696 - 703
Chapter 696: Being Almighty
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
As Zhang Tie's 6th granduncle was in their home, it would be more convenient for Zhang Tie to pass the message. As an elder of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie's 6th granduncle had the right to make decisions about major events in Huaiyuan Palace. If this information was passed to Huaiyuan Palace through the mouth of Zhang Tie's 6th granduncle, it would be more reliable.
'Our 6th granduncle came to our home to meet your 3 sons.' Zhang Yang briefed the reason.
As Zhang Tie was not in Taixia Country, he didn't know that his 3 sons had caused a sensation over there. During the months when he cultivated in seclusion in the Misty Ocean, Zhang's threshold has almost been broken by those who came to propose baby marriage with gifts. Because of the 3 babies, Zhang family became very popular in Fuhai City while Beverly, Linda and Fiona were instantly accepted by the Hua mainstream society in Fuhai City and entered the circle of celebrities and quality ladies in Fuhai City.
It was very difficult for common foreign girls like Beverly, Linda and Fiona to gain the acceptance of the local Hua mainstream society in Taixia. Without 3 generations' efforts, without innocent backgrounds, good education or sufficient wealth, foreign common girls could barely enter the mainstream society of Taixia Country. It was not because that Hua people in Taixia Country were biased about them, but the great civilization and confidence that Hua people displayed in this age were at the peak of the whole world. Hua people were the leader and pillar of this world. Without 3 generations' efforts, common foreign immigrants could barely form that spiritual and civil gene accepted by Hua society.
After Zhang Tie's 6th granduncle arrived, he instantly expressed Huaiyuan Palace's attitude to Zhang family and made Zhang family feel truly flattered.
With a knight at home, Zhang Tie family became tranquil at once.
On the 3rd day since he came to Zhang Tie's house had Zhang Tie's 6th granduncle declared to instruct the 3 babies in the future with the consent of Zhang Tie's parents and 3 wives.
It was a special honor and benefit to have one clan elder instruct his 3 babies. In Huaiyuan Palace, even the clan head's bloodline might not enjoy such a special treatment. Zhang Tie's 6th granduncle's decision indicated that Zhang Tie's 3 babies would definitely have unusual achievements in the future as long as they were not stupid.
...
Since their 6th granduncle arrived at their house, Zhang Yang had been pretending that he could not contact Zhang Tie as this was the secret between him and Zhang Tie. Additionally, Zhang Yang was also afraid that Huaiyuan Palace would issue some orders or requirements to Zhang Tie through him. Otherwise, he would feel embarrassed to transmit the message to Zhang Tie. Therefore, he straightly lied to his 6th granduncle. However, after receiving Zhang Tie's message, he could only knock at his 6th granduncle's door as he realized the importance of this affair.
The time of Taixia was several hours earlier than that of Waii Sub-continent. At this moment, the sun had not yet risen in Taixia; however, Zhang's 6th granduncle had already got up and was meditating with crossed legs in his bedroom.
The moment Zhang Yang opened the door and saw his 6th granduncle's genial face had he revealed a big smile, "6th granduncle...erm...are you convenient now?"
"Zhang Yang, what's up. Come on in!" Zhang Yang's 6th granduncle replied with a smile.
Zhang Yang then entered the bedroom.
"Erm...6th granduncle...Zhang Tie has something to report to you."
"Say it...argh...what? Zhang Tie has something to report to me?" Zhang Yang's 6th granduncle's eyes instantly shined like fluorescent lamps in the highlighted crystal lens of cars.
"Hmm, erm...no, actually, I can work out remote-sensing communication with him using twin crystals!" Zhang Yang explained in an embarrassed way. Meanwhile, he took out that mini remote-sensing crystal.
Zhang Yang's 6th granduncle then looked straight into Zhang Yang's eyes, making Zhang Yang keep smirking in front of this noble old man.
Zhang Yang's 6th granduncle took a deep breath as he watched Zhang Yang's remote-sensing crystal; at the same time, he isolated the entire room with his battle qi. Nobody else could eavesdrop the talk inside the room...
"Ask him where is he now?"
...
After a few minutes, Zhang Tie received Zhang Yang's message.
"6th granduncle asks where are you?"
"I'm still in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. As I'm in a special situation, I cannot tell you about my concrete location! I've got an important thing to report to Huaiyuan Palace!"
"What's that?"
"3 days later, that super demon corps would raid Upton City under the leadership of that Demon General!" Zhang Tie briefed the key information.
After 5-6 minutes, Zhang Tie received a reply.
"Repeat what you said just now!"
"After 3 days, that super demon corps will raid Upton City under the leadership of that Demon General!"
"How did you know that?"
"It's a long story. But my message is reliable for sure. As it would pose a great influence on the overall situation across Waii Sub-continent and the interests of Huaiyuan Palace, I had to report it to Huaiyuan Palace!"
"6th granduncle said if your message is true, you will make a meritorious deed for Huaiyuan Palace. If not, it would also be a severe outcome..."
"If my intelligence is false, I would like to accept any punishment of Huaiyuan Palace. I won't joke with Huaiyuan Palace by such a major event!"
After a few minutes, Zhang Tie received another message.
"6th granduncle wants to confirm your status!"
Zhang Tie understood 6th granduncle's request, as this message was of great significance, even 6th granduncle had to be meticulous about it. Even though Zhang Yang had already confirmed about his status, their 6th granduncle wanted to confirm it once again.
"You can let him ask me some questions that are exclusive to him and I."
"Where did you see him for the first time? What was the first sentence that you told him? Where did you see him last time? What was the last sentence that he told you?"
After receiving the 4 questions, Zhang Tie answered.
"I met our 6th granduncle in the ancestral bloodline palace of the Clansmen Pavilion for the first time; the first sentence that I told him was "6th granduncle, here's Zhang Tie on behalf of Zhang Ping, my father"; the last time when I saw 6th granduncle was in the prison of Clansmen Pavilion; the last sentence that 6th granduncle told me was "Watch out later on, don't do evil things in the name of Huaiyuan Palace; otherwise, you have to face home punishments!"
After another 2 minutes, Zhang Tie received the reply.
"Our 6th granduncle warns you to not take action casually. You have to prioritize your own safety!"
"I will. I will contact you 3 days later!"
After sending this message, Zhang Tie cut off the link between his spiritual energy and the remote-sensing crystal and teleported that remote-sensing crystal into Castle of Black Iron.
At this moment, in Zhang Tie's eyes, among all the familiar people and powers that Zhang Tie knew, only Huaiyuan Palace was qualified to coordinate with the other parties in 3 days and give the super demon corps a surprise outside the Upton City. Even if Huaiyuan Palace didn't take any action, they would notify Norman Empire with this key message.
If the super demon corps really cut off the portal towards the south, Huaiyuan Palace would definitely suffer a loss. However, as this action was concerned with the survival of the countries in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor, based on the current relationship between Norman Empire and Huaiyuan Palace, even though Huaiyuan Palace was not sure about the reliability of this message, Norman Empire would never take it lightly.
If it was a common demon corps that was going to rush towards Upton City, Zhang Tie might want to do something using the double-headed parent worm in his hand. However, he could not have any chance to do that to the super demon corps at all. The only channel that the parent worm's eggs entered the bodies of the super demon corps was water; however, that super demon corps had very strict regulations on drinking the water. All the fighters only drunk flowing water that had passed the test. 'Even though I know which river would the super demon corps drink in, the parent worm's eggs would not contaminate the whole river at once.'
Zhang Tie felt that he had already pushed down the key domino. 'As to what will happen 3 days later, it depends. It would require at least 5 knights to resist that super demon corps. It's silly to resist such a destructive power by myself alone.'
'Facing such a critical situation, I can only do my own job well. The opportunity that I can see will not be invisible to those human elites.'
Zhang Tie didn't expose the intelligence that Angus Clan was a clan of Three-eye Association temporarily. If he exposed it to Huaiyuan Palace. Once the alliance launched an attack towards Angus Clan, they might kill the fake Leeb disguised by Zhang Tie. If so, he would not even have a chance to cry for being wronged. After all, Angus Clan would still be here in 3 days.
Having not imagined that the most important battle on resisting that super demon corps would break out outside Upton City since he left the Selnes Theater of Operations under his guidance, Zhang Tie felt a bit bizarre as if he was still fighting in Selnes Theater of Operations.
After doing all this, Zhang Tie entered a meditation so as to recover the physical and spiritual energy that he consumed this day.
...
After dawn, the guy called Sieg came for Zhang Tie according to the living habit of Leeb.
As a subordinate of Leeb, this guy was responsible for the materials supply in the refugee camp. Being accompanied by Rein, who was responsible for the forces of Angus Clan, they were Leeb's important lackeys to control the Angus Clan's business of the refugee camp outside Upton City.
"Ah? Provide free porridge? Young master, you mean you want to provide free porridge to the refugees? Additionally, you want to ensure that each refugee could have it?" Sieg was stunned.
Zhang Tie didn't explain it at all. Instead, he just threw an icy and impatient glance at Sieg. Sieg instantly realized that he had asked too much as he hurriedly slapped his own face twice while oozing cold sweat all over, "Yes sir...yes sir...yes sir, I will go arrange it right now. I will start to provide free porridge to the refugees from today and ensure that all the refugees could have it!"
Zhang Tie waved his hand like chasing a fly while Sieg hurriedly left the room.
...
As an old saying went, "If one wanted to disguise something, he had to disguise well until the end." According to Leeb's original arrangement, with this opportunity to provide free porridge, he would feed the refugees with all the parent worm's eggs. However, Zhang Tie didn't add the parent worm's eggs in the porridge. He only needed to let others know that Angus Clan was doing public welfare in the refugee camp.
After issuing the order, Zhang Tie found a hidden place and took out that remote-sensing crystal that he got from Tharant, the dead young elite of Arthur Clan. He then sent a series of complex ID code through that crystal based on the memory of Tharant. After that, he added a line in the secret words as they've already appointed with each other——Upton City's fruit is getting ripe.
In this event, Zhang Tie played 3 roles at the same time. Zhang Tie felt being almighty at this moment.
Chapter 697: Pre-war Preparation (I)
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Closely after Leeb's order, all the refugee camps in Upton City had started to erect big pots and provide free cooked porridge to the refugees. There were over 600 big pots across the city, in front of each of them were long lines of refugees who were queuing up for free food.
Zhang Tie's order didn't arouse any people's doubt about his motive. Celebrities like Leeb would always look very brilliant even though they were extremely bad. Leeb would attend philanthropic activities such as charity auctions and funding orphanages several times a year. This was the game rule in their circle.
This philanthropic activity was also regarded as Leeb's intention to offset the negative influence and gossips about him caused by that murderer "Peter" who killed people outside the Gold Coin Pub two days ago.
The corpses of Rein and his mistress were found by Rein's subordinate. Of course, this was owed to "Peter".
"Peter" seemed to have escaped out of Upton City last night. Leeb dispatched a powerhouse to chase after him, but there was still no message until now.
All the people who cared about this event were waiting for that powerhouse dispatched by Leeb to bring back Peter's head. However, nobody knew that Peter had already become Leeb.
Right in the same morning, Zhang Tie had his steward silently send away all the women that Leeb arranged in Upton City.
Leeb wouldn't explain what he did to others. Being afraid of his changing characters and grim means, his subordinates dared never ask why. Those women who met Zhang Tie last night also became one of the luckiest batches among all women of Leeb's. Zhang Tie had the steward give 1,000 gold coins to each of those women before burning all of their contracts in front of those women. After that, he had the steward arrange that day's airship to dispatch all the women to the south and set them free.
Although it was pretty difficult for others to get even one seat in the airship, it was just as easy as moving his lips for Leeb.
Because of the event that happened in the villa last night, the steward dared not ask about it too much. He just felt that there ought to be some unknown reason between the two events.
...
"Young master, I've sent those women away!" The steward came to Zhang Tie's room to notice Zhang Tie after finishing his job.
In front of Leeb, the steward even dared not raise his head and look straight at Leeb's eyes.
"Very good!" Zhang Tie nodded with a smile. At the same time, his eyes became as deep as black holes. Even his voice sounded irresistible, "Raise your head and look at my eyes!"
After receiving the order, the steward raised his head and watched Zhang Tie's eyes. Closely after that, he was mired in Zhang Tie's deep eyes. After over 10 seconds, Zhang Tie moved his eyes away from that steward. However, the steward found that he was still gazing at the young master. He then became so scared that he hurriedly lowered his head while oozing cold sweat over his forehead. At the same time, he was curious inside, 'How could I become so audacious? How dared I gaze at young master? If I stirred up him, my life would be in danger...'
The steward quivered all over. Even the steward himself had not realized that he became instantly more scared about "Leeb" after only 10 more seconds.
"I want to go back to Hunting Castle. Arrange it!"
"Yes, sir!"
...
Seeing the steward off, Zhang Tie revealed a sneer. Just now, he was using a secret method of bloody soul temple to clean the steward's memory on what he saw last night in the study room. Besides, he planted a soul seed in the steward's consciousness, which had already sprouted in his consciousness silently.
'After 2 days, the steward will disband all the servants and guards in this villa in the name of Leeb. After that, he will silently escape to the south to be a recluse. Of course, all this is not out of one's order for that steward; instead, it's because that the steward awakens his awareness. After 2 days, this steward will realize that he will not be under the control of Leeb any longer, he will feel being very dangerous on Leeb's side; he will feel that he will not accomplish the orders of Leeb. In order to protect himself, he will pluck up his "courage" to escape away from this evil king and the Free Commercial Federation and find a new place where the memory on Leeb's side will be regarded as a nightmare in his life. He will never remind it to others any longer; after that, he will start a new life.'
This indicated the terror of the "soul capture skill", which could unconsciously change one's awareness and behaviors.
As a steward of Leeb, Zhang Tie could almost confirm it that if Upton City was collapsed by that super demon corps 3 days later, the status of Angus Clan as a member of Three-eye Association would be exposed. As a result, the steward would definitely be caught by others and be asked about everything he knew about Leeb. 'However, the memory on how he contacted me last night would be the only possible loophole which might expose my real status. As long as the steward could describe the looks of the two members of Arthur Clan and exposed that "Leeb" killed the two people, it would definitely arouse others' doubt.'
Commoners might not be able to find any loophole through the steward's descriptions; however, many professional ones could recover the original looks of the two members of Arthur Clan based on the steward's description. After that, they could easily confirm the two people's status based on their looks. As long as they confirm that the two members of Arthur Clan belonged to Three-eye Association, the biggest problem would come——why would Leeb of Angus Clan, a member of Three-eye Association kill the two liaisons of Arthur Clan, another member of Three-eye Association? Such a conflict was forbidden in Three-eye Association. Almost nobody dared disobey it. What was the reason behind it?
'It's already very weird for me to obtain the intelligence that the demons would raid Upton City 3 days later. How could I obtain such a bizarre intelligence?' Zhang Tie was afraid that the elders of Huaiyuan Palace would link this event to him.
'Even though elders of Huaiyuan Palace don't think so, as long as this intelligence is known by the moles of Three-eye Association, it would be more boring——after the liaisons of Arthur Clan were killed, how did I know the information mastered by the liaisons of Arthur Clan? How did I know the ID code of their remote-sensing crystal and send back the false intelligence?'
'After combining the two questions, my status and many secrets would be exposed.'
This was the only loophole that Zhang Tie left in Upton City.
The simplest way to fix this loophole was to kill that steward.
However, Zhang Tie didn't want to do that. Because he knew that the steward was just an innocent commoner who worked for Leeb. He felt pitiful about that person.
Under the request of Leeb, the most "excessive" thing that this steward had done for Leeb was to deal with corpses using a corrosive liquid. Perhaps, it was not morally accepted; however, very few commoners dared say no in front of such a terrifying coercion.
'If I was still that common teenager in Blackhot City, if I had not joined the holy war, if the new head dispatched to Blackhot City from Norman Empire was like Leeb, would I dare to oppose him?'
Zhang Tie's answer was negative.
'If I couldn't do it, I should not ask others to do it.' Therefore, Zhang Tie didn't fix this loophole in the simplest method; instead, he kept the steward alive with another method.
Many people in this villa didn't know that their fates had changed greatly only after a whim occurred to Zhang Tie.
After cleaning the only possible trace in Upton City, Zhang Tie left the No. 16 manor in Wealth Avenue by a car for the Hunting Castle in the south of Upton City.
...
The Hunting Castle that Angus Clan built near the Kalay Mountain Range in the south of Upton City symbolized the wealth and social status of the clan. As there were a lot of wild and magical beasts in Kalay Mountain range, the peripheral of the mountain, where low-level magical beasts would always appear, became the sacred hunting region. The Hunting Castle of Angus Clan was rightly for the purpose of hunting. Besides, Angus Clan even trained a great batch of wild hunters so as to accompany Young Master Leeb to hunt in the mountain.
Of course, this was just the impression of Hunting Castle in the eyes of outsiders. In Zhang Tie's eyes, the Hunting Castle was actually a secret base of Three-eye Association in Upton City. Those wild hunters that Angus Clan trained in Hunting Castle could actually form a powerful maneuver force of Three-eye Association in the Free Commercial Federation. Being different from those servants and guards of Leeb in the No. 16 manor in Wealth Avenue, each person in this Hunting Castle clearly knew about their status and the status of Angus Clan. These people were unswerving allegiance to Three-eye Association.
Hunting Castle was where Leeb hunted for low-level wild and magical beasts and where he cultivated.
The Hunting Castle was more than 50 miles away from Upton City, which was right at the foot of a mountain. There was only one rough road from Upton City to the Hunting Castle. Only one part of the rough road was accessible. The road came to an end when there was still over 10 miles left for the Hunting Castle. There was already a team of cavalries on magical horses waiting there for him at the foot of the mountain slope near the end of the road.
Only Angus Clan's cars came here all the way along the rough road across Upton City. With a telescope in the Hunting Castle, people would easily observe the trace of the cars. Therefore, each time Leeb came here, those wild hunters in the Hunting Castle would come here to welcome him.
Watching so many b*stards of Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie felt like seeing fruits of brilliance hanging on the small tree...
Chapter 698: Pre-war Preparation (II)
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
More than 20 wild hunters came to welcome Zhang Tie. All of them were wearing clothes and hats made of animal hides. Many of them were carrying crossbows and bolts on their back.
This was a great force. Of course, there were more wild hunters in the Hunting Castle, 287 people in total, about half of which were LV 5 warriors, while the other half varied from LV 6 to LV 9. The head of these wild hunters was a LV 11 battle master called Hany. Such a combined force definitely ranked high among all the countries in Blackson Humans Corridor.
In usual time, these people were wild hunters. However, when needed, they were maneuver force of Three-eye Association. These people had already robbed business groups many times nearby the Gusbay Trail of Kalay Mountain Range. Each time, nobody in the business groups survived. Leeb even joined one case. Besides, some murders in Free Commercial Federation were also involved with these people. Angus Clan even used these people to clear many opponents and disobeyed ones.
"Young Master, please mount the horse!" A tall person with a tattoo in his face invited Zhang Tie as he led a magical horse here.
"Hany, what's up in Hunting Castle these days?" Zhang Tie asked as he mounted on the magical horse adroitly. As Zhang Tie had already unveiled the 4th floor of All-spirits Pagoda, he was very sensitive to the senses of all the animals below LV 4 and was able to communicate with them. When that magical horse found a stranger was moving closer to him, it threw a glance at Zhang Tie. However, it instantly recovered its composure when Zhang Tie touched its neck with his hand. Besides, it intimately rubbed Zhang Tie's arm with its head.
"With your blessings, everything is well!" Hany answered respectfully.
"We've not hunted for a long time. I'm sure those preys have been impatient. We need to have a big party this time!"
After hearing this pun, Hany's eyes gleamed as he licked his lips. Meanwhile, all the others burst out laughing.
Before Zhang Tie's cars left, Zhang Tie told them to come here to pick him up 4 days later. Actually, they would have been disbanded by the steward after 2 days.
" Gya 1 ..." Zhang Tie clutched the belly of the magical horse by his legs, making it rush towards the Hunting Castle, followed by others hurriedly.
...
The magical horse moved very fast. In only a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie had already caught sight of the Hunting Castle of Angus Clan, which was a quality castle. As it was featured by hunting, it had a stronger defensive ability and aggressiveness. Its castle wall was higher with more collective firepower than that of common castles. Additionally, its location was steeper. Furthermore, there seemed to be a live spring in the Hunting Castle. On the back of the Hunting Castle, a snowwhite waterfall was descending from the rock of the cliff and falling into the valley below 100 m.
Zhang Tie kept galloping his magical horse. Noticing Zhang Tie's arrival, the suspension bridge outside the Hunting Castle had long been put down. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly rushed in. Imitating what Leeb always did, he didn't jump off his magical horse until he arrived at the stairs outside the lobby of the Hunting Castle. After throwing the rein to a person, Zhang Tie straightly walked upstairs and entered the lobby.
Those who welcomed Zhang Tie also followed him in the Hunting Castle. Besides Hany, who followed Zhang Tie in the lobby, all the others went to do their own jobs.
...
"Young master, are we going to set off soon?" Hany instantly asked the moment he entered the lobby.
"Tell everybody to prepare for it these couple of days. There's a big action after 3 days!" Zhang Tie issued the order routinely. Even if the real Leeb arrived here, he would also say this. According to Leeb's plan, when the super demon corps were close to Upton City after 3 days, he would have these people disguise themselves and plunder some business groups in the downtown. After that, he would pretend to escape away from Upton City by an airship in the Hunting Castle together with these people and the items plundered by them. After arriving at the south of Blackson Humans Corridor, he would continue to be the young master while hiding his real status.
"Ah? What's our target?" Hany asked anxiously.
"You don't need to know that for the time being!" Zhang Tie waved his hand impatiently as he added with a grim look while narrowing his eyes, "Tell them to stay here these couple of days and ensure that there's no tricky person near the Hunting Castle. Additionally, have them check the functions of the airship and maintain it in the optimal state. I want it to fly off as soon as possible when in need!"
"Yes, sir!"
"As I will also prepare for the action, I will cultivate in the backroom these couple of days. When Aral comes back, tell him to take a rest in the castle for a couple of days and don't disturb me!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Alright, you can leave now."
Hany then moved out of the lobby.
...
Until Hany left did Zhang Tie start to glance seriously at this lobby. Watching the expensive crystal generators in four corners, the bear hides on the floor and the beasts' heads which had been made into specimens hanging on the walls, Zhang Tie swore inside, 'What a f*cking luxurious life...'
Various animals, which had been captured by these people from Kalay Mountain Range were bred in a place of the Hunting Castle. Now that these people disguised as wild hunters, they had to hunt something when they went out like real wild hunters do. They could use some living animals to tell others that they were not bad wild hunters; additionally, they could eat these animals when they wanted.
After the space in Castle of Black Iron was upgraded, Zhang Tie had been intending to move some more animals into Castle of Black Iron to make it more vigorous. Meanwhile, he could have some more incarnations in different emergencies. This time, he could make his dream come true.
'But this is not the right time to do it. I will do it before leaving.'
Zhang Tie wanted to make a good preparation for the coming battle in the Hunting Castle. No matter what strategies would Huaiyuan Palace adopt after 3 days, now that he could capture the shadow of that super demon corps in Upton City, Zhang Tie intended to kill a batch of iron-armored demons so as to take one more fruit of source of iron-armored demons.
'Besides LV 9 iron-armored demons, there are also numerous demon powerhouses in that super demon corps such as at least 5 knights, a lot of battle spirits and battle demons. It's very necessary for me to further improve my battle force while risking some dangers. Coincidentally, I've just killed so many assh*les these days. I must have new fruits of brilliance and judgment. It is a good opportunity to digest it.
...
After a few minutes, Zhang Tie entered Leeb's backroom in the Hunting Castle.
There were two tunnels underground in the backroom, one led to Leeb's bedroom, the other led to a secret emergency escaping tunnel, which was only known by Leeb in the Hunting Castle.
Zhang Tie entered the backroom from Leeb's bedroom. Besides millions of gold coins, Zhang Tie saw many practical items that he could use to cultivate, such as various medicaments, over 100 vials of all-purpose medicament and some quality armors and weapons that Leeb collected.
Without even identifying them, Zhang Tie straightly swept all the items from the backroom and moved them into Castle of Black Iron.
Closely after that, Zhang Tie contacted Leeb's father who was in the south of Blackson Humans Corridor using the remote-sensing crystal in the backroom. He used Leeb's tone to communicate with his father and "performed" how Leeb used to do.
After doing this, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron...
There were 3 ripe fruits on the small tree, one leakless fruit, one fruit of brilliance and a fruit of judgment, which contained a medium "cracking" rune...
Watching the 3 fruits, Zhang Tie grinned.
...
Two days had passed, during which period, besides cultivation, Zhang Tie also studied the map of the north of Upton City. He even silently left the Hunting Castle in his incarnation and checked the terrain carefully in the north of Upton City. If the super demon corps marched towards here, they would definitely come from the north, west-north and east-north. The farther it was away from Upton City, the more difficult it would be to precisely locate the traces of the super demon corps. Finally, Zhang Tie reached a conclusion, 'Huaiyuan Palace could only ambush within a fan region about 150-300 miles away from Upton City in the north. As to the concrete location, it depended on the direction the super demon corps came from.'
Actually, Zhang Tie was a bit indecisive these two days. Because he failed to find any abnormal situation outside Upton City even though he had circled many times outside there in the incarnation of the thunder hawk. In this case, there were only two possibilities, his intelligence didn't arouse the attention of any influential figure; the humans' preparation outside Upton City was out of his imagination. Zhang Tie expected that it was the second one. If it was the first one, it would be a great trouble.
...
On the second evening, Zhang Tie came out of the backroom after making his preparations well.
The moment Zhang Tie walked out of the backroom had he issued his order, "Re-group all the members of the Hunting Castle in the lobby. I will invite all of you; meanwhile, I have something 'important' to proclaim..."
Chapter 699: The Arrival of the Super Demon Corps
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
On the evening of August 31st, all the 287 wild hunters gathered in the lobby of the Hunting Castle...
There were only burning torches that used beast's oil instead of fluorescent lamps in the lobby, under the reflection of which, all those in the lobby looked red.
After Zhang Tie proclaimed that the super demon corps was going to raid Upton City tomorrow, everyone in the lobby exclaimed.
What an amazing news!
Zhang then told them about their jobs for tomorrow according to the arrangement of the real Leeb. After the exclamation, all of the wild hunters started to pant as they shot out bloody eye light.
Some barrels of liquor was served. After casually moving his hands over those barrels, Zhang Tie took a barrel and made a glass of liquor for himself; closely after that, the barrel was passed to all the rest.
After a short while, everyone in the lobby lifted their glasses.
"After tomorrow, half of the land of Blackson Humans Corridor would belong to our Three-eye Association. All of you at present would be the rulers of this land in the future. You will have countless money and beauties. Let's cheer for the triumph tomorrow!"
Watching Zhang Tie finishing his liquor, all the others lifted their glasses and finished them up with a great passion.
After seeing all of them drinking off the liquor, Zhang Tie let out a sigh, 'How terrifying it is for me to combine the body-changing bloodline, secret methods of bloody soul temple and Castle of Black Iron! With them, I can easily do many things that can never be imagined.'
"Young master, why do you sigh?' Hany asked Zhang Tie with a brilliant look as he was sitting right below Zhang Tie's side.
"Alas, why did you choose to be the lackeys of demons and Three-eye Association? Remember to be a good person in your afterlife, if there's a chance!" Zhang Tie said sincerely as he watched Hany.
After hearing Zhang Tie's words, everybody became stunned...
"Young master, you..." Hany's face immediately turned as black as charcoal. Before finishing his words, he had already fallen on the ground in front of Zhang Tie stiffly.
Almost at the same time, with consecutive noises, everybody in the lobby fell down like an ear of wheat, except for Zhang Tie. All of them looked as pitch dark as charcoal.
As a result, the noisy lobby instantly became quiet. Only Zhang Tie was still sitting in the original seat. Hearing the rattling sound of the burning torch that had been immersed in beasts' oil and seeing the flames swaying in the air, Zhang Tie felt an icy and terrifying qi spreading in the lobby.
Zhang Tie was also shocked, 'This kind of poison is sometimes more destructive than any other force.'
Zhang Tie sprayed a poison named Poison of Black Sand in the liquor just now. Zhang Tie got it when he raided Zhen Clan Mansion in Huaiyuan Palace. Such a simple and efficient way occurred to his mind when he thought about how to cope with those b*stards of Three-eye Association in the Hunting Castle these couple of days.
Thankfully, all the guys were used to drinking alcohol before they were dispatched out to do tasks by Leeb. Therefore, Zhang Tie believed that they would not doubt him if he poisoned them with liquor. Additionally, Zhang Tie found another powerful function of Castle of Black Iron, namely, nobody would find him spraying the poison of black sand into the barrel in front of them. Because nobody else could add the rank poison into the barrel only by touching the barrel.
As of now, all the forces of Angus Clan in the north of Kalay Mountain Range had been easily swept over by Zhang Tie.
Zhang Tie sat there and watched those corpses for a short while. After then, he picked himself up and took a round in the lobby. After throwing all the corpses in the Abyss of Chaos, Zhang Tie opened the gate of the lobby and walked out. Standing on the stairs outside the lobby, Zhang Tie looked up at the brilliant stars.
It was almost midnight. Being blown by the cold night wind, Zhang Tie finally let out a deep sigh as he recovered his composure from the complex feelings when he killed 287 people at the same time. This was Zhang Tie's first time to kill people with poison. Compared to punches and blades, it brought Zhang Tie a new feeling. Pitifully, there were too few people at present. If there were hundreds more of them, Zhang Tie might even have tried the effect of the eggs of the double-headed parent worm.
'All these b*stards of Three-eye Association deserved death. I just fought poison with poison.' Zhang Tie comforted himself.
No matter how many murders had happened on the land and how many pains had it carried; no matter how many species had thought that they could be the owner of the land, the stars in the sky had remained unchanged since the ancient times. Looking up at the brilliant stars, Zhang Tie felt a great, firm power from them.
The Hunting Castle became quiet at once as Zhang Tie could only hear the twitters of the insects in the mountain and the rustles of the tree leaves outside the Hunting Castle...
Zhang Tie left the lobby and strode towards the stable of animals. It was beside a small garden in the east of the Hunting Castle.
There were various animals, birds and beasts in iron cages, big or small. All of them could be seen in Kalay Mountain Range such as tigers, leopards, brown bears, mutated pangolins, huge wolves, lizards, some snakes with bizarre colors and some birds in different sizes. The most special one was an ant's nest in a huge metal can, while the ants inside were a bit larger than common ants. However, they were shining looming luster all over...
When Zhang Tie was thinking about moving all the animals into Castle of Black Iron, he was suddenly puzzled by a question. Patting his head, he asked himself, 'It's easy for those omnivorous or vegetarian animals to survive in Castle of Black Iron, what about carnivores like tigers and leopards? What do they eat? To the final analysis, it seems that Castle of Black Iron has not established a complete ecological system yet. After so many years of collection, the plants inside have been very plentiful; however, it still lacked animals. Besides numerous bees and earthworms, Zhang Tie could almost count all the animals using his 10 fingers, 'I'd better not lock these carnivores in the cages and have people feed them everyday inside Castle of Black Iron. Otherwise, Castle of Black Iron would become a zoo.'
After thinking for a short while, Zhang straightly moved all the vegetarian and omnivorous animals into Castle of Black Iron including that ants' nest. As to the other carnivores, he just set them free from the cages.
At this moment, Zhang Tie had been an eligible descendant of the Great Wilderness School. Those carnivores behaved in a docile way in front of Zhang Tie. After sensing some special qi from Zhang Tie, the huge wolf was even a bit scared of Zhang Tie.
In the dark, Zhang Tie led these animals out of the Hunting Castle and set them free in the wild. After that, Zhang Tie came back to the Hunting Castle and moved all the valuable items into Castle of Black Iron, including over 100 barrels of liquor in the cellar, over 10,000 secret books in the study, numerous grains and seeds in the warehouse, crates of tools and some senior metal and wood processing platforms.
Leeb also had an extremely luxurious costume room here, where there were hundreds of wholly-new hunting costumes, warrior's costumes, leather boots, gloves and waistbands. All of them were of top quality. Zhang Tie then straightly moved all of them into Castle of Black Iron. 'Just take them as customized ones. From now on, I don't need to buy clothes anymore. Actually, I couldn't buy such high-end costumes from anywhere.'
'Ahem..ahem...I have a family now, I have 3 babies to feed. Just save some money.' Zhang Tie thought stingily as he had completely forgotten that he had gained over an enormous wealth with the unit of 100 million in Tokei City.
After sweeping over all the valuable items in the Hunting Castle, Zhang Tie set free all the living beings. After producing such a scene that was usually portrayed in detective novels, Zhang Tie incarnated into a black beetle and left out of here.
One hour later, Zhang Tie reappeared in the pitch-dark No. 16 manor in Wealth Avenue. At this moment, nobody in Upton City had found that everyone in this manor had disappeared. The steward might have disbanded all the members here almost 10 hours ago. After that, the steward himself escaped successfully. The steward would be proud of the courage and awareness that he plucked up today for the rest of his life as long as he's alive.
Being afraid of getting murdered by Leeb, the steward dared not take away any item from here when he left, except for his personal savings.
In this manor, Zhang Tie also moved those costumes that he saw in the costume room two days ago into Castle of Black Iron.
As men's costumes remained unchanged for hundreds of years, Zhang Tie knew that he didn't need to buy any costume for the rest of his life.
After clearing the last benefit of Angus Clan, Zhang Tie incarnated into a thunder hawk and flew towards the north...
After flying over 200 miles towards the north of Upton City, Zhang Tie landed on a twig of a huge tree near the peak as he started to look at the front, left and right with his sharp eyes.
There was a possibility of 33% for the super demon corps to pass by the road beneath this peak. If not, they would rush towards Upton City from the other two directions less than 50 miles away from this road. Therefore, it was easy for him to detect the trace of the super demon corps.
Zhang Tie then waited for the arrival of the super demon corps silently...
After 4-5 hours, the super demon corps finally arrived at the dawn of September 1st.
Precisely, Zhang Tie didn't see the super demon corps; instead, he saw a familiar bright bolt-shaped light pillar targeting the heaven. It reminded Zhang Tie of the same ground-breaking bolt that Elder Muray shot towards the sky in front of him...
Closely after that bolt-shaped light pillar, Zhang Tie saw almost 10 powerful battle-qi totems rising up, which almost scared him to death...
'F*ck, 10 knights! 10 human knights! What a scene...'
Zhang Tie instantly showed his original look. Being blessed by his Kuafu Bloodline and senior rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie strode off the peak only by a couple of steps and rushed towards the far straightly.
When he came out of Castle of Black Iron, he was still "Leeb"; however, after striding off the peak by 3 steps as fast as a lightning bolt, he had already recovered his original look. At this critical moment, Zhang Tie dared never join the battle in the look of a stranger. As there were so many human knights over there, if any of them recognized that he was a member of Three-eye Association or demons, they might launch a strike towards him when they passed by him; it would a tragedy if that really happened. By comparison, in the orthodox look of Hua people, he would be safer...
Chapter 700: A Head-on Strike
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Nobody had imagined that the fiercest collision between humans forces and the super demon corps would break out on the wilderness over 200 miles away from Upton in the north after the demonized puppets corps broke Humans' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations.
At this moment, Zhang Tie was rushing towards the battlefield as fast as a lightning bolt. With the effect of Kuafu Bloodline, Zhang Tie felt that the entire land became a huge spring. Each time he landed on the ground would he spring up and fly over 100 m ahead. He kept springing up and rushing forward in this way like a meteor chasing after the moon.
With the effect of the senior rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie's Kuafu Bloodline raised its speed by 3 times, enabling Zhang Tie to almost match a knight in speed.
In only a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie was just 30 miles away from the battlefield.
Right then, a large number of fury-level airships dived towards the place where the battle-qi totems rose from behind the clouds like sharks that were chasing after their prey.
Within Zhang Tie's vision, those airships started to drop a large number of black spots towards the battlefield like spraying beans.
Zhang Tie knew that most of the black spots should be combustible gel bombs, while the others might be...
Right then, some ground-breaking sounds drifted from afar, which were caused by more than one alchemist's bombs. Closely after that, Zhang Tie saw the fiery flames over dozens of miles away which almost tainted the whole sky.
'How fierce!' Zhang Tie had never imagined that Huaiyuan Palace could launch such a head-on blow towards the super demon corps at the beginning.
At this moment, all the people inside Upton City had been awakened by the loud sounds. All the garrisons in the airship bases outside Upton City were looking up at the sky with surprising looks as the whole sky had been covered with huge battle airships.
It seemed that all the huge battle airships were hiding in the mountain near Kalay Mountain Range. At this moment, they all rose up and rushed towards the north at the fastest speed while being covered with a killing qi.
Over 3,000 airships almost covered the whole sky, making onlookers' hearts pound.
"My God, what's happening?" all the soldiers in an airship base outside Upton City were looking up at the sky with surprising looks. Even those refugees in the constant refugee camps outside Upton City had walked out of their tents and watched the terrifying airship troop rushing towards the north with dumbfounded looks.
A major general of an airship base hurriedly rushed out from his dorm, improperly dressed, into the highest watchtower of the base. He then grabbed the telescope from the watchtower and targeted those airships.
"Ah? They are from Jinyun Country and Qilan Country in the south. What's happening?"
Nobody could answer him. When a whim occurred to his mind, the military commissioner instantly turned the telescope towards the north...
Through the telescope, that military commissioner only saw obscure shadows at the beginning. After focusing on the targets, he could almost see those shadows clearly in the north dawn...
The major general's face instantly turned pale as he saw over 10 battle-qi totems rising over 200 miles away from Upton City in the north. He knew what did it mean...
"Ring the battle alert. The super demon corps is attacking us..." The major general roared, which could almost be heard across the airship base. The entire Upton City then became chaotic...
According to the plan of Three-eye Association and demons, at this moment, Leeb had already chopped off one of the double-headed parent worm's head and turned millions of refugees outside Upton City into demonized puppets, causing the entire Upton City into a hell. However, because of Zhang Tie's deed, although many people were growing flurried, none of them turned into a demonized puppet.
While running, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie's mind. He then rapidly took out the remote-sensing crystal that he used to communicate with his elder brother. Benefited from the skill "mental arithmetic by abacus", he sent a key message to his elder brother.
——Elder brother, are you there?
——Yes, I am!
Given the rapid response, it seemed that his elder brother and 6th granduncle had been waiting for his message.
——Angus Clan of Free Commercial Federation belong to Three-eye Association, never let them go!
Zhang Tie knew that this message would be sent back to Huaiyuan Palace at the fastest speed. After confirming that his earlier message was accurate, this message almost sent Angus Clan to the gallows. It was forgivable that humans could not punish those humans clans of Three-eye Association; however, if they could not even catch the exposed humans clans of Three-eye Association in the territory of humans, they didn't need to fight demons anymore.
After sending out this message, Zhang Tie put away his remote-sensing crystal as he accelerated towards the battlefield.
...
The battle had started in the fiercest state from the sky to the ground. The human elites that ambushed here didn't spare any time for demons to respond. The fiercest collision occurred at the beginning.
In the sky, Elder Muray from Huaiyuan Palace was coordinating with the airship troop as he was shooting out bolts towards wing demons. Each of his bolts was effective within 2,000 m.
After the wing demons' threat was cleared, the airship troop that flashed out of the clouds immediately dropped batches of combustible gel bombs towards the super demon corps like how hens laid eggs, causing hot fiery nets rising to the sky on the battlefield.
No matter how rapid the super demon corps responded to the strike, they were a troop of 100,000 demon fighters. They occupied almost 1-2 sq km on the ground. Given such a great density, even if they were dead rats, they could also be hit by the combustible gel bombs, not to mention that each combustible gel bomb would cause a fire sea within 100 sq m. Even stones could be burned, not to mention living beings. What was more was that some of the ammo were terrifying alchemist's bombs.
The first round of strike of the airship troop was the most effective as the formation of the super demon corps had not been fully dispersed. As a result, the first round of strike burned over 5,000 super demons into ruins or exploded them into pieces; meanwhile, almost the same number of super demons were injured. This was the most brilliant achievement that the human airship troop had made across Blackson Humans Corridor since the beginning of the holy war.
The 4 human knights encountered 4 demon knights, 3 human knights circled the Demon General, 2 human knights were making a massacre in the super demon corps horizontally and vertically. The ground-breaking clashes and booms could be heard dozens of miles away.
The battle range of knights was quite wide. Between the sky and the ground, they could move miles in a split second and clash with each other dozens even hundreds of times. Besides the 3 human knights who circled around the Demon General, the 4 human knights who fought the 4 demon knights had been dozens of miles away from the main battlefield and dispersed in four directions only after a couple of minutes.
Together with the dispersing knights were the super demon corps. After suffering a severe loss from the first round of attack of human airship troop, this super demon corps had dispersed at a terrifying speed while displaying a terrifying battle force. As a result, the human airship troop made a poor achievement in the second round of attack.
After realizing that they had fallen into the delicate trap of humans, the super demon corps had already started to evacuate rapidly towards northeast before greater batches of human airships arrived from afar. At this moment, it was blowing northeast wind in the sky. Being resisted by the wind, the airship troop slowed down. As a result, they could only watch the super demon corps escape farther and farther away...
Even moving against the wind, the airships could also fly over 140 miles per hour. However, the airships could still not catch up with that super demon corps. What a terrifying super demon corps!
After Elder Muray issued an order to the airship troop, he had been chasing after the rest wing demons. It was a rare chance to give a severe blow to the airforce of the demons.
During the evacuation, 8 battle-spirit demons blocked 2 human knights. As a result, the 2 human knights' destruction to the super demon corps sharply reduced...
...
"Lin Changjiang..." The Demon General in a pitch-dark fully-body armor roared as he glared at that man with its eyes which were as fierce as that of ghosts after the 4 meteors separated from a collision.
On the opposite of the Demon General, that man was at his 50s. With a faint purple face, sword-sized eyebrows and snowwhite whiskers, he looked pretty dignified. Plus, a pair of heroic, shiny crane-like eyes, he could leave a deep impression on people at the first sight of him...
Two more human knights were standing in the air behind the Demon General, one was the Lan elder that Zhang Tie had met in the Crystal Battle Fortress, while the other was from Norman Empire who broke out and left Mocco City when it was collapsed by demonized puppets...
Chapter 701: The Three-in-One Strength
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
"Nice to see you, Demon General!" Lin Changjiang smiled.
Although the distances between the 3 knights remained unchanged relatively, actually, all of them were moving rapidly in the air. The Demon General always stayed ahead of the super demon corps.
"Three-in-One Strength!" The Demon General uttered a muffled voice through the air holes on its mask. It carried the bizarre sense of metal resonance. Commoners might feel disgusting when they heard this sound.
"We could only use three-in-one tactic to deal with Demon General!" Lin Changjiang said.
The other two human knights remained silent as they just stared at Demon General.
"I've not imagined that I could fall into your trap once again after the event in Nein City. I really wonder how did you know I would raid Upton City."
"It's simple. Your plan is exposed to us through our moles in Three-eye Association! What could be promised by demons could also be increased 10 times by us." Lin Changjiang explained calmly.
After hearing this, Demon General slightly narrowed his eyes. Whereas, after only 2 seconds, Demon General had burst out laughing, "I was almost fooled!"
"Really? Are you sure that I don't know that my lie would be seen through by you right away?" Lin Changjiang's eyes were filled with profound and mysterious brilliance.
The red light flickered in Demon General's eyes, "I admit that I have indeed belittled you this time!"
"It's the second time for you to belittle us!"
"Lin Changjiang..." Demon General's voice instantly became icy while the red light in his eyes turned dangerous at once, "One day, I will chop off all the males' heads in your clans and string them together as my collection. All the females in your clans will be my slaves and playthings. Don't you humans hate clans of Three-eye Association? I will have all the females in your clans give birth to my descendants and have their offsprings as the new clans of Three-eye Association. Hahahaha..."
After hearing this, Lin Changjiang threw a solemn look as he said, "It depends on whether you can survive today!"
"Let's see who survives today!" The Demon General instantly accelerated as he launched the severe battle...
...
The super demon corps moved too fast to be caught up by airships even against the wind. However, it was a piece of cake for Zhang Tie.
Zhang Tie arrived at the initial battlefield and saw a lot of burning corpses of demon fighters and many other corpses that looked bizarre. After counting it silently, Zhang Tie estimated that at least 5,000-6,000 demon fighters were killed here.
When he met those who had not completely died, Zhang Tie released his palm bolts to end their lives quickly.
At this moment, Zhang Tie was wearing a special band-waist which was filled with about 1,000 palm bolts. Hanging on Zhang Tie's body, they formed a special armor.
It was the most efficient way to kill those iron-armored demons between LV 9 to LV 12. Within 100 m, Zhang Tie could definitely hit over 20 targets per second. This was really a sharp weapon on the battlefield.
At this moment, Zhang Tie didn't know that all the powerhouses above battle spirits in the super demon corps were busy with their own affairs.
After passing over that battlefield, within 5 minutes, Zhang Tie had already caught up with the tail of the super demon corps.
'God helps me.' Zhang Tie exclaimed inside after realizing that no powerhouses of super demon corps had paid attention to him. It was more like a customized chance for him.
'Fruit of source, here I come!'
After exclaiming inside, Zhang Tie kept releasing his palm bolts and exploded more than 20 iron-armored demons in a split second. Before the other iron-armored demons in the end of the formation realized what happened, Zhang Tie immediately rushed into the formation of the super demon corps and started his cool massacre.
At this moment, the moving speed of the super demon corps was mainly determined by LV 9 iron-armored demons. Although they moved faster than commoners, they were crawling as slowly as tortoises in Zhang Tie's knight's consciousness. When Zhang Tie was LV 9, he could already easily kill a small team of iron-armored demons, not to mention now.
With the terrifying speed and the destruction of his palm bolts, Zhang Tie felt as overwhelming as a baby shark breaking in a swarm of tadpoles. Wherever he went, all the iron-armored demons within 200 sq m were his targets.
At this moment, Zhang Tie was more like an unrivaled firepower output platform. In that case, even a knight could not match Zhang Tie's efficiency in diminishing iron-armored demons.
After activating his skill "mental arithmetic by abacus", Zhang Tie targeted at iron-armored demons on his left and right sides at the same time while palm bolts flew off his two hands at the same time, making him a terrifying humanoid battery.
During the 2 minutes, Zhang Tie shocked all the others, either demons or humans. None of them could imagine such a freak.
During the 2 minutes, Zhang Tie kept rushing forward as he kept releasing his palm bolts. He would release 7-16 palm bolts per second from each hand. As a result, wherever he passed by was always accompanied by the cracking sounds of crackers...
Mainly, Zhang Tie would kill each target with only one palm bolt. If he failed to do that, it indicated that the target was above LV 12; he would then never waste his time and energy to release the 2nd palm bolt towards the same target; instead, he would get rid of that target as fast as possible. After that, he would continue to kill those weaker ones below LV 12 within 200 sq m.
What an extremely wretched and terrifying tactic!
In usual days, Zhang Tie would never have such a chance. He might have already been chased away awkwardly by any demon powerhouse above battle spirit before he got close to the super demon corps. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie caught the God-given opportunity and created an amazing meritorious deed.
Only in 2 minutes, Zhang Tie had already released all the 1,000-odd palm bolts. Almost 1,000 iron-armored demons fell on the ground. The tail of the super demon corps was severely destroyed. Certainly, Zhang Tie was followed by a big tail, which was composed of LV 13-14 demon powerhouses. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie just ignored them. As they could not catch up with Zhang Tie, they could only growl towards Zhang Tie's back with furious looks...
At the sight of this, everybody else was shocked inside, even human and demon knights...
'Who's that guy?'
At the sight of this, Demon General, who was surrounded by 3 human knights, was instantly driven mad that he even wanted to dive down there and tore Zhang Tie into pieces.
By contrast, noticing Zhang Tie's excellent performance, the Lan elder was also extremely stunned.
'Zhang Tie...'
A name flashed across Lan elder's mind. As the 3 human powerhouses were in a three-in-one state, their knights' consciousness were closely connected with each other. Therefore, Lin Changjiang and that knight from Norman Empire also knew that the human elite on the ground was Zhang Tie.
'Selnes Eagle?'
'Yes!'
Zhang Tie attacked the super demon corps together with 10 human knights across Blackson Humans Corridor and killed over 1,000 enemies individually, namely 1/100 of the entire battle force of the super demon corps. After this battle, Zhang Tie had become a legendary person while his name was well-known across the Blackson Humans Corridor.
After using up his palm bolts, Zhang Tie started to release his Iron-blood punches like shells. As a result, some LV 13 demon powerhouses were killed by him in an extremely arbitrary way. Additionally, all the iron-armored demons within 30 steps were exterminated by the off-hand battle qi of his Iron-blood Fist, one punch for one demon.
After his palm bolts, Zhang Tie's Iron-blood Fist made him eye-catching on the battlefield once again...
At the sight of Zhang Tie's performance, all the knights from Norman Empire widened their eyes.
At this moment, Zhang Tie felt pretty satisfied. He even had a feeling of sacrificing himself. The more demons could he kill this time, the fewer humans would be killed in the future.
In such a rising, dauntless battle consciousness, Zhang Tie's Iron-blood Fist evolved once again.
...
Another 1,000 airships appeared in the northeast sky. Following the wind, they were accelerating towards the remaining super demon corps. As if they had long predicted that the super demon corps would rush in that direction, great batches of combustible gel bombs were dropped from the airships, causing a secondary severe casualty to the super demon corps.
With a boom, the battle qi cloud formed by the 4 knights exploded. As a result, the 3 human knights looked a bit pale. Lin Changjiang's mouth corners maintained blood stains. The Demon General's armor was also damaged to a certain degree.
The Demon General's eyes looked pretty grim under his helmet.
"You forced me to do that!"
A bunch of light rose from Demon General's back and formed the complex, geometrical halos. Closely after that, an invisible shockwave spread over the entire battlefield from the halos...
"Three-in-one strength!" Lin Changjiang exclaimed as a firm look flashed across his eyes at once. After that, he rapidly took out a vial of rufous medicament and drunk it. The other two human knights also quickly took out vials of medicament or pills and drunk them. Meanwhile, they all looked solemn...
All the human knights had been shocked by that shockwave. Therefore, they immediately drunk or ate some rare medicament or pills to sharply increase their battle force...
...
Zhang Tie didn't know what happened in the sky. He could only sense a bizarre and invisible strength covering the entire battlefield. If he did not have the knight's consciousness, Zhang Tie could never sense such a change.
Closely after that shock wave, all the demon fighters facing Zhang Tie had their battle-qi totems risen up. Meanwhile, there was a bizarre rune on each one's back. As a result, each demon fighter's speed increased by at least 30% in a split second.
Zhang Tie immediately felt a sharply increasing stress.
'What's happening?' Zhang Tie was also shocked...
"Kill him!" A merciless order drifted from the sky.
Before Zhang Tie figured out what was happening, the two colliding "meteors" had finished their battle. A human knight flashed away while spurting out fresh blood. The demon knight who had fought the human knight also had a bizarre rune on his back. He straightly flew towards Zhang Tie with a strong killing qi. Zhang Tie instantly felt that he was locked by a powerful spiritual energy...
'Demon Knight? F*ck...'
Zhang Tie instantly turned around and escaped at the maximum speed...
The battle situation changed abruptly. The two human knights who were wrestled by a number battle-spirit demons rose up and headed for supporting other human knights, leaving the demons on the ground to the airships. No matter how great the three-in-one strength was, it could never enable those below knights to fly. However, the human knights in the sky were mired in a dangerous situation.
After a few minutes, Elder Muray, who had scared the sh*t out of the wing demons, felt the abnormal situation here as he hurriedly flew towards here from the north. Before he joined the sharp battle qi clouds had he heard Lan elder's sound.
"Brother Muray, hurry, Zhang Tie is being chased by a Demon Knight in the southeast direction..."
'What? Zhang Tie...'
After glancing over the battlefield, Elder Muray instantly flew towards the southeast.
...
Zhang Tie had not felt such a feeling for a long time. Last time, this feeling appeared in the Wild Wolf Valley, when he was hunted by 3 wild wolves. However, this time, he was tightly locked by a Demon Knight with its spiritual energy.
In this state, Zhang Tie felt like a rabbit being chased by a falcon. Although being in a dilemma, he felt pretty calm inside.
The map about this region that he formed when he flew over this region in the incarnation of thunder hawk a couple of days ago appeared in Zhang Tie's mind at this moment. Zhang Tie started to rack his mind so as to seek for the chance to escape...
Chapter 702: In the Deep Underground
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Zhang Tie didn't know that Elder Muray had rushed towards him. He just exerted his full effort to run with the effect of senior rapid moving skill and Kuafu Bloodline. Additionally, he even triggered his "mental arithmetic by abacus". When he sensed the chaser's movements and strikes with knight's consciousness, he kept seeking for the most proper road to escape.
Any other LV 12 great battle master or powerhouse such as battle general or battle demon would have long died hundreds of times in Zhang Tie's case. However, Zhang Tie still escaped crazily.
That demon knight flew over 50 m above the ground while its powerful battle qi booms constantly exploded in all directions near Zhang Tie like meteors. Although being embarrassed, Zhang Tie could always dodge from its strikes.
In the eyes of that demon knight, Zhang Tie was more like an oily flea with eyes on his back. The demon knight could not attack him.
Actually, The knight's flight speed was directly proportional to its height. The higher, the faster. At this moment, Zhang Tie calculated the knight's flight speed calmly. He could make full use of the conflict between the knight's height and speed. If that demon knight wanted to catch up with him, it had to stay over 200 m above the ground; however, in that height, the demon knight's strike posed no threat to him; if that demon knight wanted to launch effective strikes to him, it had to descend its height and speed. As a result, it would lose its advantage in speed, sparing time for him to respond.
Additionally, the knight was affected by its flight inertia. Previously, his agility was not influenced too much by such an inertia; however, in front of Zhang Tie, its flight inertia was amplified numerous times by Zhang Tie's extremely swift movements. As a result, its flight feature became a shortcoming. When he sensed that he was going to be caught up by that demon knight, Zhang Tie would mystically change his direction, enlarging the distance between him and the demon knight.
Although Zhang Tie was embarrassed in this process; that demon knight was also driven mad as it kept roaring.
That demon knight had also attempted to catch Zhang Tie on the ground; however, the moment it landed had the demon knight realized that it had no advantage on speed and agility compared to that guy who was escaping crazily.
The longer it chased after Zhang Tie, the more shocked was that demon knight. Gradually, it made its decision to kill Zhang Tie.
In the beginning, the demon knight was following the Demon General's order to kill Zhang Tie; however, at this moment, it had become its strong desire and firm target to kill Zhang Tie. The demon knight didn't know about Zhang Tie's level; in his opinion, Zhang Tie should be a battle spirit or an exceptionally gifted 5-star battle demon. However, it could do no harm to such a person at all. 'Such a human, who could match a knight in certain aspects before promoting to a knight, would be unrivaled once he promoted to a knight. If such a person is not killed at this moment, he would cause much greater destructions or disasters to demons in the future.'
'He has to die today.' The demon knight made up its mind.
Zhang Tie also felt the demon knight's firm killing intent and faster-attacking speed. Heart pounding, he accelerated a bit faster.
The mountain peak was close as he could already hear the surging river. Zhang Tie became excited.
In a split second, Zhang Tie felt the air on his back was broken by numerous strands of powerful battle qi. The strike was as fast as a lightning bolt just like the javelins that Zhang Tie had ever thrown out. The powerful battle qi tossed towards Zhang Tie in the shape of a huge net, leaving him nowhere to retreat. This strike almost covered dozens sq m.
With a roar, Zhang Tie instantly turned around and released over 300 punches towards one point of the huge net before finally making a crack on the fierce battle-qi net.
Only by such a counterattack, Zhang Tie consumed one-third of his entire battle qi in his qi sea.
After making a crack on the battle qi net, Zhang Tie instantly popped out of the crack in an impossibly twisted way by huddling up his body as a ball.
With a sound "boom...", everything within 100 sq m near Zhang Tie was sent flying in all directions, including that hill where Zhang Tie was in just now and the mud and rocks on the ground. The ground quivered a short time while half of the hill was moved away.
Although that strike didn't hit Zhang Tie, its aftermath and the shattered mud and broken stones caused numerous holes on Zhang Tie's warrior's costume in a split second. If Zhang Tie's body was not as firm as a stone, those high-speed broken stones would have penetrated through his body. Even though, Zhang Tie still felt salty in the mouth as he almost spurted out a mouthful of blood.
Zhang Tie didn't spurt out the blood; instead, he swallowed it back. Closely after that, he stomped onto the ground, stretched out his limbs and straightly flew off the hill like a glider based on the pneumatic effect of the surrounding airflow while being covered by the flying dust. He directly accelerated towards the surging river.
With such a battle-qi net strike, the demon knight was almost confident to kill a 5-star battle spirit; however, it was out of his imagination that his opponent could dodge away from his strike in such a mystical method; meanwhile, he even gained a greater momentum. Therefore, the demon knight became more afraid of Zhang Tie; furthermore, his killing intent rocketed.
Right then, shrill sonic booms sounded behind Zhang Tie and the demon knight...
After hearing the booms, Zhang Tie was surprised inside as he knew that Elder Muray was coming. However, he still dared not postpone; instead, he continued to rush forward.
It would take Elder Muray at least 2 minutes to arrive here. However, it would take the demon knight less than 2 seconds to kill Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie dared not rely on Elder Muray for the time being.
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had rushed to the riverside.
The surging river was over 200 m in width with snowwhite ripples. The source of the river was the melted snow water on the snowypeak of the Kalay Mountain Range in the distance. It diverted into a pitch-dark mountain cave which was over 200 m in width in the lower reach. The mountain cave was devouring the surging river like an opening of the bloody mouth.
Zhang Tie didn't know where would this river lead to; he presumed that it should converge into a subterranean stream. Because there wasn't another river within 200 sq m.
As long as it was in the water, Zhang Tie would survive himself.
The moment Zhang Tie dove into the river had the demon knight launched a strike towards the point where he entered the water.
Zhang Tie instantly felt that the surrounding water flow became as firm as a steel plate while a great stress pushed towards him. If Zhang Tie didn't move, he would have been squeezed into a flesh paste.
Thankfully, Zhang Tie's diving ability had already reached a terrifying degree. His sensing ability in changing water flows was almost above that of his knight's consciousness. The moment he found the change of the water flows had he slid dozens of meters away in the water like a slippery loach.
With a shock in the water, dozens of meters high sprays rose from the water. Feeling breathless, Zhang Tie realized that his innards had been injured once again.
With the effect of the waterproof body, Zhang Tie's moving speed in water was even faster than that on the ground.
Zhang Tie showed his head above the water in the lower reach over 200 m away. Watching that demon knight who was still constantly exploding the river while suspending above the water, Zhang Tie erected his middle finger towards that demon knight before bursting out into laughter. 'Elder Muray is coming. I don't believe that this guy will dare to loiter here at the risk of his life.'
The fact was that Zhang Tie and the demon knight were both wrong.
Zhang Tie misestimated the demon knight's determination to kill him.
However, that demon knight had not imagined that Zhang Tie could have such a proficient diving skill. When Zhang Tie jumped into the river, the demon knight felt excited inside as he thought that Zhang Tie had no other choice but to jump into the river. As the density of water was greater than that of air, waves and shocks could be better transmitted in the water. As battle qi attack would be more destructive and influential in the water than that in the air, the demon knight kept striking the water like striking fishes with explosives, causing dozens of meters high snowwhite ripples.
When the demon knight caught sight of Zhang Tie who was over 200 m away and heard the increasingly closer shrill sonic booms on his back, it was shocked at once. However, after hesitating for a short while, he confirmed his determination and flew towards Zhang Tie immediately.
Zhang Tie was really scared by the demon knight's choice. He then instantly dove back into the water and slid away. The demon knight also followed him in as it gazed at Zhang Tie tightly and moved even swifter than fish.
The alleged knights could walk upstairs and downstairs in the air, would not drown in the water and would not burn in the fire.
Until then did Zhang Tie know how terrifying were knights in the water.
The moment the demon knight entered the water had it isolated the water by its waterproof battle qi. With his great strength, only by kicking his feet and drawing his arms had he accelerated towards Zhang Tie.
Realizing that he was closely followed by that demon knight, Zhang Tie became flurried.
If it was on the bank, Zhang Tie couldn't match him; however, as it was in the water, Zhang Tie didn't believe that anyone else could match him in this world. Because Zhang Tie was not afraid of cold at all. Besides, he could get fresh air from Castle of Black Iron at any time. That was to say, he could stay as long as he wanted in the water.
Zhang Tie swam in the water, keeping him in the vision of that knight yet out of the striking distance of it. He kept moving towards the pitch-dark mountain cave in the hinterland.
At this moment, the demon knight thought, 'As a knight, I could never lose the battle to a weaker human in the water.'
After entering the hinterland, the surging river became more torrential. There was a huge bottomless swirl beneath the mountain hinterland, which devoured the entire river into the underground space. Being dauntless, Zhang Tie straightly dove into the swirl, closely followed by that demon knight...
...
It was a wonderful underground world. Being pushed by the torrential water flow, Zhang Tie felt like falling into an underground maze being composed of water and secret tunnels. After activating his dark vision, Zhang Tie saw clearly numerous underground karst caves, which contained smaller ones which rooted in the deep underground space...
Zhang Tie was led into a subterranean stream which further led him into a deeper underground space...
...
A couple of minutes later, Elder Muray arrived at the spot where Zhang Tie and that demon knight dove in the water.
Watching this river, Elder Muray also directly jumped into it...
...
Over 10 hours later, before dawn, Elder Muray finally flew out of the water and landed on the river bank in the distance, with a splash at the entrance of the mountain cave. However, he was dry all over.
Over the past 10 hours, Elder Muray had searched over hundreds of miles underground, yet got no trace of Zhang Tie at all. Finally, he had to admit that Zhang Tie and that demon knight had disappeared. The underground waterway was as complex as an extremely large maze. As long as someone got lost inside, it would be much more difficult to find him than finding a needle out of the sea. Even if Elder Muray re-grouped all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace here, they might still not find Zhang Tie in one year.
Elder Muray just watched the surging river with a sophisticated look. Finally, he let out a helpless sigh and he stomped onto the ground before flying towards the north...
...
After Elder Muray left the river, Zhang Tie felt a bit fear, which didn't come from the demon knight who was closely chasing after him but from the water flow on his side. Zhang Tie didn't know where he was while the water flow beside him was sucked into an underground swirl whose diameter was over 10 miles by a great suction towards the bottomless underground abyss in a speed of above hundreds of miles per hour along with him...
'F*ck, it's a big trouble!'
Zhang Tie looked back and found the demon knight was still closely chasing after him with a strong killing intent. Zhang Tie also saw a flurried look in its eyes. If that demon knight turned around and intended to return at this moment, Zhang Tie even doubted whether it would be able to find the way back...
Facing such an unknown underground world, even demons would have a bit fear.
Chapter 703: An Unknown World
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Under such a great underground suction, Zhang Tie and that demon knight were flushed into the bottomless abyss along with the terrifying huge swirl. In such a sheer terror, even that demon knight could barely balance his body. It could not attack Zhang Tie in such a situation. If not having been granted a super great anti-resistant ability by a great number of iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie might have been collapsed in the great suction and pressure of the terrifying swirl.
In such a scene, Zhang Tie felt that he and the demon knight were just two trivial insects who were flushed into a huge toilet seat.
Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could come to such a bizarre place after casually choosing an exit from the numerous underwater turnoffs and karst caves.
The water flow flushed downwards at a high speed. Zhang Tie estimated that he moved at least 300 miles per hours in the water flow.
After being sucked in the swirl, Zhang Tie experienced a cliff-like drop like a waterfall. Closely after that, he was involved in another maze-like subterranean river course and continued to flush downwards, followed by another cliff-like drop. The demon knight was still gazing at Zhang Tie tightly from 100 m away. As it had already followed Zhang Tie in such a deep unknown space, if it lost its target and its own life, it would be a great tragedy.
Zhang Tie also sensed the demon knight's killing intent; however, he ignored it. As for Zhang Tie, he could always survive in the water with Castle of Black Iron as an auxiliary cheat wherever he was taken by the water flow.
100 m was a safe distance that Zhang Tie purposefully kept with the demon knight. If it was narrower than that distance, Zhang Tie would be attacked by the demon knight. Even in water, a knight's battle force was still very destructive. As long as the demon knight pointed towards Zhang Tie with its finger, a strand of battle qi like a bolt of a strong crossbow would penetrate through dozens of meters in the water towards him. If Zhang Tie was hit, he would spurt out blood for sure.
Although Zhang Tie's safe distance was 100 m, the actual distance between him and the demon knight was smaller than that in underwater turnoffs and curves. Therefore, 3 hours later, after making some turns in the torrents and entering some turnoffs, that demon knight finally faced a tragedy. The moment Zhang Tie entered a curve had he disappeared in front of the demon knight. Two underwater turnoffs appeared in front of the demon knight. After hesitating for 0.1 seconds, the demon knight chose the left one while balancing his body; then...
Then, he found he lost his target forever.
Zhang Tie could hear the roar of the demon knight faintly. He knew that the demon knight had lost its target. So what? In such a case, Zhang Tie preferred to not be the landmark by reappearing in the vision of the demon knight at the risk of his own life.
Zhang Tie faintly let out a sigh as he felt a bit regretful.
'But if that demon knight is suffocated here, it's also worthwhile for me.' Zhang Tie thought.
...
After half an hour, Zhang Tie heard the sound similar to that of the waterfall. Before he responded, he had been ejected out of a cave by a torrent and fell in the air...
In a split second, Zhang Tie saw the glow in the sky and the vast shimmering water, thousands of meters away under his feet.
Zhang Tie then descended at an extremely high speed along with the water flow. Heart racing, Zhang Tie started to worry about the situation under the water. If there were stones under the water, he would be severely wounded at least, if not dead.
With a sound "bang", Zhang Tie punched towards a nearby cliff as fast as a lightning bolt. With the reactive thrust, he got rid of the torrent. At the same time, he stretched out his limbs for the greatest resistance in the air flow. When he was about 100 m above the water, Zhang Tie let out a sigh, 'Thankfully, it's bottomless here.'
Before entering the water, Zhang Tie immediately launched dozens of punches towards the water. With the reactive thrust, he abruptly slowed down. Closely after a "splash", he dove into the water.
...
After over 10 seconds, Zhang Tie showed his head above the water, 1,000 m away from where he entered the water. Hearing the distant splashes, Zhang Tie started to look around with widely opened eyes.
This was an underground ocean. According to the falling time and speed, Zhang Tie knew that this underground ocean was at least 1,000 miles beneath the ground's surface.
Zhang Tie had long known that there was an ocean beneath the ground. However, it was his first time to see a real one.
This was a very vast underground space. At least Zhang Tie had not seen its border when he fell off.
Taking a broad view, Zhang Tie saw some splendid waterfall falling off the dome of this underground space within dozens of miles. Zhang Tie himself was spurt out of the waterfall on his side, which was over 10 miles above the water. After falling on the water, the torrents aroused a large area of sprays, which covered 1 sq km. Being tainted by the glow in the sky, the white sprays also became red, which looked fantastic. If above ground, such a fabulous scenery would definitely become eye-catching.
The glow originated from the stones that distributed on the rocks at the dome of the space. The highest place of this space was about dozens of kilometers away from the ground surface, which looked like a huge bubble. Zhang Tie predicted that those red stones were a special fluorescent stone or crystal. Those stones were distributed in evident mineral veins and irregular stripes like fabulous huge natural luminous zones embedded in the wall.
It was between 20 and 30 degrees Celcius here. The air was not muddy here; instead, it was very refreshing. Additionally, the underground ocean was composed of fresh, translucent water. Some odd-looking fish were swimming in the water. Right now, Zhang Tie caught sight of many thumb-sized little fish whose heads were luminous and some bizarre aquatic plants like waterweeds.
'Whether that demon knight had also fallen inside here?' Zhang Tie wondered as he looked around vigilantly before diving into the water...
The moment he dove into the water had he seen some little luminous fish swarming up out of curiosity. They weren't afraid of Zhang Tie at all. Neither did Zhang Tie care about them; instead, he just slid faster towards the far.
When Zhang Tie fell in the water, he saw a broad land over 40 miles away. Before that demon knight appeared, Zhang Tie wanted to take a look at the land first.
It only took Zhang Tie 7-8 minutes to arrive there. Coming out of the ocean, Zhang Tie walked onto that land and the beach one step after another.
Besides fine gravels, there were also many plants on the land, some of which were huge fungi in the shape of an umbrella; some were like huge palm trees which were as high as 100 m; some were grey ferns. Additionally, there were numerous purple grasses that Zhang Tie had never seen before.
As the red luminous zones were not evenly distributed, some places were brighter, some were darker; some were even pitch-dark due to the terrain. The entire space formed a very splendid, three-dimensional light and shadow zone. In brighter places, plants would grow better; by contrast, there were fewer plants in darker places. Some places were empty.
After a few minutes, with a cracking sound, Zhang Tie broke a rotten leaf and fell into a pit. Zhang Tie was so scared that he even thought that he fell into a trap. However, after realizing that it was just a natural pit, Zhang Tie mocked himself. Lowering his head, he kicked away that dried leaf and moved out of the pit.
Zhang Tie then became meticulous. After a few more steps, he found another pit. With a smile, Zhang Tie strode over from aside...
After a short while, Zhang Tie stopped as he frowned. He realized that the two pits were too symmetrical. It looked a bit familiar...
Zhang Tie then turned back and looked at the two pits carefully as his frowns grew deeper. After moving a few steps back, Zhang Tie waved his hand while his iron-blood battle qi flew over the near ground like a tender razor. As a result, the thick rotten leaves and dust were blown away, exposing the real look of the two pits.
A huge skull appeared on the ground. Zhang Tie realized that the two pits were just the eye sockets on the skull.
Given the look of the skull, Zhang Tie predicted that it had existed here at least hundreds of thousands of years. Although only a small part of the skull was exposed above the ground, the two eye sockets were completely like the baby's bathtubs.
Zhang Tie drew in a mouth of breath as his trains of thoughts seemed to have been frozen. Because he realized that the skull belonged to a giant instead of a wild beast.
Zhang Tie then quickly moved away from the nearby rotten leaves and mud using his iron-blood battle qi. Finally, he saw a looming, small half of a giant skeleton as high as 20 m...
Giants were usually taken as legends by humans before the Catastrophe when their ideology was limited in a narrow space. Giants were usually carved on frescos. However, actually, giants indeed existed. The giants' skeletons were indisputable evidences. Even before the Catastrophe, humans had discovered giants' skeletons across the world. As the existence of giants would overthrow the authorized history about humans fabricated by demons and enable humans to re-evaluate themselves in pursuit of their own halos, all the giants' skeletons and discovery experiences before the Catastrophe were covered along with the truth of human history. Those bribed experts, authorities, alleged biologists, historians, media and governments would emphasize that no giants existed in this world and everything about giants were lies and legends.
However, that was real. After the Catastrophe, the truths were gradually exposed while more and more evidences were acknowledged by the humans. By then, humans discovered that their history was unimaginably brilliant. Many things that were labeled as legends and myths by the main-stream society before the Catastrophe indeed existed...
Before Zhang Tie came to this world, a giant' skull had been discovered in the iron ore area outside Blackhot City. At that time, all the humans in the entire Blackhot City rushed to see the giant's skull. It even shocked Andaman Alliance. Zhang Tie was told by his natural science teacher in the No. 7 National Middle School. When the teacher talked about this, he even sighed with full of emotions. Later on, that giant's skull was purchased by a mysterious figure and carried away by an airship after lying there for a couple of days. From then on, nobody across Blackhot City saw the giant's skull any longer.
Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see a giant's skeleton here. Such a complete giant's skeleton which represented the real history being hidden by demons would be worth at least 1 million gold coins as the most expensive collection above the ground...