing strange about this odor in the morning breeze, they had not met such a heavy odor before.

Even Zhang Tie who didn't pull down his breathing mask on the way here had also pulled it down at this moment in order to ease its stimulation.

"How many people were killed here?" Professor Simon turned and asked.

"They are not human, they are demonized, people. From July 7th to now, we've killed at least 100,000 demonized people within 1 km of the four city gates!" Zhang Tie answered in a low voice. "Now, there are still over 1 million demonized people in Heavens Cold City. We can hardly clean their corpses. Our men only controlled a part of regions near the four city gates. After killing them, we will maintain the city gates so that living could still escape out of there!"

As long as the over 1 million demonized people continued under the guidance of the parent puppet worm, they could easily shock 2 common human armies. Additionally, as Langye Prefecture was relatively remote, all the local forces only contained less than 400,000 soldiers, how could they fight an over 1 million strong demonized army.

This also indicated that the Zhen Clan was very vicious. If the Zhen Clan aroused trouble when the holy war broke out, the whole Langye Prefecture would deteriorate heavily in a few days. Langye Prefecture was in the northwest of Jinyun Country and there were no powerful forces and clans within 1000 km of the surroundings. Nobody would know what the Zhen Clan could do in Langye Prefecture with over 1 million demonized people

In the Second Holy War, the most powerful parent puppet worm controlled by demons could even control over 3 million demonized people at the same time.

At this moment, unless assigning more than 2 corps from 1000 km away and prepared to pay for a high price, they could only surround Heavens Cold City and annihilate those demonized people in Heavens Cold City with small teams. They could only weaken the force and reduce the number of those demonized people in Heavens Cold City. Thankfully, demonized people could not deliver babies. Otherwise, it would much more troublesome.

When they were outside a city gate of Heavens Cold City, they would meet some corpses with each step forward. All of them were demonized, over 90% of them had been chopped or cut into pieces. Many corpses had started to rot and grubby——where's hell? Right here!

Although the guys from Thor Mercenary Army had been used to death and blood, they all started to vomit after only 100 steps forward.

Except for Zhang Tie as he had long experienced this period. He also contributed a part to this scene. Those whose heads were still linked to their necks yet had exploded were mostly the work of his javelins. Glancing over corpses, Zhang Tie looked a bit sorrowful while icy flame gleamed in his eyes.

These corpses were once people like him!

God-damned demons!

Zhang Tie had made 2 targets silently since he was born.

First, he determined to be an alchemist in the auction house in Kalur.

Second, he made it to Heavens Cold City. Several days ago, standing in a gate tower in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie looked at the abstruse night sky. He then determined that he would never close his eyes until he killed 1 million demons and lackeys of Three-Eye Association and covered Heavens Cold City with those corpses.

From then on, watching all this, Zhang Tie didn't vomit anymore. Instead, his eyes were filled with grief while a cold flame was burning in his heart...

Having almost vomited everything that he had eaten, bending his body, Zerom watched Zhang Tie's back as straight as usual and felt that Zhang Tie was like a steel statue which contained a foreboding and hard strength that should not belong to this age.

'Although this teenager looks the same as before in some aspects, he's different in some places.' A thought flashed through Zerom's mind.

Zhang Tie just waited there for them calmly. When they finished vomiting and stood up, their eyes had turned red and tearful. Zhang Tie then nodded, "Let's go, you will be fine after that. There are more corpses than that inside. But it is more dangerous inside!"

The 4 people then continued to follow Zhang Tie and walked over to the hell-like place. They soon came to the south gate of Heavens Cold City where they watched a rapid fight.

A batch of people in the same uniform as them was killing some demonized people gathering over the passage in the city gate. After that, they pulled away those corpses and cleaned up the passage.

Zhang Tie then walked over there and casually stamped a pink worm two

"Zhang Tie", one of them walked towards him. Seeing this, Zerom and the other 3 guys shut up.

"What's up? Is anyone alive out of there?" Zhang Tie asked as he watched Liu Xu.

"None!" Liu Xu waved his head while his half-covered face didn't look good obviously, "It's been almost 1 week. Fewer people could escape out of there. These are..."

Liu Xu then turned his eyes to Zerom's group.

"Some of my old friends. After hearing the event in Heavens Cold City, they want to have a look inside. Therefore I'm taking them here." Zhang Tie put it straightly and didn't mean to cover the status of Zerom's group at all.

Liu Xu then moved his eyes from them like having not seen them at all. Thus, he lowered his voice and moved closer to Zhang Tie, "I heard our clan seniors were negotiating with some big figures from other clans on dealing with the event in Heavens Cold City. There are always powerhouses lurking in some sensitive places in the inner city and some banks in the outer city. There are also some guerrillas. Take care of yourself!"

Zhang Tie understood Liu Xu's good intentions. He also knew what Liu Xu was hinting about. Therefore, he slightly patted on his shoulder, "Don't worry, they are just figuring out something inside. They would leave in several hours after having a look near the camps of the original city guards!"

"That's fine, watch out!" Liu Xu understood it instantly.

Zhang Tie then nodded before guided Zerom and the other 3 into Heavens Cold City through the bloody passage...

Chapter 374: Battle

Translator: WQL Editor: KLKL

Each of Zhang Tie's nine javelins in the metal container on his back was close to 130 centimeters in length. Besides being used for throwing, the metal javelins could also be used as short spears in close combat.

At this moment, noticing that more than twenty demons were rushing towards the five people, Zhang Tie waved his spears, one in each hand. In a wink, he had made ten heads explode.

Zhang Tie moved so swiftly and directly. Facing those demonized people, he only made one movement——prick!

Each time he pricked, his short spear would cause a low, wind-breaking sound, "Sss, sss", which suggested his terrifying speed at close quarters. However, to respond to the power of his short spear moves, the heads of the demonized people being pricked all exploded like broken watermelons, sprouting brains backwards.

Although those being killed were demonized people, judging from their looks and clothes these demonized people were all once commoners in Heavens Cold City, including common businessmen, citizens, students, housewives, the old and the young.

The demonized man that Zhang Tie had just exploded was around forty years old and was still wearing a postman's clothes, with a visible yellow Chinese character, "邮", on the left breast of his blue uniform. Below that character for "mail", Zhang Tie peered at his official identification photo and his name——Gu Anming(谷安明[1]).

Compared to that official identification photo, Gu Anming didn't look like how he looked one week ago any more. Instead, his bulging eyes were filled with a bloody, killing intent. His face looked grim and twisted and a fishy, stinky liquid was flowing out of the corners of his mouth. Gritting his teeth with fury and evil, he was charging at Zhang Tie while waving his limbs. As was expected, he exploded from the impact of Zhang Tie's short spear before he drew too close.

After Zhang Tie made Gu Anming's head explode, the remaining demonized people in his group cried out with jarring screams. Hearing this, Zhang Tie changed his facial expression immediately as he pricked another head swiftly and told Zerom's group, "They are calling their partners, we have to get out of here as soon as possible!"

Hearing Zhang Tie's warning, Jordan swung his huge ax and chopped off two demonized people's heads, sending them flying in the air. Zerom and Shrek also each killed one respectively. After that, they followed Zhang Tie and rushed into an alley on the side.

While being protected by them in the middle, Professor Simon started to pant. After running less than 100 meters, Zhang Tie saw an opening rice store. He then ran inside at once.

Followed by the other four guys, the moment Jordan went to shut the door, he was stopped by Zhang Tie, "No need!"

"What if those demonized people rush inside?"

"No problem. If we close it, we might arouse their attention. Follow me upstairs, and be quiet!"

Hearing the screams and disorderly footsteps from outside, they hurriedly followed Zhang Tie up to the second floor of the rice store.

They were in a small warehouse where someone had lived before. It seemed that chaos had happened here as things were strewn everywhere. Many rice bags were broken. There were even some blood stains on the floor. However, nobody was inside. The moment Zhang Tie had come upstairs, he pulled closed the curtain there. Standing close to the windowsill, he made a gesture to tell the others to be quiet. Therefore, everybody slowed their breathing.

Shrek was on high alert above the entrance of the stairs and watched the gate downstairs. If any demonized people rushed inside, he would find out first.

The screams of demonized people were drawing closer and closer. It was really noisy in the alley on one side of the rice store and on the other side from the street outside. Hundreds of demonized people rushed by, followed sparsely by many more. From the source of the sound, they knew that those demonized people were rushing towards the place where they'd fought just now.

Professor, Jordan, Zerom and Shrek all changed their facial expressions slightly. If they had stayed half a minute longer there, they would have been surrounded by the demonized people. Although normal demonized people had the same fighting strength as a commoner person's, they were all painless and dauntless. If Zhang Tie's group were to be surrounded by them, nobody knew what would happen.

They had been in Heavens Cold City for over two hours, during which period they had experienced six fights. As a result, they gradually came to understand how terrifying those demonized people were.

Like piranhas or army ants, as long as they locked onto their target, those demonized people would all attack together. Unless they were all killed, they would never stop. When being surrounded by demonized people, as long as one was troubled by a demonized person for over 2 seconds, more of them would take the chance and crowd up. In two seconds...four seconds...six seconds...eight seconds...they would gather until they covered you and gnawed you, leaving nothing at all. Any powerful fighter would be frightened facing such an attack.

With a sound downstairs, a demonized person walked in. Seeing this, Shrek made a gesture towards them to tell them to hold their breaths.

Jordan then clenched his ax...

Zerom narrowed his eyes as he changed the position of his long sword...

Professor Simon seemed to be praying as he drew something on his chest...

Zhang Tie gazed at the foot of the stairs...

Over ten seconds later, the sound downstairs drew farther away, while the screams outside also faded. Several minutes later, after those noises disappeared, everybody finally let out a breath.

Shrek then jumped from his position at the stairs and walked towards the other people, throwing himself onto a rice bag. Zerom watched outside carefully from the windowsill. "Those demonized people have gone, only leaving a couple of them wandering in the alley!'' he said.

"Professor Simon, why didn't they call their partners the moment they saw us instead of doing that when they only had one or two left?" Shrek asked.

"After losing the guidance of their parent puppet worm, all the demonized people have poor organization. They are not even as smart as spiders or ants. When they caught sight of us, they took us as their food and target. We made them excited, just like how those stupid animals are when they notice their food and mates. Of course, they would not share their food with others!"

Hearing Professor Simon's explanation, Jordan quivered all over. "Professor Simon, could you change the metaphor. We are their food, but what motherf*cking mates? Who wants to hug those guys in a bed?"

Professor Simon then revealed a smile in an embarrassed way. Ignoring Jordan's qualms, he said "Only when they've confirmed that they have no chance of eating us would they then send an SOS to their own kind!"

"Before coming to Heavens Cold City, I even thought they could speak. It's really out of my imagination that they could only scream!"

"Language is a very advanced function in the human brain. It requires a very high level of intelligence. Although those puppet worms can control one's actions by living in their brains, they cannot control people's language function. The reason lies in the very low intelligence of puppet worms themselves. They cannot deal with the sophisticated functions of the language area in human brains, not to mention comprehending human language, logic and contents or exchange by language!"

While they were talking in low voices, Zhang Tie was furrowing among the things in the room. He found some dried fruits and passed them to the other people, saying, "Eat some first to regain your physical strength. We might face more battles like this later on!"

When they entered Heavens Cold City, it meant they'd entered the battle field. Of course, Zhang Tie would seize any chance to recover his physical strength and spiritual energy, and maintained them in their optimum states. This was a battle field survival skill that he'd learned in Iron-Blood Camp. Besides fighting on the battle field, they needed more strength to persist.

"How long from here to the nearest camp of the former city guards?" Zerom asked Zhang Tie after a short thought.

Zhang Tie pointed at a direction outside the window, "We need to pass two streets. It's about 1000 meters away from here. Now, only a few demonized city guards are wandering in the city, while 90% of the rest of the demonized city guards are gathering around the inner city of Heavens Cold City, where the parent puppet worm was killed..."

"I don't think we can continue like this. It's too dangerous, especially for Professor Simon!" Zerom said as he drew on the floor with his long sword. "How about this? We will find a place within this region to settle down Professor Simon first. Then two of us stay with Professor Simon to protect him while the other two go outside to catch two demonized city guards. The advantage of this method is that we could reduce our chance of exposure. Additionally, those going outside could get out of danger with their own fighting strength more quickly..."

Chapter 375: Military Camp

Translator: WQL Editor: Millman97

The moment Zerom posed the plan, everybody else agreed. If they stayed together, it truly would be too eye-catching for those demonized people; additionally, their efficiency would also decline.

"How about Shrek and I go out and catch two demonized city guards?" Zhang Tie nodded as he said, "Zerom and Jordan are responsible for protecting Professor Simon. If any accidents occur and evacuation becomes necessary, each group can leave Heavens Cold City seperately. We can then gather near the south gate of Heavens Cold City!"

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

"Me too!"

Everybody nodded. Professor Simon needed to be protected. Therefore, it was safe for him to stay with a powerhouse and a clear guy; Zhang Tie was familiar with Heavens Cold City, Shrek was a senior scout who was good at spying and urban warfare. Therefore, it was proper for the two people to catch demonized people to bring back.

"Professor Simon, which parts of the demonized people do you need, only their heads?" Zhang Tie asked.

"Although their heads are the most important part, you'd better bring back their complete bodies. As puppet worms can influence one's internal organs, we can get more precise information through a complete study of their organs.

"I understand!"

...

After the discussion, they took a short rest in the warehouse before leaving.

A couple of demonized people were still wandering in the alley outside. The moment Zhang Tie walked out of the door of the rice store, he killed them with his javelins before they made any sound.

As they had all been fighting the demonized people in close combat until now, it was Zhang Tie's first time showing his javelin throwing talent to them. Zerom and the other three guys heard the sonic booms when Zhang Tie threw out his javelins!

None of them had imagined that Zhang Tie's javelin throwing skill had reached the level of causing a sonic boom. Therefore, they were amazed, especially Zerom. Although he knew Zhang Tie well, it was still of out his imagination that Zhang Tie could realize this in only one year after leaving Blackhot City.

Most people who excelled at throwing javelins would at least reach LV 8 before they could create a sonic boom because sonic booms required great, explosive physical strength. Take Captain Kerlin as an example, he was able to create a sonic boom in the middle and late period of LV 8.

"Zhang Tie, what's your level now?" Zerom asked Zhang Tie as he ran.

"Just reached LV 7!"

Considering the sonic booms they heard, Zerom and the other three guys was not surprised about that answer. They were all thinking that Zhang Tie might have learned some secret knowledge after he returned to his Zhang Clan. In some big clans with long histories, it was not difficult for a person at Zhang Tie's age to reach LV 7.

Zhang Tie didn't give any explanation either; instead, he rapidly collected his javelins from the dead bodies and led them towards a camp of former city guards in the distance.

As there were too many demonized people on the main streets, Zhang Tie especially chose side alleys. Sometimes, he directly entered the buildings on his side and ran on the roofs of the buildings in cases when there were too many demonized people. Even though they were very carefully, it was unavoidable that they still met four teams of demonized people hundreds of meters away.

After learning from the former experiences, they all moved very fast in these battles, leaving no time for those demonized people to utter any scream.

Zhang Tie noticed that after Shrek killed those demonized people, he immediately took their purses. Zhang Tie didn't say any word about that as mercenaries were good at doing that kind of thing.

The places with great wealth in Heavens Cold City were within the inner city and in the Heavens Cold City Bank opened by the Zhen Clan. Both places had been under the watchful gaze of powerhouses from Huaiyuan Palace. However, people could still find much wealth from the other places in the city.

...

With a jarring scream uttered by a demonized person from afar, all the surrounding demonized people rushed over there. As a result, the streets became instantly empty.

In a room, Zhang Tie and Zerom's men heard the disorder footsteps from outside.

"This is a good chance. Someone else must have attracted those demonized people. We can directly rush over there. Ready..."

Zhang Tie also became more vigilant; when the footsteps had gone far away, Zhang Tie sped up followed by Jordan, who directly hefted Professor Simon on his shoulder. Zerom and Shrek were at the back of the team.

Zhang Tie targeted at a hotel with more than ten floors two hundred meters away.

This was the longest distance for them to run in a breath since they entered Heavens Cold City. It only took them a bit more than 10 seconds to get there.

Ahead of the team, Zhang Tie rushed before the gate of the hotel and caught sight of 4 demonized waiters of the hotel wandering out of the lobby. Of course, the four demonized people also saw Zhang Tie. Before they uttered any voice, Zhang Tie had already exploded their heads with 4 javelins.

Closely after that, all of them rushed into the lobby. As being not chased after on the way here, Jordan heavily panted, "F*ck, I couldn't have imagined that we could run so freely in Heavens Cold City!"

"Douchebag, hurry up, put me down!" Professor Simon swore.

Jordan hurriedly put him down.

...

Two minutes later, after killing seven or eight more demonized people in the hotel, they arrived at a conference room at the top of the hotel.

Standing in the conference room, they were able to see the military camp hundreds of meters away and some demonized people in the uniforms of former city guards wandering outside the camp.

"Nice spot, we will choose here then!" Zerom looked around before nodded.

"Fine, if we don't come back in two hours, we must have encountered some accident or special situation. You should then evacuate without us!" Zhang Tie told Zerom.

"Okay! Take care of yourselves!" Zerom nodded.

After reaching an agreement on the details, Zhang Tie and Shrek walked downstairs and left from the rear door. Before separation, they even exchanged glances with each other. After that, they chose a direction respectively and ran towards the military camp.

Shrek chose an alley while Zhang Tie directly dashed through the streets. Shrek thought that Zhang Tie would choose the roofs of those low buildings; however, it was really out of his imagination that Zhang Tie would choose that way. Therefore, he was stunned. 'What a crazy guy! Isn't he afraid of being surrounded by demonized people?'

Of course, Zhang Tie was not afraid of that. Because he didn't think any of the demonized people inside Heavens Cold City could catch up with him and block him. With his physical strength, he could keep running for a whole day in Heavens Cold City like this, regardless of the quantity of those demonized people.

Now that most of demonized people above LV 10 in Heavens Cold City had been cleared by the powerhouses of the 6 clans, the remaining demonized people above LV 10 were staying near the inner city of Heavens Cold City. Few of them wandered outside. Even though Zhang Tie had met one of them, he was still confident that he could escape with the bliss of his rapid moving skill.

When he left the hotel, Zhang Tie triggered his rapid moving skill; therefore, he moved even faster on the streets.

As he expected, after a few footsteps, Zhang Tie was noticed by some wandering demonized people on the streets. They then chased after Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie just ignored them. As a result, more and more demonized people noticed Zhang Tie and started to follow him. In less than 200 m, Zhang Tie had been followed up by hundreds of demonized people.

As common demonized people ran almost as fast as commoners, they were gradually lagged behind by Zhang Tie.

For Zhang Tie, with high speed movement, he could keep out of range of all the attacks and harassment of demonized people in Heavens Cold City. Unless he stopped, he would never be surrounded by demonized people.

Even though more and more demonized people were chasing after him, the distance between them and Zhang Tie was also expanding. As long as Zhang Tie changed a route or made a turn, many of the demonized people following him would lose their target and start to wander in the streets again.

Zhang Tie chose to stay close to that military camp's perimeter. After only several minutes, he had already gotten rid of the demonized people chasing after him. After circling around the military camp, Zhang Tie jumped off the three meter high wall in the east.

The whole camp was ruined by the battle airships of Huaiyuan Palace as a quarter of the ground and a fifth of the buildings in the camp had been attacked by white-phospherous gel combustion bombs while metal bolts shot by the small-caliber, rapid-fire ballista from the battle airships of Huaiyuan Palace spread everywhere; many of them even burrowed deep into the soil.

Along with those traces left by the war were those incomplete corpses. As those corpses were left a week earlier, nobody cleaned them up; therefore, it was pretty disgusting. Nobody would like to see them at all.

At this time, the whole camp, which once housed over 10,000 city guards, had become a completely empty zone. Besides some demonized people wandering around like ghosts on the large training field, nobody else was alive, except for Zhang Tie.

At sight of Zhang Tie, the couple of demonized people rushed towards Zhang Tie at once...

Chapter 376: Double-Carp Swords

Translator: WQL Editor: KLKL

Three demonized city guards were rushing towards Zhang Tie. They all looked pretty disgusting, with the skin of two of them heavily burned. Besides that, one of them had lost an eye, and one's hair and scalp was burned off. The last one had a bolt in the right side of his chest, while disgusting puss was flowing out of the festering wound. Due to their stink, a lot of flies were circling around them.

With only one glance at them, Zhang Tie had given up his plan to bring them back to Professor Simon. They were really disgusting!

With one javelin, Zhang Tie slashed their heads into pieces as fast as he could, like swatting flies. After that, he started to search the military camp. As he didn't see Shrek inside the camp, Zhang Tie thought that he must've been targeting the demonized city guards wandering outside the military camp.

This was a very large military camp, which covered about 500,000 square meters, including the training field. Many buildings inside the camp had been burned, leaving behind the most common barracks, some training facilities, warehouses, canteens and so on.

According to the habits of demonized people, some of them preferred to wander where their hosts used to stay. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn't believe that there were only three demonized people inside such a large military camp. Although he couldn't see any on the training field, he might meet some demonized people somewhere else.

Zhang Tie ran directly towards the nearest barracks.

The door to the barracks was half closed. When he arrived, Zhang Tie kicked it open at once. After peeping inside, he found no demonized people at all. It was chaotic and nothing could be seen on the bunk beds except for dust.

Zhang Tie kept kicking open the doors of seven more barracks and found no demonized city guards inside at all. Then Zhang Tie came to the gate of a building with four floors.

That building was very magnificent. Its exterior was covered with delicate marble bricks. There was also a noticeable copper plate on the wall outside, reading, 'Brigade of City Guards III Headquarters, Heavens Cold City'.

There were two empty sentry booths outside the gate of the building. Some military vehicles and light wheeled infantry chariots were parked in the parking lot beside the building. Those vehicles were crowded together in a disorderly way and the scene was lifeless. One chariot had even run into a parterre beside the building. After crashing into the parapet guardrail, it tilted over the parterre and was damaged greatly.

Everything there seemed to reveal how chaotic it was when the airships of Huaiyuan Palace had assaulted this military camp one week ago.

Zhang Tie didn't intend to go inside. But then he suddenly heard sounds from upstairs and changed his mind, deciding to search inside.

After entering the building, the sounds became louder. The sounds, "bang, bang, bang" were drifting down from upstairs every second. With a javelin in hand, Zhang Tie silently went to the stairs of the building before he rushed upstairs.

Like other similar buildings, the stairs were in the middle. On both sides of each floor were corridors, and lining the corridors were rooms and offices. At a glance, the design was indicative of military camps.

Nobody was in the corridors on the second and third floors, so the sound had come from the fourth floor, which was more luxurious than the lower floors as it had dark red carpet on the floor. The moment Zhang Tie came to the fourth floor, he caught sight of a man in military uniform at the end of the corridor on the left, who was thumping on a closed door with his fist.

As that man had his back to Zhang Tie, the latter could not clearly see his face. Therefore, Zhang Tie could not judge whether or not the man was a demonized person.

All the rooms and offices on this floor were opened, with papers scattered all over the floor, except for the room at the end of the corridor on the left.

Zhang Tie took a look around and found nobody else on this floor. He walked towards the man in military uniform and stopped ten meters away from him.

He coughed, "Ahem..."

Zhang Tie's cough was extraordinarily loud in the empty corridor. The moment the man heard this, he turned around.

Bloody eyes, a grim and twisted face, and mucus dripping from the corners of its mouth; all this indicated that it was a demonized city guard. What made Zhang Tie excited was that it was a second lieutenant.

Zhang Tie then let out a sigh, 'Thankfully, this one doesn't look that disgusting.'

The demonized person then charged at Zhang Tie, intending to punch his face. It moved very swiftly, equal to the fighting strength of a level six fighter. Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he faced its attack head on, like how a tough guy would bully a toddler, he ended the fight in the blink of an eye.

Catching its wrist in one hand, Zhang Tie pushed the demonized person's head with his other hand. Then, with a "Kacha" sound, he rotated its head 360 degrees and immediately broke its neck like breaking off corn cobs. As a result, the puppet's head was bent backwards over 180 degrees and lolled down its back while the top of its head was facing the floor.

No blood was spilled during the whole process.

Zhang Tie then loosened his grip, letting that demonized second lieutenant fall onto the floor like mud.

However, Zhang Tie hadn't expected that the puppet wouldn't die immediately. Instead it lay on the floor, its limbs still twitching slightly like a machine that was out of control. Meanwhile, its bloody eyes gazed at itself, intending to control its own body once again.

Although, Zhang Tie had long known that demonized people had a very strong physical endurance, he had not imagined that the puppet could still try to stand up at that moment.

"Motherf*cker!" Zhang Tie swore as he immediately raised his foot and stomped on its limbs to break them. After that, the puppet didn't move any more. However, its bloody eyes were still gazing at Zhang Tie. Thankfully, Zhang Tie's psychological endurance was great and he didn't care about this "staring salute".

Previously, Zhang Tie had intended to catch it, However, at the sight of the metal plate on the door, Zhang Tie changed his mind.

The plate read, 'Brigade Commander's Office'.

He thought to take a look inside, as there could be some good items there. A thought flashed across Zhang Tie's mind, 'No matter what, they are Zhen Clan's items. Just take them.'

It seemed that this was an important place as it had a reinforced metal protective door. At that moment it was obviously locked, otherwise the demonized man would not have thumped on it for so long, leaving only a dent in it.

"Pah, pah, pah..." Zhang Tie patted the door's surroundings. From the muffled resonance, Zhang Tie knew that it was a heavy door.

Zhang Tie then took a deep breath and moved one step back. After that, he ferociously kicked its lock with the "Elephant Stomp" movement of Iron-Blood Fist.

With a crisp sound, "Bang," the whole door, along with its frame, changed shape greatly, leaving a crack of space between the door and its frame about two fists wide.

After another "Elephant Stomp", with a boom, the door fell down together with its door frame.

Soon after that, fine plaster and cement blocks dropped from the ceiling and covered Zhang Tie's head and face.

"Peh...peh...peh..." Zhang Tie kept spitting out of the cement and plaster as he patted off the dust in his hair. After that, he walked into the office.

'It'll be a great loss if I find nothing inside.'

He came to an outer room of the office, which was more than thirty square meters big. There were some filing cabinets, a sofa set and a desk close to the door. Some maps were hanging on the wall. It seemed to be the office of a secretariat or an adviser. After a glance, Zhang Tie could see nothing valuable. Therefore, he didn't search it any more than that.

There was a dark red door on the right wall, which was half covered. Stepping on the thick carpet, Zhang Tie walked over there and pushed open the door.

Compared to the room outside, the room behind the door was like an office of a brigade commander. It covered more than 100 square meters. The moment he walked inside, he saw a huge sand model of the city on a table in the middle of the room, and two nice, crisscrossed, gleaming long swords on the wall facing the door.

"Ze...ze...Zhen clan is really rich!" Zhang Tie sighed with feeling as he touched the two one meter high crystal columns, each of which weighed hundreds of kilograms.

The two crystal columns on both sides of the door looked pretty good. They were transparent all over. Additionally, a steamed-bun sized pyramid energy shadow had formed in their cores. The moment Zhang Tie drew close to them, he felt the powerful energy effects of the two super "crystal generators".

Such large pyramid crystals were close to at least level six. Zhang Tie had not seen such large pyramid crystals before. The value of the two items was definitely worth more than 10,000 gold coins.

After confirming that nobody was in the room, Zhang Tie teleported the two huge pyramid crystals into Castle of Black Iron without any hesitation.

This was really a worthwhile trip for Zhang Tie.

The brigade commander's office had been arranged in an ambient way. Other than the two huge "crystal generators", there were some oak bookcases which were filled with books. At the sight of the bookcases and the books inside, Zhang Tie's eyes gleamed. Without a second thought, he collected all of them into his study room in Castle of Black Iron.

As his study room in Castle of Black Iron was still empty, he would not waste the precious books on those bookcases. Until now, Zhang Tie still remembered his experience while in the Grant family's Private Library in Prague. In this day and age, books were also a very important treasure.

When he was in Zhen's Mansion, Zhang Tie had the chance to move all the books from the Mansion into Castle of Black Iron. However, due to an emergency he'd had no time to collect every book. Additionally, he was afraid of exposing himself to the Zhang Clan. By contrast, he didn't need to consider any of that at this moment.

Besides bookcases, there was also a wine cabinet in the office, which was filled with various types of alcohol. However, Zhang Tie wasn't interested in drinking them as he was not sure what was inside of the bottles.

Many elite weapons were hanging on a wall. There were also two sets of nice looking armor. However, Zhang Tie didn't touch them either.

On one side of the desk, Zhang Tie found a safe which was completely open, leaving nothing inside. It seemed that someone had taken the items away in a frenzy. Only god knew who had those items now.

After that, Zhang Tie checked the last thing in the office——the desk.

Zhang Tie came to the desk and pulled out the drawer at the bottom. As only some documents had been left inside, Zhang Tie turned them over randomly before pushing the drawer closed.

Some boxes of cigars and some delicate boxes of medicament were lying in the drawer on the second layer. Zhang Tie picked up one box of medicament and found some sexy women on the package, who had alluring, slim eyes and half-exposed boobs. There were 3 lines of Chinese characters on the package:

'Beauties Groan Every Night.'

'Tone Your Kidney and Nourish Your Body. With One Piece, You Will be a Real Man Overnight.'

'Secret Medicament from Qionglou Pavilion of Taixia in the Eastern Continent.'

"F*ck!" Zhang Tie swore as he pressed the drawer back in.

When he pulled open the drawer on the third layer, he found some medals and an exquisite box made of silver and gold, which was about thirty square centimeters wide and more than 10 centimeters high.

Zhang Tie took the box out of the drawer and opened it.

A belt, made of gold and silver diamond-shaped pieces of metal, was lying inside. At the sight of this belt, Zhang Tie widened his eyes in amazement——No Way!

Zhang Tie screamed inside, "No Way", repetitively as this belt's design and its brilliant, noble and slim buckle made him excited.

It was too familiar for Zhang Tie. This was obviously another Red-Snake Sword. Additionally, compared to the Red-Snake Sword that he'd gained in Iron-Horn Army, this one looked better and more advanced.

Zhang Tie then pressed the bead in the middle of the buckle. With an extremely low sound, "Tsa", two fish shot out at the same time.

Zhang Tie took one of the two fish. Feeling the fine, anti-slip scales and the heavy texture on the fish, Zhang Tie instantly recalled the same feeling from when he'd held the Red-Snake Sword.

Holding the handle of this slim, golden fish, Zhang Tie noticed the small Chinese characters on its back——'Golden Carp of Double-Carp Swords'

Zhang Tie slightly release his Iron-Blood Battle Qi.

A sword ray instantly sprouted out of the golden carp's mouth and stretched six meters away. Amid the sword light, Zhang Tie seemed to see a flexible golden carp. Just as when he'd used the Red-Snake Sword before, when he pushed it with his sword qi, the secret grains on the blades cast a vivid pattern in the air.

Zhang Tie took the other fish sword in his left hand. At the same time, he slightly released his Iron-Blood Battle Qi to push out the sword light from the mouth of this other fish. The thin sword blade also reached six meters away. The only difference was that the projection in the air from this sword was a silver carp.

Zhang Tie waved his hands at the same time. In a split second, the room was filled with crisscrossing sword light. Like performing a magic trick, Zhang Tie unleashed golden and silver carps from his hands, making them swim six meters ahead of him in the air.

As he was not accustomed to the two weapons and the effective distance of the weapons was a bit long, the two weapons collided with each other every now and then with a splash. Due to an unsteady gesture from his left hand, the silver carp swam over the middle of the wine cabinet, instantly creating a clean cut through the bottles inside. As a result, all the items inside the wine cabinet shattered.

"Hahahaha," Zhang Tie burst out in laughter. The double-carp swords were definitely one level higher than the Red-Snake Sword that he'd used before. The two swords were greater in various ways, including effective distance, sharpness and craftsmanship.

Zhang Tie guessed that the weapons had probably been gifted to the master of this office. Zhang Tie sighed with feeling. 'This gift is really much better than those weapons in the warehouse of the Iron-Horn Army.'

Zhang Tie had been shocked when he'd gained the rare Red-Snake Sword before. However, he had not imagined that he could gain another set of swords of the same quality just one year later.

Was this his destiny?

Zhen's assassin had made him lose his Red-Snake Sword in Dragon Cave. However, now he'd gained a much better set of Double-Carp Swords within Zhen's territory. This must have been predestined.

Zhang Tie then instantly tied his Double-Carp Swords to his waist. Being covered by his field combat clothes, nobody would know that Zhang Tie had changed his sword belt.

By then, Zhang Tie was satisfied.

After another glance around the office, the corners of Zhang Tie's mouth were raised as he left the room.

When he went back through the door of the outer office, Zhang Tie grabbed the demonized person who's bloody eyes were popping out and was still intending to pick itself up. Zhang Tie then rushed downstairs with it in hand, like he'd caught a small chick, and rushed outside of the camp.

...

Ten minutes later, after shaking off the demonized puppets chasing him by taking a circular detour, Zhang Tie returned to the hotel where Professor Simon and the other two guys were.

Less than two minutes after Zhang Tie returned, Shrek also came back with a demonized puppet in hand.

"Well, they are mine now. Please spare me two hours. You can leave now!" said Professor Simon

After placing the two demonized puppets onto the desk of the conference room in the hotel, qi instantly covered Professor Simon as he chased the other people out of his working place like a chef who was ready to cook two fat fish.

Zhang Tie, Shrek, Zerom and Jordan were then chased out of the conference room by Professor Simon as well.

At the entrance of the conference room, Shrek put his arm around Jordan's neck and murmured something to him. Jordan then forcefully swallowed his saliva and nodded.

"Zerom, it's enough if you accompany Professor Simon here. Jordan and I want to make an inspection round inside the hotel to eliminate the other demonized puppets here!" said Shrek as he winked.

Because he was clever, of course Zerom knew what they were really going to do, but he only exhorted them, "Watch out, don't bring in those demonized puppets from outside the hotel!"

"No problem!" Shrek responded with a big smile. Then he glanced at Zhang Tie. "How about inspecting the hotel together with us?"

"No need. Just do what you want. Except for money and some valuable items, don't take any items that are too conspicuous with you. Otherwise you will have trouble!" Zhang Tie warned.

Considering the fact the hotel's star rating wasn't too low, there would probably be a lot of money and some valuable items inside the hotel, or left behind from the guests. Whether they could find these things depended on their luck.

Shrek and Jordan then walked away jubilantly.

"Aren't you going?" Zerom asked Zhang Tie with a smile.

"I have many chances to make money like this, so I'm not in much of a hurry!" said Zhang Tie, having just made a fortune.

"I almost forgot that. You can come here whenever you want!" Zerom patted his head.

"Oh, have you gotten a message from Captain Kerlin? Has he left Blackhot City too?"

Zerom shook his head. "I contacted him a month ago. He was still in the No.7 National Middle School. You might not know yet, but that guy has bought a house near Bright Avenue!"

"Bought a house?"

"As a man who wants to protect and be responsible for a woman, of course he needs to prepare a fixed house in Blackhot City!" Zerom mocked, "That guy is rude and rarely falls in love with any women. But since he's fallen in love with a woman like Miss Daina from your school, he would not leave Blackhot City unless he saw no chance of surviving! In order to buy a house there, that guy almost robbed non-stop these past few years..."

'Miss Daina.' After hearing this familiar and beautiful name, Zhang Tie became slightly absent-minded...

Two hours later, Shrek and Jordan came back red faced with items fully covering their waists. At this time, Professor Simon also walked out of the conference room as he wiped off the blood stains on hands.

At the sight of Professor Simon's slightly pale and frightened face, Zhang Tie was slightly shocked inside.

Professor Simon trembled, his voice hoarse, "I...I have to go back to Armes...right now!"