1169 - 1176

Chapter 1169: Fighting a Powerful Enemy at Full Efforts (I)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Zhang Tie moved his eyes away from the top of the gate. After a few more steps forward, Zhang Tie stood in front of the gate. He lightly put his hand onto the gate as he felt that this gate, which was higher than 10 m, was made of abyss magical iron. The material of this gate could match that of his Chaos. Even in Lion Fortress, weapons being made of abyss magical iron were available to knights.

The gate was closed tightly. After entering the gate, Han Zhengfang latched the gate with a bolt from inside. As a result, outsiders could barely enter it, except for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie could clearly see the internal structure of the lock of the abyss magical gate with his lotus-flower eyes.

The lock of the gate was 7-star interlinked lock, which was a unique top-class lock in Taixia Country. If not know the method, one could never open it. Because one 7-star interlinked lock had 7 holes in different depths inside, one had to rotate the key 7 times; each time he rotated his key, he had to pay attention to the depth, angle and number of turns. Only after manipulating it 7 times consecutively could one open it. Han Zhengfang opened it using a key.

After observing it for a short while, Zhang Tie had already borne the structure of 7-star interlinked lock in mind. He then took a slow, deep breath before starting to prepare for the coming fight.

He took out the gold-eaten dagger, a silver secret longsword and a silver secret heavy hammer that he gained from the Earth-elements Realm; after that, he took out another silver secret dagger. Zhang Tie had the 4 weapons float around himself. After making a full preparation, Zhang Tie started to open the gate.

Zhang Tie triggered the ability of a divine dominator to slowly open the 7-star interlinked lock on the gate of the Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple. After unlocking it, the metal bolt behind the gate floated up itself silently too.

The gate slowly opened like two feathers, exposing the inside of Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple to Zhang Tie.

The inside of the palace was much more luxurious than that outside. The surface of the entire palace was covered with Class IX crystals. There were some buildings made of gold in the palace. The entire palace was as large as a football court. What made it bright were not long-lasting fluorites but legendary luminous pearls. In the rear end of the square of the palace, there was a bloody pool whose diameter was 10 m. There was a huge black crystal coffin in the middle of the bloody pool. Besides, the surroundings of the bloody pool and the surface of the huge black crystal coffin were all covered with brilliant gilded runes.

This bloody pool reminded Zhang Tie of the bloody sea; however, this bloody pool was much smaller than the bloody sea; additionally, there was only one person in the crystal coffin.

Immersing himself in the dense blood of the black crystal coffin, Han Zhengfang looked like falling asleep.

The black crystal coffin was about 70 m away from the gate. Zhang Tie didn't enter it immediately. He just stood outside the gate. As it was an adventure, Zhang Tie didn't know the concrete situation of Han Zhengfang at this moment. However, he had witnessed Han Zheng's battle strength in Xuanyuan Hill, which was far greater than that of a shadow knight. Han Zhengfang's performance reminded Zhang Tie of his master Zhao Yuan. 'Han Zhengfang must have hidden his real battle strength when he was the finance minister of Taixia Country. This master of Heavens Reaching Church might have long promoted to a heavenly knight.' Zhang Tie thought.

Generally, an earth knight could never defeat a heavenly knight. Although he was a divine dominator, Zhang Tie would never throw an egg against a rock. However, this situation was very special. After fighting Meng Shidao; especially after using secret methods constantly to escape away from the grey mist and Xuanyuan Hill, his vitality had been severely reduced. At this moment, Han Zhengfang was definitely in the weakest and unfenced condition.

He might not have the second chance to defeat such a terrifying enemy. Even risking his life, Zhang Tie would also have a try. He was too gutless if he dared not launch such an attack towards Han Zhengfang at this moment.

Zhang Tie had determined his mind. This time, he had to fight Han Zhengfang and kill him even risking his life. If not kill this enemy who screwed him and did harm to his family members for a couple of times, Zhang Tie would never sleep well.

When all the thoughts turned into an irresistible killing intent, Zhang Tie's eyes shot out shrewd light as he roared, "Go die…".

The distance of 70 m was almost equal to face-to-face for a knight and a divine dominator. Zhang Tie's first round of strike arrived at the coffin before his "roar" as the sound transmission speed in the air was only 340 m per second.

The silver secret grim hammer which weighed a few tons fell onto the black crystal coffin ferociously like a sudden lightning bolt.

Zhang Tie gained this heavy hammer from the demon knight of Augulas Clan on the battlefield of the Earth-elements Realm. As a silver secret item, this heavy hammer carried two terrifying attacking skills which could even frighten knights. First, it could shatter goods; Zhang Tie had tried its shattering ability in Castle of Black Iron by crashing it onto a piece of gold brick. The result was that the gold brick was shattered.

Gold was a metal with the greatest ductility. One gram of gold could be extended to a large area of gold foil by a hammer. However, this silver secret heavy hammer could even shatter a piece of gold brick. It could be imagined how it would damage a human body.

Second, "bolt" harm. As long as it could hit the living being, besides the shattering effect, it could also realize the effect of a lightning bolt, causing people to be stiff all over. Zhang Tie tried it on himself lightly. As a result, the shield in his hand was shattered; additionally, the effect of "bolt" passed on Zhang Tie himself, causing his hair to stand and his body to numb all over for quite a while.

Terrifying shattering strike and the effect of "bolt" harm which could delay one's moving ability. What a great match!

The real object of the huge hammer was 6.8 tons in weight and longer than 3 m, which was taller and bigger than Cui Li. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt a bit hard manipulating it with the ability of divine dominator. This huge hammer would consume him one hundred times more spiritual strength than that on ordinary weapons. Although Zhang Tie had gained many silver secret items in the Weapons Mountain of the Hieron Ruins, none of those silver secret items could match this one which he gained from the demon knight.

Zhang Tie saw the virtual body of this silver secret item. It was a huge far-ancient mammoth which was hundreds of meters high and had two 10-m longer huge fangs while being covered with scales. Each foot of the virtual body of this silver secret item was like a huge pillar that led to the sky. Each stomp would cause an earthquake.

The flat side of this huge hammer was similar to the footprint of its virtual body. The two fangs incarnated into the two spikes on the top of the huge hammer.

This heavy hammer was the real Thor's hammer.

When the hammer was less than 1 m away from the coffin, Han Zhengfang opened his eyes in a split second in the coffin with a shocked expression. Han Zhengfang could never imagine that he would be raided even in Canglan Palace.

However, he didn't have time to make a counter-attack anymore because the striking speed of divine dominator was too fast that nobody could escape at that moment…

As a result, the black crystal coffin was shattered into ashes in a split second like a paper-made matchbox being put under a forging press. The moment the crystal coffin was shattered, under the great pressure, the blood in the bloody pool were sent flying in the air in terms of round liquid particles…

The heavy hammer hit Han Zhengfang's chest directly. If a huge rock was put on Han Zhengfang's chest, it would be the standard trick in streets——breaking the rock on one's chest by a hammer.

Han Zhengfang was directly sent into the earth; meanwhile, many crystal bricks on the ground of Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple were shattered…

When the huge hammer fell off, gold-eaten dagger and the other two silver secret items firmed targeted on Han Zhengfang's two body parts. Only after less than 0.01 second, two silver secret items had penetrated through Han Zhengfang's heart and lower abdomen.

0.01 second later, Zhang Tie launched his 3rd round of attack by releasing the berserk dragon-shaped battle qi towards the deep pit which was caused by the huge hammer.

The entire Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple quaked while being covered with smoke and dust.

In the smoke and dust, Han Zhengfang slowly floated up from the huge, deep pit nakedly while being wrapped by his fiery protective battle qi.

Besides being disheveled and covered with blood, a large area on Han Zhengfang's chest sunk while his skin as a whole was covered with dense cracks and bloody streaks. Therefore, Han Zhengfang looked like a ferocious ghost with Zhang Tie's gold-eaten dagger in hand.

The gold-eaten dagger was targeting at Han Zhengfang's right eye while quivering and struggling like a terrifying venomous snake being pinched by Han Zhengfang. Just now, if Han Zhengfang didn't grasp the gold-eaten dagger, his head must have been blown up.

At this moment, Zhang Tie had already entered Canglan Palace. Han Zhengfang watched this guy in the grim black battle armor as he roared furiously, "Who are you…who the hell are you?"

Like having not heard Han Zhengfang's question, Zhang Tie just gazed at the gold-eaten dagger in Han Zhengfang's hand and his body while contracting his pupils all of a sudden.

Han Zhengfang's current situation was completely out of Zhang Tie's imagination. The dagger didn't actually penetrate through Han Zhengfang's heart. At the most critical moment, Han Zhengfang contracted his heart and caused it to move aside a bit to dodge from the fatal blow. He responded to the blow on his lower abdomen in the same manner. Therefore, although two parts of his body were penetrated, neither of them was fatal for a knight.

In the blink of an eye, Han Zhengfang had controlled his muscles, tendons, meridians, and skin to close the two wounds. As a result, he stopped bleeding right away.

Even the most destructive gold-eaten dagger was clutched by Han Zhengfang.

By contrast, the first blow harmed Han Zhengfang most. With that blow, Han Zhengfang's skin, skeletons and guts had been covered with cracks.

At this moment, Han Zhengfang's qi was the standard qi of a shadow knight. Compared to what Zhang Tie saw and felt in Xuanyuan Hill, Han Zhengfang's overall strength seemed to have reduced by a realm. This might be the price that Han Zhengfang had to pay for breaking through Xuanyuan Hill.

Zhang Tie was right. Han Zhengfang indeed had declined from the level of a heavenly knight to a shadow knight. Although the secret methods of Bloody Soul Temple were unrivaled, any secret method had to be paid. After a heavenly knight who had not completely formed his fire chakra pushed his level to the semi-sage realm by a secret method in a short period, he had to bear the price of collapsing his wind chakra.

It was like eating viagra. One might stand and be as strong as a mutated beast overnight; however, after the effect of the medicine, he had to bear a sequelae; the more ferocious the medicine was, the severer the sequelae would be and the greater compensation would be required; especially the secret method that Han Zhengfang used to separate into 9 bloody humanoid mist when he escaped from Xuanyuan Hill, which made him suffer a great loss. He almost could not reach Canglan Palace. In that desperate situation, he had to suffer the price of declining to a lower level and the great loss of his vitality.

Han Zhengfang had not imagined that he could be raided in his Canglan Palace.

Neither did Zhang Tie imagine that Han Zhengfang could still be as powerful as a shadow knight. Therefore, he only realized half of the desired effect of the first round of attack.

The current situation was out of the imagination of both Zhang Tie and Han Zhengfang.

"Who are you?" Han Zhengfang glared at Zhang Tie as he roared with muffled thunders for the second time. Meanwhile, his shadow-knight level battle qi surged.

Any shadow knight could not be profaned by ordinary knights, no matter how weak he was.

"Go die…"

Zhang Tie's boiling killing intent formed a resolute battle intently. He was not scared by Han Zhengfang's imposing manner; instead, he became spirited all over. 'Shadow knight, so what? This father swears to kill a shadow knight today. In Han Zhengfang's muffled roars, Zhang Tie also roared in a muffled way as he rushed towards Han Zhengfang and launched an attack on his own initiative by punching and slashing his sword…

'When two enemies encountered in a narrow path, the braver one would be the winner!'

Zhang Tie had borne this resolute belief deep in mind since he joined Iron-Blood Camp…

Chapter 1170: Fighting a Powerful Enemy at Full Efforts (II)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

With the ability of a divine dominator, Zhang Tie was tied with Han Zhengfang in this situation.

Shadow knights were very powerful; however, Han Zhengfang had been severely injured and suffered a great loss in vitality. Therefore, he could not respond to Zhang Tie's strikes as easily as ordinary shadow knights.

Han Zhengfang's shadow-knight level protective battle qi was like a thick alloy armor for Zhang Tie. It really had a great protective effect. Additionally, Han Zhengfang might cultivate a secret method of Bloody Soul Temple which could grant him with a super strong defensive power. This point could correspond to the thick shell of the immortal beast that Han Zhengfang manifested in Sincerity Garden.

The moment they started the fight, both Zhang Tie and Han Zhengfang were thinking about killing the opponent as fast as possible. Therefore, in a split second, they immediately entered the fiercest close combat.

Han Zhengfang's shadow-knight level protective battle qi could not be broken through by Zhang Tie in a short period; however, Zhang Tie's ability as a divine dominator also shocked Han Zhengfang too much.

Zhang Tie had already put away the silver secret heavy hammer into Castle of Black Iron. In this occasion, unless Han Zhengfang stood still and waited for Zhang Tie's strike with the silver secret heavy hammer, it would be too hard for him to manipulate a weapon weighing tons to attack Han Zhengfang; additionally, it was almost in vain. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly put away the silver secret heavy hammer.

After realizing that he couldn't teleport the gold-eaten dagger into his portable space-teleportation equipment and that he had to give up the attacking force of one hand by clutching that heavily struggling gold-eaten dagger, Han Zhengfang let go the gold-eaten dagger.

After the silver secret heavy hammer entered Castle of Black Iron, two silver secret shields came out of Castle of Black Iron and started to fly around Zhang Tie; plus the gold-eaten dagger and the other two silver secret weapons, Zhang Tie could manipulate the 5 weapons and equipment at the same time which combined both defensive and attacking effects. Plus Zhang Tie himself, Han Yuanhong felt like being besieged by more than 5 earth knights.

The aftermath of their collisions and the attached destructive effects of their battle skills messed up the entire Canglan Palace in only a few minutes. The entire underground space below Canglan Palace was rocking. Numerous boulders fell off the cliff above their heads; some boulders weighed hundreds even thousands of tons, smashing those terraces and open halls inside Canglan Palace.

Zhang Tie finally experienced the power of a shadow knight. Even in this situation, Han Zhengfang's casual blow could be barely resisted by Zhang Tie's silver secret shield. Only after colliding Han Zhengfang twice by force in the close combat, Zhang Tie had felt breathless and spurted out blood while being affected by the aftermath and shocks of Han Zhengfang's strikes, although his protective battle qi was not broken.

A lean camel was bigger than a horse.

The speed, strength, defensive ability and battle consciousness of a shadow knight were not on the same order of magnitude with that of an earth knight. If not having rich battle experience and a much greater knight's consciousness than the other earth knights and the multi-tasking ability as a divine dominator, he had long been severely injured or killed by Han Zhengfang after a few minutes of combat.

Zhang Tie also sensed what Han Zhengfang was thinking about——kill the opponent through close combat as fast as possible!

Han Zhengfang was even more urgently desiring for killing Zhang Tie.

'Why Han Zhengfang was so urgent?'

Such a whim flashed through Zhang Tie's mind in the close combat.

'Because Han Zhengfang couldn't bear a long time close combat like this. In another word, he couldn't stand a long time high-intensity combat consumption anymore. Han Zhengfang is consuming his battle strength much faster than his recovering speed. The wounds that were left in Xuanyuan Hill and the wounds that were caused by me have almost made him exhausted. If he doesn't kill me as fast as possible, as long as he reveals his fatigued look and couldn't maintain his advantage in battle strength over me or I fetched a powerful assistant, he would die for sure. Additionally, there's definitely not another palace of Bloody Soul Temple as secret as Canglan Palace near Xuanyuan Hill, where he could recover his wounds without any concern.

After thinking through this point, Zhang Tie immediately altered his combat strategy by extending the distance between him and Han Zhengfang.

'Prevent your enemy from reaching his target.' This was the essence of all the combats.

People required braveness and wisdom when in fight.

Zhang Tie soon got rid of the state of close combat. Because he was completely using his ability as a divine dominator to manipulate his battle armor to move in the air, he could move in an unimaginable traces and speed. Even Han Zhengfang could not catch up with him as a shadow knight.

"Who the hell are you? There are very few divine dominators in Taixia Country. Only Immortal Penglai Island could enlighten the ability of divine dominator secretly. Whether you're dominating everything tonight in Xuanyuan Hill?" Han Zhengfang roared with bloody eyes as he chased closely after Zhang Tie. When he saw Zhang Tie leaving his combat circle, he sped up towards Zhang Tie; meanwhile, he shot a battle qi by fingers, which finally formed a bloody sword, towards Zhang Tie at a super high speed.

Being besieged by the three weapons, Han Zhengfang's movement was greatly affected. At this moment, a silver secret shield crashed onto Han Zhengfang's protective battle qi, slowed down Han Zhengfang's chasing speed at once. At the same time, the virtual bloody sword that was shot from Han Zhengfang's two fingers was blocked by another silver secret shield in a delicate way. Closely after that, the virtual bloody sword altered its direction and shot onto the earth, causing a bottomless hole as large as the rim of a bowl.

Zhang Tie expanded the distance between him and Han Zhengfang to over 70 m once again.

Han Zhengfang's roar shocked Zhang Tie faintly, 'Immortal Penglai Island in Taixia Country could enlighten the ability of divine dominator?' That was a key information. After coming to Taixia Country, Zhang Tie had not gained any information about divine dominator. He just tapped the ability of divine dominator himself. That was why he didn't figure out the flying ability of divine dominator until he promoted to an earth knight. If Zhang Tie had long known that there were divine dominators in Immortal Penglai Island, he might not need to take so many wrong ways; instead, he could visit Immortal Penglai Island and exchange with the divine dominators over there.

'This might be the accidental achievement of this combat.'

When Zhang Tie thought about it, he didn't slow down his movements; not to mention sparing any chance for Han Zhengfang to take a rest. Zhang Tie immediately ran his spirit while a row of sharp metal spikes on the back of his Chaos flew off and joined the combat.

This was an attached striking pattern that Edward especially designed for Zhang Tie as a divine dominator. There were totally 21 sharp spikes on the back of the Chaos. Besides being extremely sharp, their rims were like sawteeth. Such a design could grant these sharp spikes with a great destructive effect; additionally, they could cut knight's protective battle qi like sawing wood when they move at a high speed, causing a great pressure to a knight's protective battle qi.

Zhang Tie was manipulating 3 weapons, 2 shields and his Chaos using his ability as a divine dominator and his multi-tasking ability. Without exposing the secret of Castle of Black Iron, he had 14 sharp spikes fly off the back of his Chaos at once and join in the combat like a wolf pack which had smelt the blood.

Han Zhengfang's protective battle qi formed an illuminant

Han Zhengfang's illuminant protective battle qi had to sustain hundreds of times' strikes in each second. Although these strikes could not break through Han Zhengfang's protective battle qi at once, they caused Han Zhengfang's protective battle qi to quiver constantly like ripples at such a high frequency…

Han Zhengfang wanted to involve Zhang Tie in this battle once again; he darted towards Zhang Tie many times; however, Zhang Tie always stayed 50 m away from Han Zhengfang while moving flexibly at the current speed.

A shield flew around Han Zhengfang which could stop him from moving freely and block the greater part of his strikes towards Zhang Tie; the other shield just stayed on Zhang Tie's side so as to withstand the remaining strikes that escaped from the first shield.

Han Zhengfang roared out of fury as he hit left and right; however, he couldn't break through this huge net made by Zhang Tie.

In the beginning, Zhang Tie was just thinking about consuming Han Zhengfang's battle strength. Gradually, Zhang Tie found that he could use the same method to kill all the shadow knights step by step.

This was the method that he could use to deal with high-level shadow knights as an earth knight benefited from the object manipulation ability of a divine dominator, also the real reason that divine dominator was awe-inspiring…

Only after 5 minutes, Han Zhengfang had realized that he couldn't keep going in this way; otherwise, he would be killed for sure by this divine dominator…

Chapter 1171: Another Secret Skill of Bloody Soul Temple

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

"Bloody Soul Temple's secret methods rank first in Taixia Country. Do you really think that you could kill me in this way…"

Han Zhengfang's face turned grim all of a sudden. When he was sustaining hundreds of times' strikes, he broke the tip of his tongue by the teeth; closely after that, he spurted out a mouthful of blood out of his mouth. The blood didn't diffuse; instead, it suspended in front of Han Zhengfang. After that, Han Zhengfang broke his left thumb by the teeth and broke the middle place between his eyebrows by his right thumb. Closely after that, a small drop of blood flew out of his mouth, left thumb and forehead at the same time while giving out a brilliant red light. They mixed with each other at once and turned into 2 tadpole-sized bizarre runes that gave out the brilliant glow.

Han Zhengfang pointed at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, one of the two runes immediately entered his forehead while the other one darted towards Zhang Tie like a lightning bolt after breaking through Han Zhengfang's protective battle qi.

Although Zhang Tie was over 50 m away from Han Zhengfang, as he had witnessed Han Zhengfang's secret methods and means in the emperor's imperial city, he was vigilant about Han Zhengfang's movements very much. The moment Zhang Tie saw Han Zhengfang breaking his tongue tip, spurting out blood and the other similar self-mutilating behaviors, Zhang Tie immediately expanded the distance between them and reached over 80 m away from Han Zhengfang. At the same time, he expanded his protective battle qi to its utmost extent and prepared to respond to the coming danger.

However, Zhang Tie underestimated the power of the secret method of Bloody Soul Temple.

The moment the red rune flew out of Han Zhengfang's protective battle qi, Zhang Tie had intended to block it with a silver secret shield. Unimaginably, the rune directly penetrated through Zhang Tie's silver secret shield like a visionary object. In the blink of an eye, it had arrived at Zhang Tie's side. Being shocked too much, Zhang Tie hurriedly dodged from it at his highest speed. However, the closer the rune was to Zhang Tie, the faster it would move. It just chased after Zhang Tie like a lightning bolt.

Zhang Tie had changed more than 300 locations in one second, leaving many visional shadows in Canglan Palace. Even though, the rune still caught up with Zhang Tie like a massless visional shadow. It penetrated through Zhang Tie's second silver secret shield, Zhang Tie's battle qi strikes, Zhang Tie's protective battle qi and Chaos before falling onto Zhang Tie.

The moment that rune fell onto Zhang Tie's body, Zhang Tie had changed his face.

He thought it was a sharp killing skill; however, he had not imagined that he didn't even lose one hair after being hit by the rune; neither did he feel painful or itchy. When Zhang Tie felt weird, he suddenly had an inconceivable feeling, which was very similar to the feeling when he formed a 3-in-1 battle formation with the other 2 knights through knight's consciousness. It was even deeper than the ties of 3-in-1 battle formation.

The 3-in-1 battle formation was connected by different knights' consciousness; however, after being hit by Han Zhengfang's rune, Zhang Tie felt that his chakras had been closely tied with that of Han Zhengfang like two high-power magnets being drawn together tightly.

Each knight's chakras were composed of element crystals in the material world or element crystals in the Elements Realm. Knights always stayed with their chakras. However, chakras existed in a special pattern. Being neither in the elements realm nor the material world, it was a mode of existence between elements realm and the material world. Charkas were invisible and untouchable; however, they indeed existed.

Zhang Tie had not imagined that there was a secret skill of Bloody Soul Temple that could directly act upon one's chakras. Besides Purgatory Samsara Method, it was his first time to see another secret method that could act upon one's chakras.

Facing the irresistible attraction caused by chakras, Zhang Tie's body seemed to become the appendage of his chakras and a nail on a super-powerful magnet. When two magnets attached together, Zhang Tie was unconsciously drawn towards Han Zhengfang by the attraction between their chakras. That was an irresistible pulling force, which carried the qi of the elements realm. Like a waterfall that rushed down from a high place, this pulling force was hard to refuse.

When Zhang Tie was worried whether this great strength would involve him in the close combat that was desired by Han Zhengfang, this pulling force suddenly disappeared when he was less than 30 m away from Han Zhengfang. Because their chakras had been closely attached together at this moment. Neither could he further approach nor stay farther away from Han Zhengfang. Neither could Han Zhengfang.

'What does that mean?' Zhang Tie doubted, 'Even though Han Zhengfang wants to pull me closer by a secret method, he could not rush to the front of me in such a distance; neither could it influence my strike against him.

When Zhang Tie was pulled closer to Han Zhengfang, he didn't stop his strikes against Han Zhengfang.

"What's this secret method of Bloody Soul Temple? Do you think that you could threaten me in this way?" Zhang Tie's muffled voice drifted from the breathing holes under his ears before resonating in the ruined Canglan Palace.

Since they started the combat, it was Zhang Tie's first time to open his mouth.

Zhang Tie's original voice didn't sound mature; however, after being drifted from the breathing holes under his ears, his voice turned utterly different. It carried a strange metallic resonance. Of course, Han Zhengfang couldn't figure out Zhang Tie's identity through his voice.

Zhang Tie ignored Han Zhengfang's question just now because he didn't want to get a revenge from Han Zhengfang's subordinates. As Han Zhengfang probably carried remote-sensing crystals which were used to contact the other major figures of Heavens Reaching Church. If Zhang Tie exposed his real identity, Han Zhengfang might send this message to the other remnants of Heavens Reaching Church. As a result, they might revenge Zhang Tie and Huaiyuan Palace. If so, what Zhang Tie arranged tonight were all in vain; additionally, nobody could enjoy such a meal that Zhang Tie prepared for the Gobbling Party and Meng Shidao.

Because of this reason, Zhang Tie became silent until he was curious about this secret method of Han Zhengfang.

"This is the lock of bloody chakras of Bloody Soul Temple! You are really something as you could make me use this skill." Han Zhengfang revealed a faint confident smile on his grim and aggressive face, "You will know the effect of this secret skill soon!"

"Really?"

The two people talked with each other as they fought.

"Of course, look at what's on the earth?" Han Zhengfang pointed at the ground.

Zhang Tie threw a glance at the ground and found scarlet magma was gurgling out of a hole which was as large as a bowl.

When he blocked Han Zhengfang's strike by one shield just now, he caused such a hole. Actually, the Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple was built on an underground magma vein. This place was actually very close to the magma in the vein.

At the sight of the magma that gurgled out of the ground, Zhang Tie immediately thought about a possibility…

Zhang Tie's heart pounded as he looked at Han Zhengfang.

Han Zhengfang was looking at Zhang Tie with an eye light which was full of killing intent as he revealed an icy and insidious sinister. Closely after that, he spent his full efforts in punching against the ground of the palace.

In an earthquake, a crack as wide as dozens of meters suddenly appeared on the ground of the palace. In the blink of an eye, magma surged out of the crack and soaked half of Canglan Palace.

At the sight of the magma, Zhang Tie wanted to fly consciously; however, he found that he couldn't move at all; because Han Zhengfang didn't move. The two people's chakras were locked together like two magnets. As Han Zhengfang was advantageous over Zhang Tie in battle strength, if Han Zhengfang didn't move, Zhang Tie couldn't move either.

Zhang Tie tried to contact Castle of Black Iron; however, he couldn't return to Castle of Black Iron because of the same reason.

Since he owned Castle of Black Iron, it was Zhang Tie's second time to meet such a situation. Last time, it was in the prison of Senel Clan, a Three-eye Association Clan when his body was clocked by a rune shackle. That time, he almost lost his life; he also experienced the feeling of being unable to return to his ultimate shelter when in crisis. After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie thought that he would not meet such an experience for the rest of his life; unimaginably, it could come so fast.

All of a sudden, Zhang Tie understood what Han Zhengfang wanted to do. He felt hopless at once.

'He's one of the 9 ministers of Taixia Country. He has concealed his real identity in the hinterland of Taixia Country for so many years. This is the master of Heavens Reaching Church who didn't expose his loophole even in front of Emperor Xuanyuan, the top powerhouse that could escape from the heavenly net made by Meng Shidao and Xuanyuan Hill. Even he's severely injured and has declined to a lower realm, his insidious movements, intelligence and decisiveness definitely rank top in Taixia Country. If not, he could not mess up the entire Taixia Country with his own strength.'

'I've underestimated this man. It proves once again that everything in the world wouldn't always run at one's will.'

'It's already too late for me to be regretful.'

After Han Zhengfang gave his second punch, the greater part of the ground of Canglan Palace had been collapsed while hundreds of millions of tons of magma poured inside like sea water.

In magma which had a very high density, the attacking ability of divine dominator was reduced to the utmost extent. Being flurried, Zhang Tie could only put away his weapons and silver secret items into Castle of Black Iron, leaving one silver secret shield in hand.

Han Zhengfang threw a sneer at Zhang Tie before diving into magma and flying downwards. Being drawn by Han Zhengfang's chakras, Zhang Tie felt being fastened by an invisible iron chain as he was pulled towards the depth of the magma vein…

Zhang Tie felt increasing pressure from all directions…

Chapter 1172: Breaking the Universe

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

As they grew increasingly deeper, Zhang Tie felt an increasing pressure that acted upon his protective battle qi.

It was like how a diver deepened into the ocean. The deeper he reached, the greater pressure he would suffer from the sea water.

However, Zhang Tie was not in the ocean, but in the scorching magma.

In the same depth, the pressure of magma was 2.5 times that of the water pressure. Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple was about 5,000 m deep in the magma, the pressure at which location was equal to the water pressure deeper than 12,500 m. Anyone below knights would be crushed into pieces by such a great pressure, not to mention battle spirits who had formed protective battle qis. Even knights would not feel good under such a great pressure.

The maximal depth that underwater robots and submarines which humans invented before the Catastrophe was about 12,000 m. If a huge solid iron ball was thrown deeper than 10,000 m underwater, it would be compressed greatly by water pressure.

Han Zhengfang "bound" Zhang Tie to him by the secret method of Bloody Soul Temple and moved towards the depth of the magma so that he could crush Zhang Tie into pieces using the sheer terror of nature.

The protective battle qi of a shadow knight was definitely more protective than that of an earth knight. Under the same pressure, Han Zhengfang was confident to win the combat in the end. Additionally, due to the greater density and pressure of the magma, Zhang Tie's benefit as a divine dominator was completely restricted.

Han Zhengfang immediately reversed the result of this combat in such an insidious way.

Zhang Tie had taken a lot of fiery lotus seeds; therefore, he could adapt to the heat of magma; however, he had to sustain the great pressure of the magma.

Han Zhengfang didn't attack Zhang Tie; instead, he just dove towards the depth of the magma. In a short while, they had reached over 10,000 m in depth. The deeper they reached, the more magma there would be. It was absolutely a bottomless magma sea.

Zhang Tie knew what Han Zhengfang was thinking about. Of course, he would not just wait for death. At such a critical moment, Zhang Tie was also trying his utmost efforts to reverse the situation.

Zhang Tie started to attack Han Zhengfang. As he was just 30 m away from Han Zhengfang. Even though he didn't run his lotus-flower eyes, he could also target at Han Zhengfang easily. He just launched his battle qi towards Han Zhengfang after going through the magma between them.

Han Zhengfang was not anxious about fighting Zhang Tie anymore; he just blocked Zhang Tie's attacks as he kept diving towards the depth of the magma.

"Heheheh, just move; you will not move later…" Han Zhengfang's sneer full of killing intent drifted into Zhang Tie's ears.

Zhang Tie soon knew Han Zhengfang's meaning. When he reached 20,000 m deep into the magma sea, he could barely attack Han Zhengfang with his battle qi anymore due to the great pressure from all directions.

The deeper it was, the denser the magma would be and the greater the pressure would be. As a result, 30-m thick magma was as hard as 30-m granite protective layer for his battle qi. Even though his battle qi could still reach Han Zhengfang, its lethality would be weakened greatly. Han Zhengfang could easily block it only by raising his hand.

If Zhang Tie attacked Han Zhengfang at such a depth, he could not do any harm to Han Zhengfang; additionally, it would accelerate the consumption of his battle qi and physical strength. In this situation, Han Zhengfang could easily collapse Zhang Tie's attack at a trivial price.

Zhang Tie stopped attacking Han Zhengfang; Han Zhengfang didn't attack Zhang Tie. They were not idiots. The one who could stand until the last minute would succeed.

The pressure from all directions constantly compressed Zhang Tie's protective battle qi. Han Zhengfang's protective battle qi was also greatly compressed. After reaching 25,000 m in depth, Zhang Tie became more and more befuddled; he even became breathless. His chest and back felt like being gradually compressed by two iron sheets, causing his chest to become increasingly hotter. The gaps between Chaos and Zhang Tie's body were extremely narrowed. The entire Chaos started to be out of shape due to compression. Zhang Tie could hear the slight sound of frictions from Chaos due to deformation, "Kakakaka".

All of a sudden, Zhang Tie felt his upper lip becoming cold while two lines of nosebleed ran out of his nostrils constantly.

It was blazing white light in front of his eyes, which indicated that the temperature of the magma had reached above 1,000 degree Celsius. Zhang Tie looked around and found it was a vast magma sea; additionally, the bottom of this magma sea should be deeper than 100,000 m.

Han Zhengfang was also bearing the high temperature and pressure 30 m away. His protective battle qi was also less than 1 m away from his body; however, he was much better than Zhang Tie; at least he didn't run nosebleed constantly.

With 30-m scorching magma between them, Han Zhengfang couldn't see Zhang Tie; however, he could clearly sense Zhang Tie's physical and spiritual situation.

"How about that, do you start to run nosebleed? Haha, it's just a start. Even knights could not bear the great pressure from the magma. Nosebleed is just an omen for your body to lose blood. Gradually, your eyes will be filled with blood; your eyeballs will jump out of your eye sockets; your innards will push your blood out of your body like squeezing water out of the sponge. When your protective battle qi finally collapses, your brains will spurt out of your ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth; your belly will blow up; your intestines and guts would be burned into ashes in the magma.

"I don't care who you're. This magma sea is your graveyard. Even being injured, a tiger is still a tiger; I could not be bullied by an ordinary earth knight, even though you're a divine dominator. You will become the first earth knight that I kill…"

Han Zhengfang said as he continued to dive downwards. In the blink of an eye, the two people had reached over 30,000 m in depth.

All of a sudden, the blazing white light suddenly turned bloody. It was not because the temperature here suddenly fell; Zhang Tie knew that his eyes had started to be congestive while some blood capillaries in his eyes had started to crack. Zhang Tie knew that his eyes must be filled with blood streaks. Each time Zhang Tie's heart beat, he would feel being a kid walking with 1,000 kg's burden on his back.

If it was just a small lake, Zhang Tie could still teleport all the magma here into Castle of Black Iron in order to reduce the pressure around him and make Han Zhengfang abandon his plan. However, it was a vast magma sea. Even if he opened the siphon tunnel linking this magma sea to Castle of Black Iron, it was also almost in vain; before he dried up the magma sea, he might have already been crushed into pieces by the great pressure, not to mention the sequela that he might face after exposing the trump card of Castle of Black Iron.

This was almost the most dangerous moment for Zhang Tie. In such a desperate situation, almost all the trump cards of Zhang Tie became ineffective at once.

'I couldn't enter Castle of Black Iron, neither could I use the ability of a divine dominator. Will I be killed by Han Zhengfang? Couldn't I even kill a severely injured shadow knight?'

Some alveoli had started to crack while Zhang Tie almost spurted out a mouthful of blood; however, he gritted his teeth and swallowed it forcefully.

'No, never, I will never die here!' Zhang Tie roared inside.

In desperation, a firm belief occurred to Zhang Tie's mind. When his head was almost crushed, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled the scene when he manifested his virtual image of king roc for the first time when he promoted to an earth knight. He sensed the domineering realm of King Roc Sutra once again.

'For free! For free! For free!' This was what rocs pursued for the rest of their lives.

'Who could restrict my freedom?'

'If the earth restricts me, I will break the earth by foot!'

'If the sky restricts me, I will tear up the sky and break the void!'

'If I flap my wings, everything will succumb to me!'

'Who could restrict my freedom? Who could restrict my freedom? Who could restrict my freedom?'

With bloody eyes, Zhang Tie roared towards the sky as he punched against his own lower abdomen by two hands at the same time…

'In the universe, who could make the emperor succumb to him?'

'Ka…'

A crow sounded in the hot sun in the battle qi void of his lower abdomen. Closely after that, the hot sun gave out dazzling light, manifesting the virtual image of king roc. With another crow, a bizarre golden rune flew out of the king roc's mouth and disappeared in Zhang Tie's two chakras.

At this moment, Han Zhengfang suddenly became still as he changed his face greatly.

Just now, Han Zhengfang felt like pulling a car by tank using a rope; at this moment, he felt the car that he pulled suddenly became a mountain. No matter how he tried, he couldn't move it anymore.

'Lock of bloody chakras is a secret skill of Bloody Soul Sutra , I could have defeated all the low-level enemies in it.'

'No way, no way. How could that be? How could that be? Nobody in Bloody Soul Temple had encountered such an exception since the establishment of Bloody Soul Temple.

Han Zhengfang suddenly became puzzled.

If he could, Han Zhengfang really wanted to see what happened to Zhang Tie. Pitifully, Han Zhengfang's vision was completely blocked by the dozens of meters thick scorching magma. He could feel the external situation of Zhang Tie; however, he couldn't feel the situation inside Zhang Tie's body. Additionally, he couldn't approach Zhang Tie any more due to the existence of the lock of bloody chakras. Actually, the distance between them had been fixed.

Zhang Tie moved and took the initiative, followed by Han Zhengfang. As a result, Han Zhengfang became the locust being shackled by the lock of bloody chakras and experienced what Zhang Tie experienced just now. Just now, Han Zhengfang pulled away a "sedan" by a "high-horsepower tank"; in the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie became as powerful as a steam turbine. How could a tank's engine match that of a warship?

At this moment, Zhang Tie was in a special realm where he could clearly sense the marvel when his chakras were bound to that of Han Zhengfang by the secret skill of Bloody Soul Temple.

'He has 3 chakras. I only have 2; however, my 2 chakras are bigger than his 3 chakras. Therefore, Han Zhengfang's 3 chakras are covered by my 2 chakras.'

Just now, Zhang Tie was negative; however, now, Zhang Tie took the initiative.

All of a sudden, a whim occurred to his mind. 'Previously, I couldn't refine the enemy's chakra unless I touched his body by my palms; now, as my chakras have already touched his and I took the initiative, whether could I trigger the Purgatory Samsara Method in this situation?'

The moment this whim occurred to Zhang Tie's mind, it had become as scorching as the surrounding magma.

'Just do it. Whatever, it's just a trial. I will not lose a hair.'

Closely after that, Zhang Tie triggered his Purgatory Samsara Method directly.

Zhang Tie's two chakras immediately drew Han Zhengfang's water chakra and shattered it like two parts of a huge mill and a merciless grinder…

The moment he triggered it, Zhang Tie had realized that he had made it. In this situation, his secret method could directly act upon on the opposite chakras through the tie between their chakras. The effect was absolutely out of Zhang Tie's imagination. In this situation, the efficiency of Purgatory Samsara Method could reach dozens of times that of before. It was similar to the difference between steam spinning machine and manual spinning wheel.

Zhang Tie was so thrilled that he quivered all over. He had not imagined about such a terrifying effect after combining Purgatory Samsara Method with the lock of bloody chakras of Bloody Soul Temple.

After succeeding in the first trial, Zhang Tie immediately exerted the Purgatory Samsara Method to the utmost. Like a ferocious beast that bit the blood vessels on the throat of the prey, he spared no chance for Han Zhengfang to launch a counter-attack and escape.

Zhang Tie was very scared about the means of this master of Heavens Reaching Church.

Due to the sudden collapse of his water chakra, Han Zhengfang was immediately severely injured as he spurted out a mouthful of blood at once. At the same time, his protective battle qi also shrunk greatly. Han Zhengfang screamed towards the direction of Zhang Tie at his full efforts with a terrified look as if he had seen a ghost, "Purgatory Samsama…"

Han Zhengfang could never imagine that the guy who already fell into his trap and was shackled by his lock of bloody chakras could grasp the secret method of Purgatory Samsara Method and trigger it in this situation. Even the alchemist demon had not heard about such a talent.

However, Han Zhengfang didn't have time to be amazed anymore. The moment Zhang Tie triggered his Purgatory Samsara Method, the situations between them was utterly reversed. The Purgatory Samsara Method not only shattered his chakras but also completely froze his spiritual energy.

In legends, the real purgatory was filled with magma and flames; at this moment, Han Zhengfang was in the realm purgatory.

After shattering and absorbing Han Zhengfang's water chakra, Zhang Tie started to shatter his earth chakra…

Han Zhengfang didn't know that Zhang Tie couldn't even stop it. As long as the Purgatory Samsara Method and the secret skill of Bloody Soul Temple combined with each other, the effect was as berserk as a buffalo that had just rushed out of the lair…

When his earth chakra was shattered, Han Zhengfang's protective battle qi was collapsed. He had been fully used up. Before he uttered a sound, he had been burned into ashes by billions of tons' high-temperature magma.

This magma sea became the graveyard of Han Zhengfang; instead of Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie forcefully swam over there and caught that token. Closely after that, he teleported the token into Castle of Black Iron.

Soon after he teleported the token into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had felt dark in his eyes as he spurted out another mouthful of blood. As his protective battle qi was almost collapsed, Zhang Tie couldn't bear such a desperate situation anymore. He had long been severely injured. Therefore, Zhang Tie targeted that arch door in his mind sea and entered Castle of Black Iron

After entering Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie saw the palace tree, the small tree and the familiar and concerned face of Heller…

"I finally survived back…" Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile. Closely after that, he felt dark in his mind like having shaken off a heavy burden before falling down…

Before he passed out, Zhang Tie heard Edward and his three servants' exclamations…

…

On the evening of November 15th, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Xuanyuan Hill was in chaos. After a few hours, bloody figures wreaked havoc in 78 provinces of Taixia Country. As a result, the entire Taixia Country was covered with battle flames and smokes. From then on, Taixia country was involved in the 3rd holy war between humans and demons in an all-round manner…

Chapter 1173: A New Start

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Castle of Black Iron was the ultimate shelter that Zhang Tie prepared for his family members and friends, also the resting place of Zhang Tie himself!

This time, Zhang Tie fell asleep 4 days.

Sleep was the best way for Zhang Tie to recover his injuries and vitality. Additionally, when he was in deep sleep, Heller fed him a vial of senior recovery medicament. When Zhang Tie woke up 4 days later, he had completely recovered his injuries and vitality.

After waking up, Zhang Tie felt completely relaxed instead of being thrilled. He had not been such relaxed for a long time.

Lying on the big bed of his own room in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie felt returning to the past. In the past, the holy war had not broken out yet. His life in Blackhot City was tranquil and peaceful. Each weekend, his mom would let him have a lie-in on the bed in his own attic. Therefore, Zhang Tie had been used to linger in his bed in the morning of each Saturday and Sunday.

In winter, he would stay in his warm quilt lazily. In summer, the warm sunshine would cast onto his butt through the window of the attic. Each weekend, Zhang Tie would have a pretty good sleep. He would not get up until he smelt the fragrant breakfast that his mom prepared or heard his belly coo or couldn't hold his urine…

The previous insipid life felt pretty happy now.

After killing Han Zhengfang, the top enemy of Zhang Tie and Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie became relaxed at once. He didn't have any concern anymore. What was more, after experiencing this hardship, Zhang Tie grew more mature.

Han Zhengfang was the first shadow knight that Zhang Tie had killed! It was a milestone for Zhang Tie. After getting the invitation card, Zhang Tie came to Xuanyuan Hill to set a plot; after that, he lit the fuse at the critical moment; finally, he had a close combat with Han Zhengfang. Zhang Tie didn't just have a fight and gnosis about battle realm; instead, he received an all-round baptism and metamorphosis including intelligence, insight, ability and means. After such a baptism and metamorphosis, the former sapling was growing into an unshakable towering tree.

Zhang Tie manipulated the entire process. All the results had met his anticipations——the finance minister of Taixia Country was dead; his identity as the master of Heavens Reaching Church was exposed; Han Clan was uprooted; Meng Shidao was used by him; the Gobbling Party became antagonistic against the Heavens Reaching Church. The local and central patterns of Taixia Country would have great changes——he accomplished all this with his own efforts. He might be a bit lucky; whatever, it was already a big success.

After lingering in the bed and recalling the precious happy and tranquil days for a short while, Zhang Tie felt a bit hungry. Smacking his lips, Zhang Tie got up and came to one window of his room.

Zhang Tie's room was in the highest location of the palace tree. Through the windows of his room, he could easily overlook the entire Immortal Mountain and the habitation in the far.

The sky of Castle of Black Iron was a bit dim. However, the dim colorful clouds in the eastern sky had revealed glowing halos. There was no sun inside Castle of Black Iron. the halos being similar to sunglow referred to the morning of Castle of Black Iron. Such a scene also indicated the start of a new day in Taixia Country.

Some smokes rose in the horizon in the far, bringing a special vitality to Castle of Black Iron. People in Castle of Black Iron started a new day.

The smokes covered the villages being surrounded by hills and woods. A large area of land on the plain near the villages had been reclaimed. People had built crisscrossed water channels near the riverside so as to provide those farming lands with abundant water.

With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see some kids running and frolicking on the ridges of those farming lands jubilantly in the early morning. Many teenagers were practicing various battle skills seriously under the guidance of some elders on the squares in the middle of those villages. Zhang Tie had people deliver those secret methods to them. In Zhang Tie's opinion, the battle skills of those teenagers even their instructors had many loopholes; however, it was already something for commoners.

'Although I couldn't enjoy such a happiness and tranquility anymore, I could grant this happiness and tranquility to others and watch them enjoy it.' Zhang Tie became reassured when he thought in this way.

When it broke completely, the bell ring from the heirons started to resonate among these villages. After hearing the bell rings, all the people gathered in the hierons or the squares near the hierons in the villages, male or female, old or young, including those kids who were having fun and those teenagers who were taking rest after their exercises.

At this moment, some people in white robes walked out of the hierons and hosted a very religious rite. Closely after that, those people in white robes knelt down in front of the hierons and started to pray by putting their palms together and muttering prayers devoutly, followed by all the others.

Of course, the deity being consecrated in the hierons was Zhang Tie's sculpture…

At the sight of this, Zhang Tie touched his nose as he revealed a self-deprecating smile. Closely after that, he moved his eyes away from them.

His Chaos had been taken off by Heller and his three servants. The clothes inside the Chaos had not been taken off. There were still blood stains on his clothes. Heller and the other three servants knew Zhang Tie's custom. As Zhang Tie was not suitable to be served by some men, they didn't change clothes for him during the past 4 days.

It was indeed not comfortable without the care of women. However, Zhang Tie refused the suggestion of Heller and the three servants. Because Zhang Tie felt that it would be more troublesome if he let people send women onto the Immortal Mountain. Therefore, he just tried to look after himself.

After taking off his clothes, he took a bath in his room. After that, he put on a set of clean clothes.

After doing all this, Zhang Tie felt much better at the sight of the handsome teenager in the mirror. He pulled his face against the mirror before leaving his room.

Heller, Edward, Agan, Aziz had long been waiting for him outside his door respectfully.

At the sight of Zhang Tie, the four people revealed a smile at the same time. Heller's smile was still implicit and elegant with a sincere pleasure in a dignified and perfect way. Zhang Tie felt that each facial expression and movement of Heller could be taken as an imperial etiquette training mode. However, sparkling tears started to well up their eyes out of excitement.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Tie asked Agan in front of him.

"It's a great pleasure for us to see you wake up, Castle Lord. Heller told us that Castle Lord has made a fruitful harvest this time after killing a powerful enemy. Castle of Black Iron will have a lot of changes. But Castle Lord could barely come back…" Agan said while wiping his tears. At the same time, Edward and Aziz nodded forcefully.

Watching the sincere looks of Agan, Aziz and Edward, Zhang Tie felt a bit warm and touched. 'I remember that Heller told me that I would have a surprise in Castle of Black Iron. Did I really get some rarities from Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong this time?' Zhang Tie thought inside. However, he didn't ask Heller about it right away; instead, he told Agan, Aziz and Edward genially, "Well, don't cry. I just met a bit danger this time. However, I've gained a narrow success. I will not meet the same danger later on. Therefore, you don't need to worry about me anymore. And oh, I've not tasted your food for a long time. I'm so hungry!"

"I've prepared the breakfast for you, Castle Lord. It's all your favorite food!" Edward said.

"Thank you so much!" Zhang Tie threw a deep glance at Edward. Edward indeed helped Zhang Tie a lot in Castle of Black Iron.

"It's my honor!" Edward slightly bowed towards Zhang Tie.

Closely after that, Zhang Tie followed Edward into the dining hall of the palace tree.

As Zhang Tie had not eaten food for a few days and had consumed too much physical strength this time, Zhang Tie was starving this time. He needed some food to make him full. No medicament could replace food.

On the long dining table being covered with a piece of snow-white cloth, there were delicate tableware and various food, including the roasted flesh of huge deep-sea monster, steak with nectar, cheese, sausages, honey tea, various bread, nuts, dozens of fruits and juices and two spirits. This food could feed 10 tough men; however, it was only available to Zhang Tie himself. How luxurious it was!

Heller was directing Edward, Aziz and Agan to serve Zhang Tie from one step behind him.

It took Zhang Tie 1 hour to finish his breakfast, leaving the greater part of the food. Watching Zhang Tie wiping his mouth using a napkin, Heller clapped his hands while another one entered the dining hall.

After coming to Zhang Tie's front, that one immediately knelt down and kowtowed three times loudly towards Zhang Tie, "It's this old slave's honor to see master!"

Chapter 1174: Old Slave Zhang Gui

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

'The familiar qi; the strange face of Zhang Tie became dumbfounded!

Zhang Tie was familiar with the qi of this man who kowtowed towards him and called him master. It was the qi of the very earth knight that he captured from the airboat of Han Yuanhong. However, this man's look had changed greatly as if it had been disguised. His original face was thin and long; however, it turned round. He looked like an old neighboring man. 'But why did he call himself this old slave?'

"Previously, this old slave was misled into the evil way and almost lost my life. Thanks to you, my master, this old slave gained a chance to be a good man. This old slave has already understood the universal laws and fortunes. You almost gave this old slave a new life. This old slave might not pay you back for the rest of my life…" The man explained while dropping off tears out of his control.

Zhang Tie listened to his explanation in a dumbfounded look as if he was dreaming. He threw a glance at Heller. Heller blinked his eyes to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie understood that it was the meritorious service of Heller. 'Now that Heller has already handed this man to me, he must be reliable. Additionally, an earth-knight level old slave would indeed help me a lot. It's an earth knight. Several years ago, Zhang Tie could not even imagine that he would have an earth-knight level slave.

"Ahem…ahem…" Zhang Tie pretended to cough twice as he rubbed his face and said in a perfunctory manner, "Erm…let the bygones be bygones. Hopefully, you could follow my orders in the future!"

"Thanks, master, this old slave is called Xiao Longfei. This name is too sinful. From then on, Xiao Longfei has died, this old slave has gained a new life. Please gift another name to this old slave, master!"

"My surname is Zhang, you will follow my family name. From now on, you're Zhang…Zhang Gui, which means rich!"

Honestly, the name Zhang Gui was really ordinary and extremely vulgar. However, after hearing this name, the one kneeling down in front of him was very happy and solemn as if he had accomplished a religious rite of gaining a new birth. He seriously kowtowed towards Zhang Tie three times once again before saying, "Thanks for the name, master. From now on, this old slave is Zhang Gui!"

"Alright, stand up!" Besides the enemy that was under his foot, Zhang Tie was really not used to see someone kneeling down in front of him. "From then on, no need to kowtow in front of me anymore!"

"Yes, master!" Zhang Gui stood up. Heller waved his hand towards him. Zhang Gui then left the dining hall in a respectful way.

After Zhang Gui left, Zhang Tie turned around and asked Heller, "What happened to him? Did you control him by a secret method?"

Heller shrugged as he replied innocently, "Castle Lord, do you think that one could only be controlled by a secret method? So many people would like to rebel with ambitious ones regardless of the lives of their wives and children; so many people would like have their family members take drugs and commit suicide with them after joining a heresy; so many people in Ice and Snow Wilderness treat Castle Lord as their deity. Do you think that they are also under the control of secret methods?"

"Can you explain it in details?"

"I just talked with him for a few times and showed him the marvelous Castle of Black Iron. After that, he surrendered to Castle Lord completely. As Castle Lord came back with the belongings of Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong, after knowing that Han Clan was uprooted by Castle Lord, this man realized that it's his greatest honor to follow Castle Lord. The greatest secret method is to control one's heart. You could control one's heart in many means. Someone one would be convinced by some words. As long as you help him find the truth and belief in his life, he would prostrate himself in worship sincerely."

Heller put it simply; however, his words still reminded Zhang Tie of those believers being brainwashed by false pastors in churches and those unsophisticated youths who believed that they could make a fortune after joining a pyramid marketing organization. 'Heller could definitely brainwash them much more effectively than those false pastors and instructors.'

"Has he been disguised?"

"Disguising is temporary. You could reach the same effect only by using some medicine or making an orthopedic operation; additionally, it's permanent!"

"What about his battle skills and secret methods? Won't they expose his original identity and the relationship between him and Heavens Reaching Church?"

"He cultivates a viscount-level secret method. In the beginning, he was just a member of a small sect in Taixia Country. The small sect has long disbanded. After promoting to a knight, he sought refuge with Han Zhengfang. The viscount-level secret method that he cultivates has lasted for a long time in a large range in Taixia Country. More than one sect and clan have such a secret method. Therefore, nobody could recognize his original identity from the secret method that he cultivates. Additionally, when in Heavens Reaching Church, he just served Han Clan and was always low-key. He even gained some secret methods from Han Clan. Few people know him!" Heller replied.

"Is it okay for him to stay in Castle of Black Iron?"

"No problem. He would not leak your secrets at any time, Castle Lord. Although I've not controlled him using a secret method, I've made a precaution on him. When in need, he would blow up!"

Zhang Tie became reassured, 'Heller is always considerate.' Zhang Tie wanted to bring Zhang Gui out of Castle of Black Iron; therefore, he had to know some details. If he just kept such an earth knight in Castle of Black Iron, it would be too wasteful.

"Is that the surprise that you referred to?"

"It's just a small part. The real surprise is in the parlor of the palace tree!" Heller smiled, "Castle Lord, you need to review your achievement!"

…

It took Zhang Tie less than 1 minute to arrive at the parlor of the palace tree from the dining hall. Although Zhang Tie was curious about that, he still walked casually and calmly towards there. He didn't need to be anxious anymore. After all, the booties were in Castle of Black Iron and would not escape away themselves. He had already slept 4 days; therefore, he didn't need to save such a few seconds.

That item was higher than 2 m. It was a huge polyhedral crystal. Floating in the parlor of the palace tree quietly, it was giving out the brilliance and constantly changing its color like a rainbow. Like huge shadowy, colorful lamps on the stage, it made the entire lobby of the palace tree colorful and dreamlike.

The entire lobby was filled with surging four elements.

"A piece of God's Star!" At the sight of this dreamlike crystal floating in the air, Zhang Tie couldn't stand crying out.

It was too shocking. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the surprise referred to a piece of God's Star. This piece was much larger than that one he saw in Ice and Snow Wilderness; additionally, it had different colors. Of course, it had different functions.

Being thrilled, a possibility occurred to Zhang Tie's mind, 'Was that piece of God's Star which was going to be auctioned in Gold and Power Market purchased by Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong?'

Zhang Tie looked at Heller. Heller nodded towards him before saying, "This piece of God's Star indeed comes from the space-teleportation equipment of Han Yuanhong!"

'No wonder few people could see this piece of God's Star since the beginning.' Zhang Tie immediately figured out the reason. As the master and bright golden master of Gold and Power Market respectively, Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong were both ambitious. Of course, when they met the piece of God's Star, they would get it in any way. Han Clan was qualified to gain it. How could the original owner of this piece of God's Star withstand the allure and power of Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong?

Zhang Tie closed his eyes as he immediately injected his spiritual energy into the piece of God's Star.

Previously, Castle of Black Iron was isolated from the Elements Realm. Zhang Tie could not absorb elements from Elements Realm in Castle of Black Iron. If he wanted to cultivate, he had to absorb element crystals. However, with the existence of this piece of God's Star, Zhang Tie could feel that the entire lobby of the palace tree was filled with surging elements ubiquitous.

After sensing it for a short while, Zhang Tie opened his eyes with a bit doubt in his eyes. Besides Gold and Power Law, each top sect of Taixia Country should at least have a piece of God's Star that could gather a single element and act upon knights effectively. That piece of God's Star in Ice and Snow Wilderness could gather 4 elements into the source of berserk energy; however, this one could form a sea of 4 elements instead of a single one. Although the 4 elements were plentiful, they were very berserk and couldn't be controlled easily. As for the cultivation of knights, this piece of God's Star was definitely more effective than an ordinary elements gathering matrix. However, the elements just mixed with each other instead of being separated. Therefore, the effect of this piece of God's Star would be sharply reduced; perhaps, this was the very reason that the clan which owned this piece of God's Star would like to sell it in terms of the auction.

'Whatever, better than nothing. At least I could continue my cultivation in Castle of Black Iron without elements crystal.'

"Castle Lord, are you thinking about cultivating with this piece of God's Star in Castle of Black Iron in the future?" Heller asked as if he had already known what Zhang Tie was thinking about.

Zhang Tie nodded, "Right, I was thinking about that. This piece of God's Star is indeed a great achievement!"

"If Castle Lord really thinks so, I think you could not make full use of this piece of God's Star. It would be wasteful if you just cultivated with it!" Heller said seriously.

Chapter 1175: Elements Tunnel

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

"Isn't the piece of God's Star used for cultivation?" Zhang Tie asked out of amazement.

"It is for knights!" Heller said in a calm look, "However, in Castle of Black Iron, the piece of God's Star could have another purpose!"

"What purpose?"

"If Pool of Chaos could devour and integrate with the piece of God's Star, the Pool of Chaos could advance to a higher level. The entire Castle of Black Iron would have a great change by then!"

'Advance the Pool of Chaos?' Zhang Tie became stunned by Heller's words as he had not imagined that the Pool of Chaos could advance to a higher level. He became interested in it right away, "How? Go ahead!"

"Castle of Black Iron is an independent world. This world is not connected to the Elements Realm. Castle Lord, you must know this!"

"Yes, I know!"

"Pool of Chaos could convert everything into the basic energy, which is what Castle of Black Iron's expansion relies upon!"

Zhang Tie nodded once again.

"Castle Lord could connect Castle of Black Iron with the Elements Realm using the piece of God's Star as an element transfer tunnel. After devouring and integrating with the piece of God's Star, the Pool of Chaos could automatically and constantly withdraw elements from the Elements Realm and convert the elements from the Elements Realm into the basic energy for the expansion of Castle of Black Iron!"

'Automatically? Constantly?' The two words were captured by Zhang Tie sensitively. After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie asked carefully, "You mean…if the Pool of Chaos could devour and integrate with this piece of God's Star, it's equal to connecting a free pipe between the Elements Realm and Castle of Black Iron. Elements could constantly flow into Pool of Chaos from Elements Realm for the expansion of Castle of Black Iron!"

"It's a vivid metaphor, Castle Lord!" Heller nodded.

Zhang Tie tried to become reassured as he took in a deep breath and asked, "After integrating with this piece of God's Star, how many enemies could the Pool of Chaos withdraw from the Elements Realm per day? How large the area of land could these energies be converted to for Castle of Black Iron?"

"This is a constant process. Therefore, its efficiency is very high. After integrating with this piece of God's Star, the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron could convert the basic energy that it withdraws from the Elements Realm to about 20 square miles' land a day!

"Won't such constant withdrawal affect the Elements Realm?"

Heller couldn't help laughing as he looked at Zhang Tie seriously and said, "Castle Lord, the entire world that you're in, including the sun, moons and stars in the sky, the planets, the entire material universe that commoners could sense and see, including the bright substances and dark substances in the universe are composed of elements in the Elements Realm according to different rules. How large is this planet? How large is this galaxy? How large is this universe? As for the Elements Realm, even if Castle of Black Iron becomes 100 times even 10,000 times larger than the entire Eastern Continent one day, the bit loss of the elements is just a drop of water in the ocean; additionally, the Elements Realm and the Material Realm could balance Implies with the law of balance. No matter what, Castle of Black Iron could not influence the balance between the Elements Realm and the Material Realm."

"After the Pool of Chaos devours and integrates with the piece of God's Star, could I cultivate in Castle of Black Iron using the piece of God's Star?'

"You could as long as you're near the Pool of Chaos. Some elements would spill out of the Pool of Chaos automatically. Of course, the densities of those elements could not match that of the elements that were gathered by this piece of God's Star. It might be equal to that of elements which could be sensed by knights in the Physical Realm without the help of the elements gathering matrix. Common knights could accept such a cultivation environment; however, it's too weak for Castle Lord!"

"How long will the Pool of Chaos take to integrate with the piece of God's Star?"

"Very fast, within 1 hour!"

Zhang Tie immediately sprung up. Closely after that, he pulled Heller's arm and walked towards the gate of the palace tree before saying, "Let's go. Right now. What are we waiting for?"

Zhang Tie remembered how difficult it was for him to pour some slags into Castle of Black Iron when he attended the survival training in Wild Wolf Valley. It was like smuggling. At that time, he would smell stinky and be extremely fatigued everyday only for increasing a bit basic energy for Castle of Black Iron. After promoting to a knight, even though he could open the siphon tunnel of Castle of Black Iron to absorb seawater at a fast speed, the basic energy of seawater could only be available for expanding the terrain of Castle of Black Iron.

Being limited to the supply of basic energy, the space of Castle of Black Iron was still small until now. Sometimes, Zhang Tie even felt that he had wasted such a treasure. If not revenge Han Clan, after returning to Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie even planned to absorb some more water from the ocean.

The appearance of this piece of God's Star almost broke through the bottleneck of the expansion of Castle of Black Iron due to insufficient basic energy storage. As a result, Zhang Tie could have a great amount of basic energy storage which could be converted to about 20 square miles' land a day. Although 20 square miles were not a big figure; it would become considerable day by day.

Given the great consumption of elements to form a chakra of the emperor-level secret method, Zhang Tie had long determined to use Purgatory Samsara Method to form his chakras. He even felt it a bit slow to absorb element crystals now. Of course, he ignored the weak effect of the piece of God's Star.

Zhang Tie had long given up absorbing element crystals from the Elements Realm. Now that it was available to absorb elements from the Elements Realm in Castle of Black Iron now, even if Zhang Tie ignored it, the others might use it in the future. Zhang Tie thought that this cultivation method could at least help those knights in Castle of Black Iron promote to higher levels if there was one day when he teleported his family members to Castle of Black Iron.

'If this piece of God's Star could meet the possible demand for cultivation in Castle of Black Iron and break the bottleneck of the insufficient basic energy in Castle of Black Iron, why not have the Pool of Chaos devour and integrate with it?'

Zhang Tie wanted it right away.

…

A few meters away from the palace tree, there was a stone path leading to the back of the mountain. After walking down the stairs, Zhang Tie came to the side of the Pool of Chaos.

The former Pool of Chaos had already become the Abyss of Chaos, a part of the Immortal Mountain. However, in Zhang Tie's mind, this Abyss of Chaos was always the Heavenly No. 1 garbage disposal plant.

The platform where Zhang Tie accepted the baptism of the Heavenly Waterfall was still on the side of the Abyss of Chaos. However, after a few years, that platform had been covered with mosses. There were some marks on the platform——some sword traces and the marks of his butt. The beech trees on the side of that platform also grew high and sturdy. The shades of the beech trees covered a small half of that platform. If it was a hot day, this place could become a nice place to prevent from sunstroke.

The nestle of the little black beetle was on the cliff of the Abyss of Chaos. After sensing that Zhang Tie was back, the little black beetle immediately flew out of the nestle and flew around Zhang Tie jubilantly. Soon after that, a sonic boom drifted from the sky while an extremely imposing thunder hawk descended as fast as a lightning bolt. The strong wind brought by the wings of the thunder hawk directly blew away the little black beetle, sending it rolling far away.

The thunder hawk was almost as tall as Zhang Tie. It kept rubbing its head against Zhang Tie's arm like a spoiled baby.

After braking itself, the little black beetle flew back stubbornly once again. It flew around the thunder hawk for a short while as if it was protesting how the thunder hawk maltreated him. However, the thunder hawk ignored it in a distant look. Finally, the little black thing directly fell onto Zhang Tie's hair as it wanted to find back its position. The thunder hawk threw a glare at it as it uttered a muffled-thunder like sound. Closely after that, it stretched out its neck and wanted to peak the beetle. The little black thing was so scared that it flew away at once.

Insects were born to be afraid of birds, even though the little black beetle was not ordinary; however, the thunder hawk was not an ordinary bird either.

The scene that the little black thing strove for Zhang Tie's favor with the thunder hawk was very interesting. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. He stretched out his hand to stroke the metallic, smooth and tidy feathers on the neck of the thunder hawk as he called back the little black thing onto his collar before saying, "It's fine; it's fine. You two are both my good partners. Little Thunder, you're large, don't bully Little Black. When you were not here these years, Little Black had helped me a lot."

The thunder hawk squawked in a dissatisfied way, which meant, "If I'm here, I could definitely help you more." The little black beetle raised its shell in a pleasant way which meant that "I could fly too".

After soothing the two little things, Zhang Tie waved his hand towards Heller before saying, "Let's start. I want to see how the Pool of Chaos devours and integrates with the piece of God's Star!"

Heller just revealed a smile while the piece of God's Star as colorful as rainbow behind him immediately flew into the Abyss of Chaos and was devoured by the black mist in the Abyss of Chaos.

The black mist and the black silt-like chaos beneath the mist of the Abyss of Chaos immediately rolled and formed a huge swirl. When the swirl rotated, the black Abyss of Chaos immediately gave out colorful brilliance…

Chapter 1176: Spatial Change

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

It only took the Abyss of Chaos less than 1 hour to devour and integrate with the piece of God's Star as was told by Heller. Actually, it was at most 40 minutes. When a dreamlike light curtain like polar light twisted and replaced the original black mist that covered the Abyss of Chaos, the entire process came to an end.

As a result, besides being black, the original Pool of Chaos which was as black as hundreds of millions of years old swamp was also covered with light bands in yellow, blue, cyan and red and swirls in different sizes. Colorful lights were spilling out of the Pool of Chaos while massive elements were surging into the Pool of Chaos like a great river or an ocean. The 4 elements were constantly devoured and converted into the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron by the Pool of Chaos.

The Abyss of Chaos could devour too many elements per second. Therefore, some fine particles of elements escaped out of the Abyss of Chaos and loomed in the air. Numerous floating light spots were flying around the Abyss of Chaos like colorful fireflies. As a result, the lifeless Abyss of Chaos became vigorous and dreamlike. Zhang Tie was really stunned by this scene.

It was dreamlike and shocking even in the daytime. In the evening, the scene here would be more romantic and brilliant.

After sensing the 4 elements, the little black beetle on Zhang Tie's collar flew off at once out of ecstasy. After flying around Zhang Tie for a short while, it hurriedly chased after those looming light spots of 4 elements in the air. After that, it rapidly flew back into his nestle on the cliff of Abyss of Chaos. The little beetle immediately felt that its nestle became a sea-view mansion.

"Is it still the Abyss of Chaos?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.

Heller replied with a smile, "After devouring a piece of God's Star, this Abyss of Chaos has already evolved once, Castle Lord could rename it!"

After naming an earth knight, Zhang Tie said without any hesitation, "Just call it Abyss of Elements from then on!"

Zhang Tie was so happy that he zoomed in the window of the basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron which he had not checked for a long time.

After expanding the terrain and space of Castle of Black Iron for a few times, the contents in the window of basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron had been adapted to Zhang Tie's recognition and demands much better in a more intelligent and human-friendlier way.

Zhang Tie didn't know whether they were adjusted by Heller on purpose. For instance, the units of length and distance had been changed to "meter" and "kilometer" which were universally adopted by humans in that times.

Additionally, the items "length" and "width" also turned into "land area" and "average thickness of crust", which sounded more three-dimensional and plentiful.

Because of these changes, the window of basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron in front of Zhang Tie looked a bit fresher.

Castle of Black Iron

——Land area: 2500 square miles

——Average crustal thickness: 200 m

——Aura value: 86928703

——Merit value: 172587664

——Basic energy storage: 3985210

…

Zhang Tie had not checked the window of basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron for a long time. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie found that the aura value of Castle of Black Iron had already reached over 80 million points while his merit value had reached 150,000,000 points. Of course, the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron was still the least since last large-scale terrain and space renovation as he didn't spare any time to increase the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron during the past years.

However, what made Zhang Tie reassured was that figure of the basic energy storage started to rise rapidly like that on the water meter. It indicated that Castle of Black Iron had been able to gain basic energy from Elements Realm constantly.

Zhang Tie then clicked the logs of merit value.

——Eliminating the evil doers and encourage people to do good is the biggest mercy of creator among humans; respect the universal laws and love people is the nearest staircase for laities to return to the heavens; fortunate ones, one your way back to the heavens, please show the mercy of creator across the world so that the gods in the heavens could understand your sincerity; please receive the sincerest pleasure and gratitude from hundreds of billions of living beings; please end the evil souls and dark forces; when you become the light of your own, you will walk on the light for sure as a brilliant road would be spread under your foot.

The above paragraph was on the top of the log about merit value. It still made Zhang Tie hot boiled even now. Below this paragraph, there were concrete logs about merit values.

There were many logs about merit value lately. The front logs were all about setting free hairy shellfish and gulf shrimps which indicated that Paul was still carrying out the task strictly. Behind these logs, Zhang Tie saw the logs about killing Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong.

Zhang Tie clicked the log about killing Han Zhengfang.

——In the midnight of November 16th, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Castle Lord killed Han Zhengfang the master of Heavens Reaching Church in the magma sea and gained 32358410 merit value points.

'Over 30 million merit value points?' Zhang Tie took in a deep breath.

He then read the earlier log.

——On November 15th, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Castle Lord killed Han Yuanhong the young master of Heavens Reaching Church in Xuanyuan Hill and gained 752,100 merit value points.

The merit value points for killing Han Yuanhong were much smaller than that of Han Zhengfang. It indicated the sharp difference between the two people in positions and abilities. In another word, Han Zhengfang had done greater harm to Taixia Country and made more wicked deeds than his son.

The last log was recorded on November 15th too.

——On November 15th, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Castle Lord unveiled the plot of Heavens Reaching Church in a secret method of the Great Wilderness Sutra in a wise and brave way and caused a series of chain reactions. As a result, Castle Lord gained 115,870,016 merit value points.

'After unveiling the real identity of Han Zhengfang in Xuanyuan Hill, I gained over 100 million merit value points? It's even higher than killing Han Zhengfang?'

Zhang Tie was shocked for quite a while before recovering his composure, 'If the merit value points that I gained by unveiling the real identity of Han Zhengfang is higher than killing Han Zhengfang himself, does it mean that what I easily did by those swans in Xuanyuan Hill was more influential and meaningful than that I killed Han Zhengfang at the risk of my life? Even though I've not killed Han Zhengfang, I've also gained over 100 million merit value points only by manifesting the 12 huge words using swans.'

When he thought about this, Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto the paragraph on the top of that log about merit value points. After understanding it for a short while, Zhang Tie closed the window about the basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron only by a click.

Standing beside the Abyss of Elements for a short while silently, Zhang Tie looked at Heller, "Does it mean that the space of Castle of Black Iron could be constantly expanded as long as I could provide enough merit value points?"

"Yes, aura value could be constantly produced by plants in Castle of Black Iron; basic energy could be constantly gained from the Abyss of Elements. As long as Castle Lord has enough merit value points, you could expand the space of Castle of Black Iron constantly. Therefore, if Castle Lord has a long-term plan about expanding Castle of Black Iron, you'd better pay attention to the provision of merit value!"

"Oh, you mentioned that Abyss of Elements could provide 20 square miles' land for Castle of Black Iron every day. What's the thickness of the earth's crust? Is it still 200 m?"

"Not 200 m, but 50,000 m, the minimal depth of crust which is required for producing natural mineral veins and ores in Castle of Black Iron!" Heller continued with a smile, "Castle Lord has really underestimated the power of the combination of this piece of God's Star and the Abyss of Chaos!"

Zhang Tie immediately remembered what Heller told him when he had Castle of Black Iron form this terrain last time——If you could produce an ocean or a piece of land that covers over 600 square miles and is over 30 miles in thickness as an initial earth crust, Castle of Black Iron might automatically produce one or more natural mineral veins or ores in the process of the formation and renovation of the space and terrain…

"You mean, I might gain one or more ores by expanding the land area of Castle of Black Iron by 600 square miles per month?" Zhang Tie became spirited at once.

"Principally, yes…"