1194 - 1202

Chapter 1194: The Start of Chaos

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Time always flew at home; especially after the new year's festival. It soon came to late lunar January unconsciously. Zhang Tie had already stayed at home for almost 1 month.

Over the past month, besides staying with his family members, Zhang Tie was also paying attention to the situation in Ice and Snow Wilderness.

It was evidently not a good idea for Sacred Light Empire to dispatch an expedition to Ice and Snow Wilderness in winter. Because the two harbors that the expeditionary fleet prepared to dock at for replenishment had been frozen in winter. Therefore, the expeditionary fleet would face a great problem in replenishment. Ice and Snow Wilderness was in the northernmost part of Waii Subcontinent. The closer it was to the vast unmanned ice land, the slower the fleet would move facing the northwest wind and the surging waves, not to mention the icebergs that might flow downwards from the north. In the evening, a battleship might be easily severely damaged or capsized by an iceberg that floated on the ocean.

The merchant ships and businessmen that traversed between Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Western Continent were keeping a close watch on the movements of Sacred Light Empire. After spending a lot of money, the intelligence network of Sacred Iceland Kingdom started to run at a high speed on the Western Continent. Intelligence about the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire would gather in Saint Peterburg almost every day.

After analyzing the intelligence from all aspects, Pontiff Sarlin speculated that the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire might leave their military base on this mid-February or early March; at most late March.

Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured. After accomplishing his rotating chakra ceremony, he had enough time to deal with the crisis facing Ice and Snow Wilderness.

Zhang Tie was not considering how to defeat the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire; he was considering how to make Sacred Light Empire afraid so that those d**chebags would not dare cast their greedy eyes on Sacred Iceland Kingdom anymore and would feel vexed and lack in self-confidence the moment they heard the name of Sacred Iceland Kingdom.

If not deal with this crisis well, given the overall national strength of Sacred Light Empire, even if they were defeated once, they would attack the Sacred Iceland Kingdom for the 2nd time even the 3rd time. If so, Sacred Iceland Kingdom would have endless troubles.

Gulas and Dali had returned to Ice and Snow Wilderness safe and sound before the new year. They failed to find their allies and reliances. Because major clans in Taixia Country were too picky. They would not invest in the barren land of Ice and Snow Wilderness at all, not to mention align with that small country. If not in the Treasures Meeting, Gulas and Dali might not even catch the attention of any major clan in Taixia Country at all. The two people indeed sold some vials of the source of berserk energy in the Treasures Meeting; as for many purchasers, the so-called source of berserk energy from Ice and Snow Wilderness was just a good medicament that could make people go berserk and sustain that state for a longer time. It could be used for the rest of their lives. However, it was not easy to activate the effect of this medicament either. Not each fighter could activate its effect. Low-level fighters might have a demand for a source of berserk energy; however, after promoting to knights, this medicament would become meaningless for them. In Treasures Meeting, those which were meaningless to knights could barely catch people's attention.

Gulas and Dali didn't find a powerful alley for Sacred Iceland Kingdom; however, they brought back a news about the large-scale riot in Xuanyuan Hill and the rest of Taixia Country.

The finance minister of Taixia Country was a lackey of Three-eye Association 1 . A catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in Taixia Country as a whole. This news aroused a great shock across Sacred Iceland Kingdom, not to mention the Western Continent and other subcontinents. Even Pontiff Sarlin asked Zhang Tie about the current situation facing Taixia Country through remote-sensing crystal out of concern.

As for people from other continents and subcontinents, Taixia Country was very unrivaled. People from all the other continents and subcontinents longed for, jealous about and hated for the prosperity and power of Taixia Country. However, undoubtedly, Taixia Country and Hua people were the pillars and the hope of all humans in the war between humans and demons. Any turmoil in Taixia Country would cause a mighty uproar in other continents and subcontinents.

Since the riot broke out in Xuanyuan Hill on November 15th last year, those who firstly sensed fear were not Hua people in Taixia Country, but top-class figures in continents and subcontinents outside Taixia Country. These people was clear that they would never survive this holy war if Taixia Country collapsed due to civil strife. This holy was like a terrifying storm. Taixia Country was the largest human battleship in this tempest. If the largest human battleship would capsize and sink, those sampans would definitely be shattered by the huge waves. If Taixia failed to resist demons, all humans would enter the darkest days.

"How's Taixia Country doing now?"

Zhang Tie really didn't know how to answer Elder Sarlin.

Zhang Tie's personal situation was very good. He had promoted to an earth knight and had been found innocent. Additionally, he became famous across Taixia Country. Zhang family's power also expanded constantly. Besides all-purpose medicament, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would soon produce revolutionary high-power alcohol; additionally, Zhang Tie had returned home. He stayed with his family members and enjoyed playing with his sons and daughters every day. As a result, his foundation in Taixia Country was growing increasingly consolidated; he had more and more friends in Taixia Country. He had even established relationships with Lord Guangnan's Mansion and Heavens Fortune Sect. However, the culprit who screwed him had been killed by Zhang Tie himself; he even made a fortune. The Gobbling Party were having an intense conflict with the Heavens Reaching Church. It could be said that Zhang Tie's situation was unprecedentedly good. He had not lived such a leisure and comfortable life before. Actually, Zhang Tie had officially reached a wholly new peak in his life.

Zhang Tie welcomed his new peak moments in his life; however, the coldness of the 3rd holy war raided the entire Taixia Country in only a few months.

When it came to winter, the bloody figures across Taixia Country; especially those in northern regions temporarily slowed down their attacking frequencies. The bloody figures became more disperse, causing increasing greater destructions in wider areas.

In December, the catastrophe of bloody figures had just covered over 60 provinces; however, in the next January, bloody figures had been discovered across Taixia Country, except for some wild provinces and Xuanyuan Hill. The catastrophe of bloody figures was spreading over the entire country. Before January 1st, the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar, the catastrophe of bloody figures which had broken out for less than 2 months had caused a casualty of over 0.37 billion people. This figure was increasing every day. There were totally over 10 million bloody figures across Taixia Country. After being encircled and annihilated for over 1 month, this figure was constantly reducing; however, the rest alive bloody figures were still killing people and causing panic across the country in each second.

Even Youzhou province was involved in such a turmoil.

On January 3rd, when Zhang Tie was immersing in the festive atmosphere of the new year, some teams of bloody figures had poured into Yangui Mountain Range from Tongzhou Province. They might have already sneaked into Youzhou Province.

After entering Yangui Mountain Range and carrying out a bloodbath in two small mountain villages, these bloody figures had completely disappeared. When a hunter living in the mountain discovered the abnormal phenomenon in the two small mountain villages, he hurriedly came to report it to the officials.

Some teams of bloody figures with unidentified population might have penetrated through Yangui Mountain Range and entered Youzhou Province. Therefore, Youzhou Province became vigilant as a whole; especially the garrisons in some cities near Yangui Mountain Range which had been mobilized. The moment Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory received the news, they had cordoned off the entire region.

Not until Zhang Tie received the news from Huaiyuan Palace did he know it at home.

Of course, during the same period, Zhang Tie received a "good news" about bloody figures——The battle fortress prison that Zhang Tie had people build near the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect to lock up bloody figures had been officially assembled.

Zhang Tie named this prison for bloody figures as Demon Suppression Battlefortress. The entire fortress could contain 200,000 bloody figures. It was a large-scale battlefortress construction business group which was responsible for undertaking similar business in Yanzhou Province of Taixia Country. After Zhang Yang expressed his demand and paid off 70% of the engineering fund, this business group completed the construction of Demon Suppression Battlefortress in the shortest period.

Zhang Tie had not visited the Demon Suppression Battlefortress yet. However, it was said that it was even a bit larger than the former crystal battlefortress. After Demon Suppression Battlefortress was completed, the first batch of 1287 bloody figures that Zhang Tie and Jinwu Business Group had purchased had been locked into the Demon Suppression Battlefortress. Jinwu Guards were responsible for guarding them.

When the catastrophe of bloody figures spread over Taixia Country, the loyal backbones of Heavens Reaching Church who had "produced" these bloody figures disappeared in the latest 2 months. Besides some trivial figures, very few famous knight-level powerhouses of Heavens Reaching Church being wanted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country could be discovered. Those d**chebags just disappeared out of the void, causing people to be restless.

Chapter 1195: The End of the Leisure Days

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Many missing loyal backbones of Heavens Reaching Church and powerhouses were closely related to Bloody Soul Temple. Take Wen Clan in Pingsha Valley of Zhongzhou Province which had been exterminated as an instance, now that these backbone clans and followers couldn't be discovered while building bloody seas across Taixia Country, they were not common clans and powers. Such clans would at least have one black iron knight. Actually, according to the official report, these loyal followers of Heavens Reaching Church who were exposed due to the catastrophe of bloody figures and bloody sea contained 264 black iron knights, 19 earth knights and 1 shadow knight.

The shadow knight came from Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace in Liang Zhou Province, one of the top 9 immortal provinces in Taixia Country. Han Zhengfang's wife came from Gao Clan. If not the accident in Xuanyuan Hill, who could imagine that well-known Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace in Liangzhou Province belonged to Heavens Reaching Church.

That wanted shadow knight was Gao Tianzhao, the former clan head of Gao Clan, also the great-great-grandfather of the current clan head of Gao Clan, the forebear of Gao Clan.

Besides Gao Tianzhao, 4 earth knights and over 30 black iron knights of Gao Clan entered the wanted list of the Supreme Court too.

All the knights of Gao Clan had escaped. Those who couldn't escape just scattered in all directions. They would be arrested and killed by the fighters of Supreme Court. Overnight, the remarkable Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace had collapsed, shocking too many people.

It was an earth-shaking event for the Supreme Court to confiscate Gao Clan. It happened when Zhang Tie was still in the underground magma sea beneath the volcano. Zhang Tie gradually understood the details after returning to Youzhou Province.

Gao Clan was the first supermajor of Taixia Country being confiscated as it was involved in the plot of demons, Time-honored Taste Palace was only inferior to the imperial household of Taixia Country. Therefore, this event had a great influence. All the major clans in Taixia Country had been shocked. It was said that the Supreme Court even found a time-honored altar of Bloody Soul Temple from Gao Clan. Therefore, Gao Clan's secret identity was exposed. Gao Can was confirmed as the clan being affiliated to Bloody Soul Temple in Taixia Country. However, besides Gao Clan, it was hard to say whether there were any more secret clans being affiliated to Bloody Soul Temple in Taixia Country.

Nobody could imagine that Bloody Soul Temple could bury so many timebombs in Taixia Country after the top 7 sects in Taixia Country joined hands to exterminate the Bloody Soul Temple.

In order to hunt for the knights of Heavens Reaching Church, the judicial minister, one of the top 9 ministers of Taixia Country who had been in Xuanyuan Hill for many years had already left Xuanyuan Hill. He guided and implemented the encirclement and annihilation of these subversives. All the supreme powerhouses in the provincial and prefectural courts across Taixia Country had left to catch them.

Thankfully, the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out very hastily on last November 15th, sparing less time for Heavens Reaching Church to make preparations. If they made well preparations for that, over 10 million bloody figures under the leadership of so many knights would cause dozens even hundreds of times more damages like what once happened in Waii Subcontinent. As long as demon knights could resist the attacks of human knights, the super demon corps on the ground would be unrivaled. By contrast, after losing the guidance of knights, this super corps of bloody figures would be casually separated into smaller troops by human knights across Taixia Country like how a cook dissected an ox. If these bloody figures troops moved slowly or couldn't break through timely, they would be encircled and annihilated by outnumbered human corps which poured in from all directions.

After causing a great chaos across Taixia Country, those knights of Heavens Reaching Church seemed to have disappeared all of a sudden. At least Zhang Tie had not heard about any major move of these b*stards in the last 2 months.

Even Zhang Gui couldn't figure out where these people hid in and what they were going to do. Previously, Zhang Gui was following Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong. He was not on the same line with those loyal backbones of Heavens Reaching Church who were directly guided and dispatched by Han Zhengfang and prepared for arising riots across Taixia Country. The two systems might have contacts; Zhang Gui also recognized some loyal followers of Heavens Reaching Church; however, he couldn't get hang of the concrete schedules of these people after they arouse the riot.

According to Zhang Gui, Han Zhengfang's subordinates belonged to two systems. Although the two systems looked like a unity, they were different than each other. Zhang Gui sought refuge with Han Zhengfang after promoting to a knight. However, Han Zhengfang kept vigilance about him. As a result, Zhang Gui couldn't participate in some plans. Zhang Gui actually always followed Han Zhengfang's youngest son Han Yuantu. By contrast, someone in Heavens Reaching Church was more reliable to Han Zhengfang. For instance Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace, which was qualified to be the direct subordinates of Han Zhengfang. Han Zhengfang's direct subordinates were under the control of his eldest son Han Yuanhong.

When Zhang Gui sought refuge with Han Zhengfang, he didn't know that Han Zhengfang's subordinates were divided into two systems. He gradually realized that later on. Zhang Gui guessed that those people and clans whom Han Zhengfang trusted most in Heavens Reaching Church might be those from the secret clans being affiliated to Bloody Soul Temple like Han Zhengfang himself. Those clans and knights that surrendered to Han Zhengfang were always a bit estranged to Han Zhengfang compared to these knights who came from the secret clans of Bloody Soul Temple.

The source of Heavens Reaching Church was involved with the Bloody Soul Temple which was once exterminated by the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. Additionally, Heavens Reaching Church colluded with demons. Therefore, the relationship between Bloody Soul Temple, Heavens Reaching Church and demons was complicated.

Since the beginning of the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar, the entire Taixia Country had been in chaos. Few people could celebrate the spring festival at home in a reassuring way; especially those knight-level powerhouses.

As Taixia Country was becoming increasingly chaotic, as a member of Hua people in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie couldn't spare any effort in exterminating bloody figures and demons.

On January 17th, after Zhang Tie stayed at home leisurely and comfortably for less than 1 month, he had received the notice of Huaiyuan Palace. He was requested to discuss something in the Ancestral Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace in Tiger Embracing City. All the elders and Zhang Taixuan would attend this meeting.

Given its scale, they were definitely talking about something trivial. As an elder of Huaiyuan Palace, of course, Zhang Tie couldn't be absent out of no reason. From another perspective, he could manifest his authority as an elder and position in his family by attending this meeting in the Ancestral Shrine Palace. Of course, Zhang Tie had to go there.

On the afternoon of January 18th, after having lunch and hushing his 3 sons and 2 daughters to have a nap, Zhang Tie bade a farewell to his family members. Closely after that, he shot into the sky before flying towards Embracing Tiger City…

Chapter 1196: Coming to Embracing Tiger City in Disguise

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Jinwu City was neighboring Yanghe Prefecture, Youzhou Province, which was less than 600 miles from Embracing Tiger City. The distance between Jinwu City and Embracing Tiger City might be a bit long for commoners, which would cost a lot of time by train or airship; however, as for an earth knight like Zhang Tie, the distance of 600 miles was like leaving home for the marketplace. Even though Zhang Tie didn't use the ability of divine dominator, he could also arrive at Embracing Tiger City in 1 hour.

After the 5th day of the lunar January, it didn't snow in Youzhou Province anymore. However, it was as cold as usual; especially these days. After the accumulated snow started to melt, it became much colder in the air.

Flying in the sky, Zhang Tie found that the landscape below was covered with white snow. Zhang Tie entered the air territory above Tiger Embracing City before 2 pm. He then landed on a lane of a residential area which was unpopulated nearby the harbor of Embracing Tiger City.

After landing on the lane, Zhang Tie put on his snow-proof hood and buckled it up. As a result, the greater part of his face had been covered at once, only exposing his eyebrows and eyes. The others couldn't identify the face under the hood at all; they could only identify that this man was not old.

Given Zhang Tie's popularity in Youzhou Province; especially Embracing Tiger City, he couldn't be identified by people on the street only in this way.

Zhang Tie just stayed with his family members at home these days. Although he also gained some messages from outside, as these messages were indirect, they were not accurate enough. Coincidentally, as he came to Tiger Embracing City to attend the meeting, he wanted to check the atmosphere in Embracing Tiger City too. As a knight in Taixia Country, now that he didn't plan to hide in Castle of Black Iron completely, he had to care about something more or less. As Zhang Tie was also once an average person, he knew that something couldn't be more genuine and concrete unless among the people.

There was thin accumulated snow on the ground of the lane. Zhang Tie walked out of the lane toward the outside street.

By contrast, the street outside the lane was pretty boisterous.

The moment Zhang Tie arrived at the mouth of the lane, a gate near the mouth of the lane had opened, causing a squeak. Some people walked out of there. 2 people were seeing off another 2 people.

"Second younger brother, I will hand Deming to you. When he comes to your boîte, teach him whatever you want. Beat him if he's not obedient. Don't spoil him. Let him do all the dirty and tired jobs in the boîte!"

The 2 people who were leaving were a middle-aged couple in ordinary dress. Given their looks, they must come from rural areas outside the city. Although they wore clean clothes, Zhang Tie could easily know their identities the moment he saw them. The man who was talking looked simple and honest.

"Eldest brother, don't worry. I will treat De Ming as my own son. As long my family has food, we will never make him hungry!" The couple who saw them off looked a bit younger. Given the looks of the current speaker and the earlier one, they must be brothers. "I will slowly teach Deming about the affairs in the boîte. Deming could also be a boss in the future!"

"With your words, I'm reassured!"

"We're of the same family. At this moment, you and eldest sister-in-law don't need to be so kind to us. Deming, come over here. Bid a farewell to your dad and mom. Later on, you could only meet your parents once a few months in the Embracing Tiger City…"

A teenager with bloody eyes moved forward and knelt down on the snow before the younger couple, "Dad, mom, don't worry about me. After I grasp talents from the second uncle and make enough money, I will buy a house in the downtown and bring you there…"

When Zhang Tie came over there, the 5 people turned around to glance at him at the same time. Zhang Tie just passed by leisurely. He didn't let them feel that he was watching them just like a passer-by. He then came to the bustling street.

Although it was cold, after the new year festival, the street had become boisterous. After the 3rd day of lunar January, the roadside stores had opened constantly. A minority of stores would open on the 6th day or the 8th day of the lunar January for a good fortune. Only a few stores had not opened after the Lantern Festival. The bosses of these stores must be in the other provinces and had not come back yet.

There were some traces of celebrating the Lantern Festival 3 days ago on the street. The front stores were all hanging delicate lanterns. Some lanterns were even hanging over twigs on the roadside.

Zhang Tie walked on the streets leisurely. Many people on the street were in the same snow-proof hood like him. Embracing Tiger City was close to the ocean. Therefore, the sea wind was stronger in winter. These days, those who sought living outside had to cover their faces and daub fish oil over their faces in case of being wounded by the piercingly cold wind. Many people in Tiger Embracing City were in similar dress. Besides being exquisite and delicate, Zhang Tie's dress was nothing special. Therefore, nobody paid special attention to him on the street. The back of hands and faces of some people on the street were oily too. They might be seeking a living on the wharf or the ship.

"Eldest brother, I will call a car to carry you back!"

"No need, we've come to Embracing Tiger City for a few times. We're familiar with the road. When your eldest sister-in-law and I arrived at Embracing Tiger City, we've made an appointment with Li Dazhuang who's responsible for delivering grains. We will wait for him at the west gate of Tiger Embracing City and go back by his vehicle. Hurry, go back, it's cold outside…"

The street outside the lane was east-west. After coming to the street, Zhang Tie immediately turned to the west leisurely.

Even though he had turned to the street, the talk in the lane still drifted in his ears. Needless to say, Zhang Tie knew that the rural couple must have politely declined the good intention of the urban couple. Even though, the urban couple still saw him off to the mouth of the lane. After talking with each other for a short while, they had departed. The rural couple just walked 30 m away behind Zhang Tie while the urban couple had returned home and closed the door with the son of the rural couple.

After leaving the mouth of the lane for a short while, when they were a bit farther away from the mouth of the lane, the woman who was always silent suddenly uttered, "Younger sister-in-law didn't speak just now; I'm a bit worried about it…"

The man became silent for a second before nodding affirmatively, "Don't worry, my second younger brother is strong-minded. His words work at home. When my second younger brother came to Embracing Tiger City for developing his undertaking, his boîte was even bought by our brothers. Our family even sold about 7,000 square meters' land. I even sold some cattle for him. Over these years, you've already seen that, my second younger brother is not that ungrateful. He usually helped our family; not to mention that he watched Deming growing up. Whatever, he's Deming's uncle. He will not mistreat Deming!"

"Although it sounds reasonable, I'm still worried about that. After all, Deming will stay in Embracing Tiger City for not only a few months. If it's too long, I'm afraid that the second sister-in-law would feel unhappy…"

"Alas, we have to do that!" The simple and honest man let out a sigh before continuing, "In our village, those able ones would hurriedly send their children into the downtown. It's said that Landlord Liu has sent his children into a school in Youzhou City. Old Cao has sent his son to Goldenlight City as an apprentice; even Li Laizi's two children have been sent into the sawmill in Embracing Tiger City which was opened by his uncle. The downtown would always be safer than the rural areas more or less. A few years ago, it was safe and stable in rural areas; however, it's becoming dangerous in rural areas now. It's said that hundreds of villages outside cities had been cleaned by bloody figures overnight. Many people even became the food of those bloody figures. The 3-5 m high guardrails and walls outside the villages could only prevent ordinary wild beasts and burglars. Bloody figures could easily jump over them. Ordinary villages couldn't resist bloody figures at all. A few days ago, bloody figures had already arrived at Youzhou Province. It's said that many people were killed. We have to find a way for Deming…"

"I'm only worried about Deming…"

"The country is becoming increasingly chaotic. It's nothing for Deming to suffer some hardships as long as he's safe. Ah, where's that set of jade jewelry? Bring them when we come to Embracing Tiger City next time. You give them to 2nd sister-in-law stealthily. Don't let my 2nd younger brother know that. It's women's business."

"Ahh? I keep them for Dehua's wife in the future. No matter how poor we're, if we want to marry a son-in-law, we have to prepare some nice-looking jewelry!"

"Dehua is in the army. He doesn't need them for the time being. We'd better deal with Deming's affair first! It's better than nothing as long as the two brothers could survive! When spring comes, I will try my luck in the mountain and find some wild ginseng…"

"As you wish…" The woman nodded after being silent for a second…

Zhang Tie knew that it was very dangerous to find ginseng in the mountains of Youzhou Province; especially for fighters below LV 9. As wild ginseng grew in mountains, which were covered with mutated beasts, commoners had to risk a great danger to enter mountains. Man people couldn't come back alive.

'How poor parents!'

Zhang Tie let out a long sigh as he had not imagined that even Embracing Tiger City which was far away from the catastrophe of bloody figures could suffer from such a great shock. Even the villagers outside the city wanted to send their family members to the downtown and seek for a safe asylum.

After looking at the flow rate of people on the street seriously, Zhang Tie found that there were indeed more people than when he came here last two times.

Even Youzhou Province had been in such an urgent situation, not to mention the other provinces. Although there were many cities in Taixia Country, over 70-80% of people lived outside of cities. The moment the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out, the entire country was in a panic while villagers hurriedly poured into downtowns. Some downtowns might have been in chaos.

When Zhang Tie slightly frowned and thought about it, he heard a roar from the inn in front of him, "You lunatic, how dare you pretend to be a pharmacist? How could a pharmacist be so poor in Taixia Country? If you don't have money, roll out of my inn…"

Closely after the roar, one person had been thrown out of the door together with his quilt and blanket.

Chapter 1197: The Lunatic

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

The accumulated snow on the street had long thawed due to so many passers-by, causing soft and icy mud. The person being thrown out of the inn together with his broken roll of quilt and blanket directly fell into the mud. How embarrassing it was! The passers-by on the roadside streets hurriedly dodged away from him. Zhang Tie and some passers-by then started to watch the fun on one side.

Some strong lads and a cook of the inn were standing outside the gate while glaring at the person who had been thrown out. A glib lad cupped his hands and explained loudly, "Dear neighbors and friends. Our Yuean Inn is not bullying him. This guy had lived in our inn for over 1 week for free. Previously, our boss was soft-hearted and let him live in for a few days as it's cold outside. We've not imagined that this guy planned to stay in our inn all the way. He bullied us. It doesn't work wherever it is. As we cannot stand it anymore, we have to drive him out of Yuean Inn. Please be the witnesses for us, we don't mind whether he's dead or not!"

After being thrown out, the one quivered all over out of fury. He stood up from the mud and pointed at those young men in the inn before saying furiously, "You…you…are going too far…I've paid this month's rent and food…how could you drive me out before the end…"

"When you came here, our boss had told you that our rent would change with the marketing price. It changes every day. When in slack season, it would be cheaper; when in boom season, it would be more expensive. You paid the rent in November; however, the rent across Embracing Tiger City had been growing since the beginning of December. All the other inns' rents were rising. Of course, our Yuean Inn's rent and food fee would rise too. We're following the general trend. Your rent and food fee has been used up soon after the new year festival. As our boss pitied you, he allowed you to stay inside for a few more days. Even if you notify the official, we will not be afraid of you. How ridiculous! How could you be a pharmacist? If all the pharmacists across the world were like you, pharmacists couldn't even match coolies…"

"Hahaha…I'm not a pharmacist…if I'm not a pharmacist, how could I be so embarrassed…" The embarrassed middle-aged man burst out into laughter miserably with bloody eyes as if he had lost his marbles. He tore open his wet and dirty clothes and exposed his naked chest to the chilly wind before roaring towards the sky, "Come on, kill me; come on, kill me. I know you will not let me go; come on, kill me. All the people across the world are swarming around as flies do for good and hang around as dogs do for food. I've been so poor for the well-being of all the people across the world. It's meaningless. If you want to torment all the people across the world, just do it. If you want to kill me, just do that. Aren't your heavens reaching? Aren't you preparing for turning all the medicinal materials into poisons? Come on, kill me…"

Being stimulated and humiliated by the lads of the inn, this middle-aged man was driven mad, which scared those lads a few steps back. They strictly guarded the gate of the inn so as to prevent him from breaking into the inn and causing some troubles. All the onlookers hurriedly scattered to a certain degree, including Zhang Tie.

"Alas, this man turned a bit abnormal. How about fetching the criminal hunters to catch him? It would be troublesome if he hurt someone…" Someone among the onlookers whispered.

"How about sending him to the Benign Doctor's Clinic? It's too cold, he's driven mad. How poor he is!"

After hearing the words of the onlookers, that man laughed loudly. He even dropped off his tears, "Yes, I'm a lunatic, I'm a lunatic…"

"Even heroes might be breathless. Everybody would have a low ebb in life. Nothing to watch here. Please leave. This friend, please not be that excited!" A calm and crispy sound drifted out of the onlookers. When the all the people turned around, they saw a strong young man in snow-proof cloak behind the crowd. Given his voice, this man should be younger than 20 years old; however, those eagle-eyed people could find that his cloak and boots were all well-made and rare in the market. Additionally, this young man had an unspoken temperament. Even though he didn't expose his face, he was still awe-stricken.

"Ha, just leave out of here, just leave…"

The young man's voice sounded supernatural. After hearing his words, all the onlookers really left. Even that middle-aged man who was a bit excited just now became quiet. He didn't shout loudly or did anything excessive anymore.

Of course, it was Zhang Tie who spoke. Additionally, he used a secret skill of Soul Forbidden Method. His words sounded very comfortable. Therefore, all the onlookers just followed his order unconsciously. When the crowd dispersed, Zhang Tie walked towards the gate of the inn as he asked those lads who were standing outside the gate of the inn, "How much has this guy owed you?"

That eloquent lad whispered while shrugging with a bit fearful look, "This man…has lived a few more days in our inn. He owes us over 20 silver coins. You know, we're not a welfare institution…"

"Well, I understand you. It's not your fault. Take it…" Zhang Tie flipped a gold coin onto the hand of the lad after drawing an elegant golden arc in the air. "I've paid off his debt. Keep the change. Tell your boss. It's good to help people tide over difficulties; however, it would be much better if he could do well from beginning to end…"

"Yes…yes…yes, thanks, thanks…" After taking that gold coin, those lads revealed a smile at the same time. They treated Zhang Tie more politely. Such a generous and righteous guest was always welcomed wherever he was.

"Are there any other belongings of him in your inn?'

"No, no more!" Those lads hurriedly shook their heads, "He only came with such a broken blanket and a quilt. Nothing else!"

Zhang Tie turned around and looked at that middle-aged man who was especially berserk just now. That man had already recovered his composure while wrapping himself in clothes. His face had turned a bit blue in the cold wind. Zhang Tie told him, "Follow me!"

The middle-aged man hesitated for a second. After following Zhang Tie for a couple of steps, he threw a glance at the broken blanket and quilt in the mud as he wanted to pick them up.

"No need to pick them up. They are dirty and wet. Just throw them!"

After hearing Zhang Tie's words, that middle-aged man stopped picking them up and just followed after Zhang Tie while shrinking his body.

Zhang Tie walked a short while ahead of the middle-aged man silently. The middle-aged man didn't speak either. Over 10 minutes later, they stopped in front of "Jinyun Hotel" on a more prosperous avenue.

This "Jinyun Hotel" was much more luxurious than that inn. Although it was cold, the garden outside the hotel was still verdant. There was a huge dome which was made of glass fiber reinforced plastics on the top of the garden. There were heating units on the ground. The shiny marbles were resplendent and spotless. Two rows of tall and thin beautiful girls were standing at the gate to welcome guests.

Zhang Tie directly entered the gate. Being scared by such a grand place, the middle-aged man dared not enter it. Therefore, he became hesitated.

"Come in? You didn't even care about your life just now, why not dare enter a hotel?" Zhang Tie turned around as he threw a glance at that middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man gritted his teeth. Closely after that, he followed Zhang Tie in as if he was ready to risk everything.

"Gentleman, you want…" A female usher walked over here as he threw a glance at Zhang Tie and that middle-aged man who followed after Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie looked noble all over; however, that middle-aged man behind him looked sloppy. They were absolutely from two different worlds.

"Prepare a special courtyard for me…" Zhang Tie said as he passed a good check to the girl, the par value of which was 1,000 gold coins. At the sight of such a "large denomination", the girl swallowed all the words back. With such a gold check, the two people could live in the most expensive courtyard for 1 year.

Under the amazed gazes of the other gentlemen and young ladies who were accessing to the hotel, that female usher directly led Zhang Tie and that middle-aged man into a tranquil courtyard which was matched with a warm spring.

"Bring him some fitted clothes, shoes and socks for him given his size. I don't care about money!" Zhang Tie told the female usher. Such a high-end hotel was always matched with a high-end shopping mall. It's easy for people to buy clothes here.

After the female usher left, Zhang Tie told that middle-aged man, "You'd better take a bath and change a set of new clothes before talking with me…"

After doing all these, Zhang Tie just took a seat and drank tea water in the parlor while waiting for the middle-aged man to come out to talk with him after taking a bath.

Chapter 1198: The Inquiry

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Zhang Tie just sat and drank tea water in the parlor of the courtyard. He had already taken off his hood, revealing an excessively young face.

He just helped that middle-aged man by himself. What counted most was the sentence that middle-aged man roared when being driven mad——All the people across the world are swarming around as flies do for good and hang around as dogs do for food. I've been so poor for the well-being of all the people across the world. It's meaningless. If you want to torment all the people across the world, just do it. If you want to kill me, just do that. Aren't you heavens reaching? Aren't you preparing for turning all the medicinal materials into poisons? Come on, kill me…

As the middle-aged man shouted it when losing his marbles, very few people would believe in his words. However, as Zhang Tie was proficient in Soul Forbidden Method, he could clearly sense that that man was in his right mind although being despaired and mad. He was not talking rubbish. He just aired his grievance in a self-abandoned way.

——Turning all the medicinal materials into poisons!

This sentence caught Zhang Tie's attention.

At Zhang Tie's request, over 10 waiters entered the bathroom of the courtyard with a lot of clothes, shoes and socks in hands for the selection of that middle-aged man. They made two rounds. Some waiter even pushed a dining cart into the bathroom. Zhang Tie just waited there patiently. When he drank tea water, he took out a vial of water-element crystal which gave out shiny blue light and started to absorb it.

Even grasshopper legs were meat. Although Zhang Tie had prepared to not take absorbing element crystals as the major method for forming his chakra; now that he was free, given that it was inconvenient for him to cultivate "The Great Wilderness Sutra" and the other secret methods, he just casually took out one vial of water-element crystal and started to absorb it just like cracking melon seeds. By the way, he could increase his battle strength to a certain degree, why not? No matter what, Zhang Tie had a lot of water-element crystals.

After entering Castle of Black Iron and absorbing the fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie could carry out 26 tasks at the same time. In this state, Zhang Tie's absorbing speed was much faster. Even though Zhang Tie didn't make his utmost effort, he had completely absorbed one water-element crystal in less than 1 hour.

After absorbing the 1st water-element crystal, Zhang Tie took out the 2nd one. When he absorbed half of the 2nd one, the middle-aged man entered the parlor of the courtyard.

The moment that man entered the parlor and saw that water-element crystal being consumed in a visible way, the thought that he was ready to risk everything immediately disappeared. Meanwhile, he became restrained all over.

"Thanks…thanks hermit for saving me!" After entering the parlor, that middle-aged man bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie while putting his two hands on both sides of his legs. Lowering his eyes, he just waited for Zhang Tie's order.

Zhang Tie threw a glance at that man. After taking a bath, having a full meal and putting on a new set of brilliant clothes, that man didn't look that sloppy anymore.

Given his look, this man was at his 40s. He had an average figure with a gentle, narrow and long face. At his age, he had only lit 4 surging points on his spine. Therefore, he was very average in cultivation. Additionally, he might have suffered some wounds in his guts, which had not been recovered yet. However, he should have seen the world. At least, he had seen water-element crystals and knew that Zhang Tie was holding a water-element crystal. Those who could absorb water-element crystals were at least earth knights.

Zhang Tie didn't feel strange about the words of this person. If the man had not even seen a water-element crystal, even Zhang Tie would doubt that he had made a wrong judgment.

"Take a seat, I have something to ask you!" Zhang Tie put it straight as he pointed at the chair beside his teapoy. When Zhang Tie talked with him, his battle qi had surrounded the entire parlor. Therefore, nobody else could hear the contents of their talk.

"Yes, sir!" That man also sat straight on a chair beside Zhang Tie. At the sight of his deed, Zhang Tie nodded inside too. If this person dared be presumptuous in front of an earth knight, he must be really mad. If so, Zhang Tie would not say anything else to him. Given this man's response, although he looked restrained, he was at least polite. It was similar to that when a commoner met a strange earth knight.

"What's your name? How long have you been to Youzhou Province?"

"This humble man is Sun Jiagu. Since I came to Embracing Tiger City from Qiongzhou Province by sea last October, I have been living in that inn!" That man answered honestly.

"You said you're a pharmacist?"

"I've just promoted to gourd-suspending pharmacist master 2 years ago!"

A gourd-suspending pharmacist was the 3rd level in the world of pharmacists. Before this level, there were herbal medicine apprentice and knapsack pharmacist. If one person could only reach the level of a gourd-suspending pharmacist at his 40s, it meant he was very average in his qualification. He was more like a roving doctor or could at most open a clinic in the downtown to survive himself. If he wanted to make greater achievements, he had to ascend to some more levels.

"What's wrong about you? How could you deteriorate to such a degree? On the street, you said that someone wanted to turn all the medicinal materials in Taixia Country into poisons and even kill you!"

After hearing this question, Sun Jiagu finally plucked up his courage to ask Zhang Tie while looking straight into Zhang Tie's eyes and gritting his teeth, "May I know your family name and which sect are you from, hermit?"

"I'm Zhang Tie, a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace!" Zhang Tie exposed his real identity frankly too.

After hearing Zhang Tie's name, Sun Jiagu widely opened his eyes at once, "You…you're that…Zhang Tie…the provincial chief justice who caused a great loss to Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province and…"

Given Sun Jiagu's shocked expression, Zhang Tie knew that he must have heard about Zhang Tie's name and even seen Zhang Tie's image on order for arrest. However, he couldn't remember whom this young man was for the time being.

"Right, I'm that Zhang Tie who was once wanted by the Supreme Court across the country; however, the Supreme Court have already canceled off my order for arrest last year. I'm innocent and have already returned to Youzhou Province!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "I wonder whether I could ask you about something with my identity!"

Sun Jiagu looked at Zhang Tie as he quivered his lips. Before he uttered, he had dropped tears.

"Go ahead, I'm afraid that you've not told that to anyone else. Therefore, you feel a great stress. Just say it. Now that we could meet each other by accident, I wish to be your first audience!" Zhang Tie said kindly.

"Yes…I will say it…I will tell you all of it…" Sun Jiagu wiped off his tears by sleeves as he gradually recovered his composure, "I was born in Yongfeng Prefecture, Jizhou Province. I served as a herbal medicine apprentice in a drugstore at 16; when I was 31, I promoted to a knapsack pharmacist. I spent most of the time in herbal medicines and have learned how to make ordinary medicinal pills. Later on, through recommendation, I entered Taian Palace, a local major clan in Jizhou Province and got married. After that, I worked in a drugstore being affiliated to Cheng Clan. Cheng Clan of Taian Palace has over 20 cities, hundreds of thousands square miles' medicinal fields and dozens of medicinal mountains; additionally, they have earth knights. Cheng Clan is good at planting herbal medicines and producing medicines, which are circulating across Jizhou Province and many surrounding provinces. Even the corps across Taixia Country would purchase Cheng Clan's medicines by large batches. As I excel at making some low-level medicinal pills, I was responsible for supervising and guiding the lads and apprentices to make medicine pills."

Zhang Tie listened to Sun Jiagu's explanation seriously as he nodded from time to time. Sun Jiagu's experience was similar to that of most of the low-level pharmacists in Taixia Country. These people couldn't continue to promote in the industry of pharmacists; therefore, most of them would seek a reliance and stable work in a major clan. Although top-class medicaments were precious, many low-level medicaments and medicinal pills were the absolute mainstream in the market across Taixia Country even among all the humans. Whatever, commoners and ordinary fighters below LV 9 accounted for most of the people in this world. Only by meeting the demand of these low-level people could the industry indeed grow.

Although senior recovery medicaments were good, above 99% of commoners in this world might not have a chance to see senior recovery medicaments, not to mention using them.

Basically, Zhang Clan's all-purpose medicaments were targeted at commoners. Because all-purpose medicaments could only replace the effects of some preliminary and low-level medicaments.

Zhang Tie made a hand gesture to let Sun Jiagu continue.

"I enjoyed a good treatment in Cheng Clan. Previously, I planned to stay in Cheng Clan for the rest of my life. Whatever, it was a stable life. However, I discovered an amazing plot in Cheng Clan by chance!"

"What plot?"

Updated by NovelFull.Com

"The entire Cheng Clan are stealthily making medicinal pills and medicaments using poisonous medicinal materials; additionally, they are distributing their poisonous medicinal materials to the other provinces across Taixia Country…"

Chapter 1199: The Fall of the Dark (I)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

"According to you, Cheng Clan used poisonous medicinal materials to make various medicinal pills and medicaments; additionally, Cheng Clan sold their poisonous medicinal pills and medicaments to the other provinces. Didn't anyone discover such evident actions?" Zhang Tie asked while frowning.

"The poisonous medicinal materials of Cheng Clan's medicinal materials was very special. It could never be matched by any poison that we've seen. Commoners could not discover the toxin in the medicinal pills at all…" Sun Jiagu revealed a bitter smile.

"Did Cheng Clan add something poisonous into their medicinal materials?"

"No, Cheng Clan didn't add anything into their medicinal materials. Cheng Clan produced all the medicinal pills in accordance with the strict manufacturing process and technologies. They couldn't add anything inside their medicinal materials!"

Zhang Tie became confused as he asked, "So why were Cheng Clan's medicinal materials poisonous?"

"They planted it!"

"You mean those medicinal materials that Cheng Clan planted were born to be poisonous?" Zhang Tie asked out of amazement. Although he was not a pharmacist, Zhang Tie still felt Sun Jiagu's words were unbelievable based on his understanding of the profession of pharmacist.

"Yes!"

"Had Cheng Clan added poison into the fertilizers or pesticides of those medicinal materials?"

"No. All the medicinal materials in the medicinal fields of Cheng Clan were as same as those in other clans. Additionally, Cheng Clan had many herbalists. If Cheng Clan added poison in fertilizers and pesticides, those herbalists must have discovered it!"

"Have Cheng Clan used shoddy medicinal materials or purposefully used wrong ingredients and components or took advantage of the mutual resistance between the properties of drugs?"

"None of them. Cheng Clan never made mistakes in producing medicinal pills. They always used the right raw materials, proportions and formulas!"

Zhang Tie forced a smile, "I'm confused. If there's no problem in medicinal materials or manufacturing processes. Additionally, they didn't add poison on purpose. How could Cheng Clan's herbal medicines become poisonous then? Were they born to be poisonous?"

"Yes, Cheng Clan's herbal medicines were indeed born to be poisonous!" Sun Jiagu said while gritting his teeth.

"What herbal medicines did Cheng Clan plant?"

"Cheng clan's herbal medicines included honeysuckle, evergreen vine, weeping forsythia, Isatis root, fishy grass, ginseng, crown prince ginseng, Chinese date, Chinese wolfberry, walnut kernel, root of red-rooted salvia, mung, yellow bean, lily, sweet wormwood, Polygonum multiflorum, longan pulp, bark of eucommia, licorice, semi-summer, Chinese bellflower, ginkgo, Chinese ephedra; the root of fangfeng, reed rhizome, earth-bone skin, bamboo leaf, chrysanthemum, patchouly, Morinda Officinalis, trifoliate orange and selfheal, etc.. Cheng Clan was the biggest druggist in Jizhou Province. Cheng Clan had a large area of herbal medicine mountains and planted hundreds of herbal medicines. Most of the herbal medicines that could be planted artificially could be found in Cheng Clan's medicinal fields on a large scale!"

"You mean the herbal medicines of Cheng Clan were born to be poisonous?"

"At the beginning, I didn't believe it either; however, through repeated experiments, I confirmed this fact!"

"How did you discover that Cheng Clan's herbal medicines were poisonous?"

"Since I became a herbal medicine apprentice at 16 years old, I had formed a habit, namely raising some white rats for a drug test. I inherited this habit from my enlightening master. Herbology originated from traditional Chinese medicines. It's the elementary knowledge for pharmacists. All the pharmacists have to learn it, no matter what level he is. As there're too many kinds of herbal medicines, some of them even carried toxicity; especially after being made into medicinal pills and medicaments, if you couldn't get hang of the proportions or choose the right variety, you might always have problems. Therefore, herbal medicine apprentices would always raise some small animals for a drug test. I'd been used to do that even after I got married. In the beginning, I used white rats for testing drugs; later on, I raised them as pets…"

"After promoting to a bottle-suspending pharmacist, I excelled at producing a low-level pill that could preserve one's spiritual energy and benefit one's blood circulation. It mainly targeted at commoners. Even old men, pregnant women and people in weakness could use it. Therefore, it has a great sales volume in Taixia Country. In the drugstore of Cheng Clan, I was responsible for supervising and guiding a medicine workshop to produce this pill. In the process of producing it, I discovered something wrong with their herbal medicines!"

Zhang Tie just listened to him quietly. At this moment, Sun Jiagu's expression became evidently sophisticated.

"The pill required very common medicinal materials, namely; walnut kernel and Chines date. The two medicinal materials could be found everywhere in the medicine workshop. People would send them there every day. I was responsible for checking and accepting them. As I raised some white rats at home, before leaving the medicine workshop at the end of each day, I would grab a handful of walnut kernels or Chinese dates from the warehouse of the medicine workshop to feed my pets at home. After working in the medicine workshop of Cheng Clan for half a year, the first batch of white rats that I raised at home died one after another…"

"At the beginning, I didn't pay attention to it. Because I've already raised those white rats for about 2 years. Generally, white rats could only survive 2 or 3 years. Therefore, when those white rats died, I didn't think too much. After they died, I bought another batch of white rats and raised them with walnut kernels and Chinese date as usual!"

"However, after half a year later, the white rats died one after another too. At that time, I still didn't imagine that there was any problem with the medicines. I thought it might be the other reasons. Perhaps I didn't look after them well or these white rats were weak and sicky. Therefore, I raised the 3rd batch of white rats…"

"Finally, the 3rd batch of white rats died half a year later too. This time, it reminded me that the walnut kernels and Chinese data that I brought back home might have some problem. However, this event was of great significance. As I was just a supervisor of a small medicine workshop, of course, I dared not do the wild talk or tell this result to the others; I just paid special attention to the walnut kernels and Chinese date. After that, I bought the 4th batch of white rats. I divided them into two groups. One group of white rats only ate the walnuts and Chinese dates that I brought back from Cheng Clan; the other group of white rats only ate some grains and preserved fruits that I bought from other places. Half a year later, the result shocked me once again. The group of white rats who were fed with preserved fruits and grains grew well; however, the other group of white rats who were fed with walnut kernels and Chinese dates died as usual!"

"I was startled. However, I dared not disseminate that news. After repeating the same experiment for two times, I got the same result. It finally confirmed that the medicines in the medicine workshop of Cheng Clan were poisonous. Later on, with my work as a cover, through careful observation, I investigated each link since the plantation of medicinal materials until they entered the medicine workshop, I found no problem in these links. The biggest problem lay in the seeds of the medicinal materials of Cheng Clan. These seeds were born to be poisonous. However, you couldn't discover their toxicity. Because these medicinal materials were normal in looks and tastes. Even the most experienced pharmacists couldn't discover any difference by tasting them. Only by taking these medicinal materials produced by Cheng Clan for a long time could they confirm the hidden toxicity in them!"

"Later on, I stayed in Cheng Clan for a few more years and sought evidence step by step. Finally, I found that all the medicinal materials that were artificially planted in Cheng Clan were different than natural medicinal materials and those planted by the other clans. All the medicinal materials that were artificially planted in Cheng Clan carried hidden toxicity. After taking them for a long time, humans would be severely poisoned. What was more terrifying was that the poisonous seeds of those medicinal materials in Cheng Clan were also sold to neighboring provinces in various commercial means besides being used for making various medicaments and medicinal pills. As a result, many herbalists who survived on planting medicinal materials in the other provinces would plant those poisonous seeds and constantly spread them to other provinces across Taixia Country; besides, those poisonous medicinal materials would be made into various medicinal pills and medicaments which would further poison the other people in the world…"

"What was more terrifying was that I discovered that the "toxicity" of those poisonous medicinal materials in Cheng Clan was contagious. For instance, there were two groups of medicinal materials, one group belonged to Cheng Clan, the other group was nontoxic. The medicinal materials of Cheng Clan could pass their toxicity to those nontoxic medicinal materials through pollen transmission. As a result, the next generation of those nontoxic medicinal materials would become poisonous too!"

"I doubt that the genes of all the traditional Chinese medicines had been modified. Although those medicinal materials looked nothing different than common medicinal materials, their genes had been demonized. Additionally, as long as they were planted, they would cause gene contamination. It's a plot of demons and Three-eye Association!"

"I'm just an average bottle-suspending pharmacist. I have no reliance or powerful human relationship. After discovering that, I dared not reveal it to anyone else. Because Cheng Clan had a very great power in Jizhou Province; additionally, I heard that Cheng Clan even had a relationship in Xuanyuan Hill. If I exposed it casually, I might lose my life instead of playing any effect. I buried this secret deep in mind. Half a year ago, I found a reason to leave Cheng Clan. I planned to accuse Cheng Clan in Xuanyuan Hill. I preferred to die for the benefits of all the people across the country. However, on the way to Xuanyuan Hill, I was discovered by Cheng Clan. Therefore, Cheng Clan assigned a killer to kill me. Thankfully, I had long prepared for that, the killer didn't get me. However, I had to hide here and there so as to survive myself…"

"All my words are true. If any word is false, you could chop off my head at any time!" Sun Jiagu looked at Zhang Tie with hopeful eyes as he looked like a bit excited after saying so many words.

After being silent for a short while, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Sun Jiagu before asking, "Do you want me to deal with Cheng Clan for you?"

"Cheng Clan does harm to the entire world; they're definitely the lackeys of demons. Shouldn't they be exterminated?" Sun Jiagu asked while being more excited.

"You've been staying in the inn since you came to Embracing Tiger City in October?"

"Yes, I entered Embracing Tiger City in October. Because I was afraid of the killer dispatched by Cheng Clan, I spent most of my time in the inn…" Sun Jiagu replied with a curious look after being stunned for a second.

"Cheng Clan in Jizhou Province had been exterminated. After the riot aroused in Xuanyuan Hill on November 15th, a catastrophe of bloody figures had broken out in Jizhou Province. The bloody sea that Cheng Clan built to raise bloody figures in their clan's hinterland had been exposed. Cheng Clan had been exterminated by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country. All the kights of Cheng Clan had escaped away. They were being wanted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country." Zhang Tie exposed this news to Sun Jiagu.

The catastrophe of bloody figures in Taixia Country was growing increasingly fiercer in an increasing scale. More and more clans being related to Heavens Reaching Church and Bloody Soul Temple were involved in. The official news was always faster than those among the people. As a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie knew the details a bit earlier. As for Sun Jiagu, after coming to Embracing Tiger City, he had been hiding here and there; therefore, he was more uninformed and couldn't get the first-hand details about the catastrophe of bloody figures across Taixia Country. Therefore, he still thought that Cheng Clan was dominating in Jizhou Province.

After hearing Zhang Tie's news, Sun Jiagu became dumbfounded at once. With mouth widely opened, he became stunned and silent for quite a while.

"If the killer that Cheng Clan assigned to hunt you is still alive, he will never come for you anymore as he can't even keep himself safe. Later on, you don't need to hide here and there anymore!" Zhang Tie comforted Sun Jiagu kindly while watching the latter's distracted look.

Based on Sun Jiagu's battle strength, the killer assigned to kill him was at most a LV 9 fighter. As Cheng Clan had been exterminated, it was meaningless for that killer to hunt Sun Jiagu. That guy might have been wanted by the Supreme Court and was escaping or had been killed. Compared to his own life, an average bottle-suspending pharmacist who worked for Cheng Clan was nothing but sh*t.

However, Sun Jiagu's words were still valuable to Zhang Tie. Additionally, although Sun Jiagu was just an average bottle-suspending pharmacist, he was disciplined. After discovering the problem in Cheng Clan, he dared accuse Cheng Clan in Xuanyuan Hill. This person must be generous and righteous; especially the last point which Zhang Tie appreciated the most. Although being a small figure, he carried a great moral standing.

"I've left 1,000 gold coins for you in the hotel. If you don't want to stay here anymore or feel disappointed, you could open a small drugstore in the downtown and live a stable and peaceful life in the future with the money that I gave you. If you want to do something more, you could join Jinwu Business Group in Jinwu City!" Zhang Tie said. At the same time, he moved his hand as he put a vial of senior recovery medicament, which was giving out a bizarre light, on the table before saying, "This vial of senior recovery medicament could cure all of your injuries!"

After saying that, Zhang Tie directly put on his hood and left the courtyard of the hotel…

Sun Jiagu just watched that vial of senior recovery medicament with a blank look…

…

Outside the hotel, the air became cold once again. At this moment, the gloomy skyline indicated that the night was falling. Although the cold in the air was nothing for Zhang Tie, the cold in Zhang Tie's heart made him tighten up his hood unconsciously.

Zhang Tie looked up at the sky before walking towards the direction of Embracing Tiger Mountain immediately…

Chapter 1200: The Fall of the Dark (II)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

The Ancestral Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace rested on Embracing Tiger Mountain, which was one of the forbidden lands in Tiger Embracing City. Ordinary people were forbidden to approach Embracing Tiger City, not to mention entering it.

Zhang Tie walked all the way to the foot of the Tiger Embracing Mountain. The moment he entered the territory of Tiger Embracing Mountain, clan warriors of Huaiyuan Palace had come forward to stop him.

"Travellers are forbidden to approach the clan territory of Huaiyuan Palace!"

Two teams of clan warriors were standing at the entrance of Embracing Tiger Mountain. All of them were tall and strong in heavy armors with heavy swords on one side of their waists. They looked very imposing and solemn. Two clan deacons were standing behind those warriors.

Additionally, there was a huge stone archway higher than 20 m at the entrance. There were 4 vigorous, huge golden words on the archway——Huaiyuan Family Style.

Zhang Tie didn't speak; instead, he just pulled off his hood, exposing his face.

At the sight of Zhang Tie's face, the 20 warriors and 2 clan deacons quivered all over at the same time. Closely after that, all the warriors knelt down by one knee at the same time. The two clan deacons also bowed deeply towards him before saying, "Elder Mushen!"

Zhang Tie's face could even be recognized by ordinary people in the Embracing Tiger City, not to mention these clan warriors who were responsible for the safety of Embracing Tiger Mountain. Zhang Tie's meritorious services were known to everyone in Huaiyuan Palace. After Zhang Tie came back, all the members of Huaiyuan Palace became spirited. Therefore, Zhang Tie's prestige in Huaiyuan Palace reached a peak.

"Don't be that polite!" Zhang Tie replied simply as he was thinking about something else. After that, he passed through the archway and walked up the mountain. Two clan deacons hurriedly led Zhang Tie to the Ancestral Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace.

"Have the clan head and the other elders arrived?" Zhang Tie asked the two clan deacons.

After Zhang Taixuan promoted to the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, he and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace spent more time in Youzhou City than in Embracing Tiger City. If not the clan elders meeting, it might be a bit easier for the clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace to gather in Youzhou City than in Embracing Tiger City.

Actually, this clan elders meeting could also be held in Youzhou City; however, as Zhang Taixuan was meticulous; he was afraid of being reproached for turning Youzhou City the private city of Huaiyuan Palace after promoting to the provincial governor of Youzhou Province; therefore, this clan elders meeting was held in Embracing Tiger City.

"10 minutes ago, besides Elder Muray, all the clan elders and clan head had already arrived at the Ancestral Shrine Palace!" One deacon said respectfully.

Zhang Tie arrived at Embracing Tiger Mountain 1 hour earlier than the scheduled time. After promoting to an earth knight, Zhang Tie also paid attention to his image in Huaiyuan Palace; he didn't want to leave a bad impression on people. Therefore, he arrived 1 hour earlier. Zhang Huaiyuan and the other clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace almost arrived at the same time.

Zhang Tie nodded.

The Ancestral Shrine Palace was halfway up to the mountain. The pine needles over Embracing Tiger Mountain were still hanging over snow while the steps up to the mountain were swept clean.

Almost when Zhang Tie arrived at the terrace outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace, a figure landed on Zhang Tie's side with flame.

"Elder Muray!"

"Elder Mushen!"

The two people greeted each other before entering the Ancestral Shrine Palace at the same time. At this moment, Taixuan, Muan, Muyuan, Muyu and Muen walked out of the Ancestral Shrine Palace to welcome Zhang Tie and Elder Muray. They greeted each other outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace.

They had not seen each other for almost 1 month. When they met each other once again, none of them looked relaxed.

Zhang Taixuan threw a glance at the others before saying, "Now that all the elders have arrived, it's unnecessary for us to wait anymore. Let's come to a start!"

Everybody nodded as they entered the Ancestral Shrine Palace. The moment they entered it, the gate had been closed from outside. Many clan deacons guarded outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace. There were also clan deacons inside doors. As a result, the atmosphere became solemn at once.

The imposing statue that Lord Huaiyuan stood with a crossbow in hand in the Ancestral Shrine Palace was nothing different than that in Jinyun Country. In front of the statue, there were memorial tablets of forebears of Huaiyuan Palace.

As the head of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Taixuan led the other elders to light incense for the memorial tablets of their forebears. After that, they sat down around a roundtable.

Zhang Tie sat beside Zhang Taixuan, which indicated that Zhang Tie's position in Zhang Clan was evidently much higher than that of the other elders. After accomplishing this rotating chakra ceremony, Zhang Tie would become the only grand elder in Huaiyuan Palace. Although Zhang Tie had not officially promoted to a grand elder of Huaiyun Palace, his supreme position had been gradually displayed in all aspects. Therefore, everybody accepted that, including Zhang Taixuan.

After everybody took seats, Zhang Taixuan glanced around solemnly before saying, "On last November 15th, a riot broke out in Xuanyuan Hill. Han Zhengfang the finance minister's real identity was exposed. Closely after that, he had an earth-shaking fight with Meng Shidao the master of the crown prince, which shocked the rest of the world. Overnight, the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in over 70 provinces across Taixia Country, causing great casualties. After that, the overall situation facing Taixia Country deteriorated. As a result, the entire country was covered with battle smokes and flames…"

At this moment, the other clan elders threw a glance at Zhang Tie stealthily. Zhang Taixuan also paused for a second while throwing a glance at Zhang Tie. All the people at present were not idiots. Han Zhengfang was the culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City. When Han Zhengfang's real identity was exposed by over 100,000 swans in terms of the most exaggerating "big-words poster", Zhang Tie was in Xuanyuan Hill. What a coincidence, the one being screwed and the culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City appeared in Xuanyuan Hill at the same time, the catastrophe broke out. As a result, the culprit of the tragedy was exposed by a "force majeure". Therefore, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace doubted that it was done by Zhang Tie.

However, this event was really weird. The one who could control so many swans in Xuanyuan Hill at once must be a top-class animal control master. There were fewer than 10 such figures in Taixia Country. It was not strange for Zhang Tie to know something about animal controlling skill as many knights in Taixia Country knew something about animal controlling skill. Zhang Tie might learn to control animals from Patron Church. However, he didn't excel at it. All the elders of Huaiyuan Palace knew that point. However, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace didn't believe that Zhang Tie could master such a terrifying animal controlling skill. Additionally, Zhang Tie went to Xuanyuan Hill to attend the Treasures Meeting and investigate the case of bloody figures in Zhongzhou Province. What was more, Zhang Tie didn't have any contact with Han Zhengfang before; how could he know the real identity of Han Zhengfang? After staying in Xuanyuan Hill for so many years, Han Zhengfang had rooted in Taixia Country deeply. It was definitely impossible for an outsider to expose his real identity. Therefore, they felt that Zhang Tie shouldn't be related to the riot in Xuanyuan Hill on last November 15th.

On one aspect, it was such a weird coincidence; on the other hand, it was the ability which couldn't be explained. The coincidence was a motive; however, the ability didn't come out of anywhere. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie kept silent about what happened in Xuanyuan Hill; therefore, Zhang Taixuan and the other elders threw a curious glance at Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie was clear about these points. However, he would not accept it if he was treated as the target by the Heavens Reaching Church and the Gobbling Party. After all, if he didn't admit that, nobody in the world knew that he was related to the riot in Xuanyuan Hill on last November 15th. 'During the period of Treasures Meeting, there were thousands of knights in Xuanyuan Hill. Who would believe that I could know the real identity of Han Zhengfang only after coming to Xuanyuan Hill for a few days while I had no contact with Han Zhengfang before? This is too fantastic! If I have long known about the real identity of Han Zhengfang, Han Zhengfang had already become the target for all when I released that post in the forum of Mountain of Brightness. I became the scapegoat for so long, even God couldn't bear it; therefore, the Mighty God made me innocent.'

Zhang Tie glanced around while blinking his eyes innocently.

When the others found that Zhang Tie just kept silent, they moved their eyes away from him. Nobody in Huaiyuan Palace would mention it later on.

"Ahem…ahem…" Zhang Taixuan cleared his throat as he continued, "As Emperor Xuanyuan is missing, Taixia Country has long been unstable internally. At this moment, Heavens Reaching Church is bewildering people in Taixia Country. The catastrophe of bloody figures has spread over Taixia Country. Even Youzhou Province was afflicted by bloody figures. The holy war has just broken out for a few years, the contingent of demons have not reached Taixia Country yet. However, Taixia Country has been suffering from troubles and contradictions both inside and outside. For the long-term benefit of Huaiyuan Palace, Taixuan has to invite all the clan elders to negotiate about the big plan of our clan. We need to make preparations as early as possible!"

"Our Huaiyuan Palace has just returned to Taixia Country from Waii Subcontinent. Our foundation couldn't match that of the other major clans in Taixia Country. However, Taixia Country is the final asylum of Huaiyuan Palace. We couldn't go anywhere else. All the elders at present must be clear about that. Therefore, Huaiyuan Palace has to make preparations for emergencies."

After Zhang Taixuan finished his words, Elder Muen opened his mouth. As Elder Muen also came from the branch of Yiyang City, he agreed with Zhang Taixuan's opinion. Zhang Tie and Elder Muyuan then exchanged a glance with each other. All the other clan elders at present then exchanged a glance with each other as they realized that Zhang Taixuan might expose something amazing…

Chapter 1201: The Fall of the Dark (III)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

"As we're all clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace, clan head, please go ahead. As long as it's for the benefit of Huaiyuan Palace, I believe all the elders could understand it no matter what the clan head says!" Elder Muray said in a muffled voice.

After Elder Muray finished his words, Zhang Tie and all the elders nodded.

"As we're in the Ancestral Shrine Palace, of course, we will center on the benefit of Huaiyuan Palace. We're all descendants of Huaiyuan Palace and Hua people of Taixia Country, we know what counts most, clan head!" Elder Muyuan said too.

When all the other elders expressed their stance, Zhang Taixuan nodded as he clapped twice.

As Zhang Taixuan's clap reverberated around the empty Ancestral Shrine Palace, two clan deacons walked out of a shadow and came to the side of the round table. One deacon lifted a tray which contained some files; the other deacon delivered the files to all the elders.

Zhang Tie got one too. With the strong spiritual energy, he could read this file as fast as taking a picture by camera. He could finish reading one page only by throwing a glimpse at it. Additionally, he could remember all the contents. The entire file was composed of 2 pages. Therefore, Zhang Tie finished reading them in the blink of an eye.

After skimming over the two pages, although Zhang Tie was always calm, he also became greatly shocked spiritually as he looked at Zhang Taixuan in an amazed manner.

Reflected by the flames in the Ancestral Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Taixuan looked calm and profound. Nobody knew what he was thinking about. Although the other elders couldn't read as fast as Zhang Tie, they also finish reading the file rapidly. Zhang Tie noticed that Elder Muyu and Elder Muray couldn't help but quiver their hands after reading that thin file as if the two pages were pretty heavy.

After a few seconds, when all the clan elders skimmed over the file, they all looked at Zhang Taixuan with shocked looks.

"Clan head…how…how did you get this?" Elder Muyu asked in a bit quivering voice.

"After the riot broke out in Xuanyuan Hill on last November 15th, the Youzhou Provincial Governor's Mansion has received the notice from Northeast Military Region, which included the name-list of all the clans of Heavens Reaching Church who participated in building bloody seas. The Northeast Military Region request Youzhou Province to close down all the industries of these clans in Youzhou Province and arrest the chief personnel of these clans. After receiving that name-list, I handed it to Longwind Business Group and ordered Longwind Business Group to investigate all the businesses of these clans of Heavens Reaching Church and report it to me. After almost 2 months' efforts, Longwind Business Group finally figured out the businesses of these clans of Heavens Reaching Church and those business groups that were affiliated to them. Through screening and analysis, we got this first-hand intelligence!"

Zhang Taixuan glanced around the other elders in a solemn way while his clear and cold sound reverberated around the Ancestral Shrine Palace, "The business group of Wen Clan in Pingsha Valley was trading grains and grain seeds. However, 61 of the 78 clans being affiliated to Heavens Reaching Church across Taixia Country were trading grains and grain seeds too. Among the 61 clans, with the care and assistance of Han Zhengfang the finance minister, the business groups of Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace in Liangzhou Province, Ke Clan of Pingshu Palace in Qingzhou Province and Zhang Clan of Huayun Palace in Ezhou Province ranked top agricultural business groups in Taixia Country. Their grains, grain seeds and reclaimed farms covered Taixia Country. They even had a market in Youzhou Province. As for the other 58 clans, their business of grains and grain seeds at least had a greater market share in one province! So many clans of Heavens Reaching Church were involved in the business of grains and grain seeds, was that a coincidence?"

"Elders, you should know that the trade in grains and grain seeds is not monopolistic in Taixia Country. Everyone could be involved it; additionally, the profit is very low. Because of the low profit of the trade in grains and grain seeds, they had to reach a scale so as to make big profits. Therefore, our Longwind Business Group has not involved in this business. However, during the dozens of years when Han Zhengfang served as the finance minister of Taixia Country, these clans of Heavens Reaching Church positively involved in trading grain and grain seeds. Are they only making money? As the finance minister of Taixia Country, Han Zhengfang could have better channels to have these clans involved in; however, these clans preferred the most unprofitable industry. Why?"

The air in the Ancestral Shrine Palace was like freezing with a chill, which couldn't even be driven away by flames.

All the elders were silent, including Zhang Tie. Because they all thought about the same possibility.

Zhang Tie was shocked the most. He had just encountered Sun Jiagu in the daytime and was anxiety-ridden by his words. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the news brought by Zhang Taixuan was much severer than that mentioned by Sun Jiagu.

Agriculture was the root of stability, also the foundation for the development of Hua people. If Taixia Country didn't have grains or met a problem in grain supply, people would be starved to death; corps would not fight any more; cities would lose their vitality; the foundation of state political power and social stability would collapse; as a result, various contradictions would break out severely. As Han Zhengfang had served as the finance minister of Taixia Country for so many years, plus so many clans of Heavens Reaching Church were involved in this business, the influence and scope were inestimable. As long as there was any problem in agriculture of Taixia Country, the foundation of Taixia country would rock in the holy war.

The severest crisis that Hua people experienced before the Catastrophe almost led to the extinction of Hua people. Because the traitors, bureaucratic groups and the Three-eye Association coordinated with each other to control the agricultural production and grain seeds provision of Hua people. With this extremely miserable lesson, all the Class-A cities in Taixia Country listed grain seeds as the most important items in the top 6 warehouses.

Nobody could imagine that the same scene might happen once again in Taixia Country after over 900 years…

Elder Muray started to pant while Elder Muyuan pinched the handrail of his chair into pieces.

Even Zhang Tie felt empty in mind for a short while after receiving such a news. After being vacant for a few seconds, Zhang Tie remembered a sentence——the firmest fortress would always be broken through from inside!

Zhang Tie closed his eyes painfully…

"Han Zhengfang the finance minister is the master of Heavens Reaching Church; Heavens Reaching Church colludes with demons. Additionally, the clans and forces of Heavens Reaching Church monopolized the agriculture and the provision of grain seeds. They definitely hid a malicious intent. Demons would never give up such a chance. Therefore, I have every reason to believe that Han Zhengfang's biggest purpose during his term of office was to rock and destroy the foundation of Taixia Country and Hua people by playing a trick in agriculture. The grains especially grain seeds traded by these clans of Heavens Reaching Church might have been demonized. After combining with the growth state of the bloody figures in the bloody sea across the country, the result of demons' conspiracy in agriculture might break out in 2 years!"

"Han Zhengfang had served as the finance minister of Taixia Country for many years. The grains and grain seeds traded by the clans of Heavens Reaching Church have long spread over Taixia Country. After so many years, nobody could figure out how deep have the agriculture of Taixia Country been influenced by Three-eye Association. For the further development of Huaiyuan Palace, Huaiyuan Palace must make a timely response to it. That's why I summon all the elders here!" Zhang Taixuan glanced around once again before continuing, "Although I hope my guesses are all false, in the current situation, Huaiyuan Palace have to make preparation for the worst scenario so as to survive ourselves. Honorable elders, please speak your mind freely. We could draw upon all useful opinions and commonly tide over this catastrophe!"

All the elders became silent for a short while. Closely after that, they all moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie would soon be the first grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Of course, he was invited to speak his mind firstly out of respect in accordance with the rule.

Under the gaze of everyone else, Zhang Tie slowly opened his eyes. He let out a sigh before saying in a muffled voice with a solemn look, "Clan head's guesses are all true. Don't have any fluke mind. The grain seeds traded by the business groups being affiliated to Heavens Reaching Church indeed have been demonized!"

Those elders exchanged a glance with each other. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie could confirm Zhang Taixuan's guesses the moment he opened his mouth. After hearing Zhang Taixuan's words, those elders indeed had a fluke mind.

Elder Muen broke the silence by asking a question that all the elders at present were concerned about, "How could Elder Mushen be so sure about that?"

"I came to Embracing Tiger City a bit earlier today. After arriving here, I took a round in Embracing Tiger City. Coincidentally, I met a person…" Zhang Tie described how he met Sun Jiagu in a calm tone, "Even Cheng Clan had already used demonized medicinal materials to poison commoners across Taixia Country and stealthily destroy the recovering capability and the ability of producing low-level medicaments in a large scale in the holy war, not to mention the grain seeds traded by the other clans of Heavens Reaching Church. Taixia Country might have long been covered with poisonous grain seeds. This is definitely real! Elders could see it soon!"

Zhang Tie had recovered his composure from being shocked, sad, empty and confused. Therefore, his voice was filled with an unspoken calm and wisdom…

Chapter 1202: The Fall of the Dark (IV)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

The coming crisis facing Taixia Country made the elders of Huaiyuan Palace in the Ancestral Shrine Palace suffocated.

At this moment, Zhang Tie sensed that he was trivial and helpless once again. He was not God. Therefore, he couldn't change what had happened. After recovering his composure completely, Zhang Tie found that he could only make his full efforts to adopt correct countermeasures.

He was a man, the father of 8 kids, the husband of 6 women, the pillar of Zhang Clan in Jinwu City, the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect and a human earth knight. He couldn't shirk off his heavy responsibilities. He didn't have time to feel sad and furious. If it were a battle, he had already been on the battlefield. Besides adopting correct countermeasures to survive himself and his fellows and kill enemies, he should not be influenced by any mood.

"It's already come to the fact that the grains and grain seeds that are circulated through Heavens Reaching Church have been demonized. We need to figure out what trick have Heavens Reaching Church and demons played on the demonized grains and grain seeds. Only in this way could Huaiyuan Palace adopt the correct counter-measures!" Zhang Tie glanced around before saying calmly, "As honorable elders and clan head are more experienced in this aspect, you should believe that it's true!"

Zhang Taixuan and all the other elders frowned silently.

After changing their faces, Elder Muyuan opened his mouth, "Given the history before the Catastrophe, would Heavens Reaching Church and demons continue to transfer some special pathogen in the grains and have grains carry the pathogen into the human body?"

"I don't think so!" Elder Muyu shook his head before continuing, "Demons and Three-eye Association have already played such a trick before the Catastrophe. By transferring unidentified pathogen into the human body through demonized grains, they caused a great number of Hua people to lose their fertile ability and race reproduction ability. A large number of Hua fetuses were aborted due to death or malformation in their mothers' wombs. Taixia Country dared never forget such a miserable lesson until today. In order to prevent demons and Three-eye Association from adopting the same trick, since the founding of Taixia Country, a large-scale mechanism on the statistics, general survey and discovery about epidemics across Taixia Country have been established across Taixia Country. Even Youzhou Province has started to run this mechanism since the beginning. The medical care data about patients in public hospitals across Taixia Country would be collected in the provincial and prefectural medical affairs bureau in each season, which would be selected and analyzed by the large difference engine system. As long as the same, large-scale health problem appeared in different provinces, those provinces would report it to their superior agencies for further investigation!"

"As the most powerful human country, Taixia Country would never make the same mistake in this aspect. Han Zhengfang was also clear about the mechanism about health care and defense across Taixia Country; if the grains and grain seeds being circulated through Heavens Reaching Church were demonized, after a few years, those eaters would have had problems in their health for sure, which would have been discovered along with the real identities of Han Zhengfang and those clans of Heavens Reaching Church. They couldn't manage such an evil business for dozens of years without being discovered. Therefore, they definitely didn't transfer dangerous pathogen into grains."

After hearing Elder Muyu's words, everybody else at present nodded. Therefore, the first method that Heavens Reaching Church and demons adopted to demonize grains was vetoed.

The history might repeat itself; however, it would never repeat simply. This was the law of history.

"Now that they didn't transfer pathogen into grains, whether do Heavens Reaching Church and demons realize cross-species genetic control over Hua people indirectly by modifying the genes of those grains? The second method had also been used on Hua people by Three-eye Association and demons!" Elder Muan said.

After hearing Elder Muan's words, all the others at the round table started to consider about it seriously.

Before the Catastrophe, when demonized grains appeared in the public for the first time, they were always covered with the halos of high-tech biological technologies. In quite a long period, the mechanism of action of demonized grains and demonized traditional Chinese medicines and their dangers to the human body were the secrets of Three-eye Association and demons. In that age, the lackeys of Three-eye Association mostly liked to propagate that demonized grains and the toxin in demonized traditional Chinese medicines wouldn't pose any influence to human health. Additionally, there was no evidence that demonized grains could change human genetic functions. According to them, demonized grains were as same as normal grains. In that age, all the people who said that demonized grains would do harm to people's health were regarded as rumormongers, innocent and stumbling blocks on the way of human civilization.

In that age, it was Hua scientists who first discovered the secret that demonized plants could realize cross-species regulation of human genetic functions. In one word, the microRNA of plants could enter the blood, tissues and organs through daily food intake; the moment they entered the human body, they would affect the physiological functions of the human body through regulating the target genes in the human body.

The above sentence revealed the basis and principle that demonized grains influenced human body. Today, this sentence evolved into a maxim about human and food, which was favored by all the pharmacists——people are not eating "food", but "message".

In the opinion of a traditional pharmacist who was obsessed with the conspiracy theory, if the history of people and country was divided by food, the catastrophe of demonized grains that Hua people experienced 1,000 years ago was just the second catastrophe that Hua people experienced on food problem. The first catastrophe of food that Hua people experienced before the Catastrophe started when Hua people turned pork into their main meats. Although Hua people had a long history in raising pork and eating pork, in quite a long period, Hua people's main meats were mutton and beef; instead of pork.

Because we were not eating "food" but "message", a clean and powerful nation should have a clean and powerful food source at first.

In a preliminary book "Food Message Theory" for herbal medicine apprentices, pork's harms were described as follows, "Pig eats everything and sleeps wherever it wants; it doesn't even look at the sky and move like a sick man; its nature is lascivious; its meat tastes cold; its image is extremely ugly. It's the worst animal in the world. If people ate pork, people would be affected by its nature.

There was one sentence in Huang Di's Canon of Medicine , "People who eat grains are wise; those who eat meat are despised".

There was another comment about pork made by an ancient famous Hua doctor in Compendium of Materia Medica—— If one always ate pork, one would have fewer sperms and a recurrence of an old disease…besides, one would feel pain, fatigued and breathless all over.

There was another classical quotation in the Quotations of Famous Doctors ——Porks could tighten one's blood vessels; weaken one's tendons, bones and muscles. People couldn't always eat porks; especially those who suffer from knife wounds.

In the Patron Church that Zhang Tie believed in, clergies always stuck to such a doctrine and principle——Don't eat all the disgusting things!

The Patron Church believed that if people wanted to maintain a pure soul, sound consideration and nourished a zealous spirit and a clean and healthy body, they should pay special attention to the diet that they survived on. Food was different, good or not, clean or dirty, different food would pose different influences to the human body. Good food would do good to the human body; bad food would do harm to the human body. Therefore, people had to pay special attention to diet!

Many nations didn't eat pork; besides, they had a lot of requests for their daily staple!

It was definitely not a coincidence, but the wise words of forerunners.

Although pharmacists ate meats, they didn't eat pork. In Zhang Tie's family, since Zhang Yang became a pharmacist, the entire Zhang family had not eaten pork anymore. Additionally, pork was not the main meat for Hua people anymore in this age.

There were over 900 years from when Hua people started to eat pork on a large scale to when they were cheated to eat demonized grains before the Catastrophe. Coincidentally, pork and demonized grains posed the same influence to Hua people's health, namely, having fewer sperms, having a recurrence of an old disease, tightening one's blood vessels, weakening one's tendons, bones and muscles. Therefore, some far-sighted Hua people were curious about the reason. Perhaps, in the long river of history, before serving demonized food on the dining table of Hua people, demons and their lackeys among Hua people had played a trick on the food of Hua people and turned pork into their main meat. As a result, Hua people gradually declined physically and spiritually and experienced large-scale catastrophes one after another.

…

After hearing Elder Muan's words, the entire Ancestral Shrine Palace was in silence. All the elders at present were in meditation and memory, including Zhang Tie. Finally, Zhang Taixuan shook his head, "It's possible; but almost impossible. Being similar to the first method, if Heavens Reaching Church used such demonized grains and grain seeds, these demonized grains would definitely arouse large-scale health problems after circulating in Taixia Country for so long. Such health problems couldn't be buried at all; unless these demonized grains have a very small poisonous effect and just target at a minority of people. If so, it was unnecessary for Heavens Reaching Church to do that!"

"Then, there's only one possibility!" Elder Muen took in a deep breath.

Zhang Tie let out a sigh before saying, "It means that these demonized grains and grain seeds didn't take effect until 10 more generations later, even dozens of generations later. There's no dangerous pathogen or genetic modification that target at weakening human health; however, the normal growth and reproduction ability of these grains and grain seeds have been "castrated". Their genes have problems too. Although these grains and grain seeds look normal now, they would not bear any seeds one day. Each grain and grain seed managed by the clans of Heavens Reaching Church is a time bomb. Since they started to manage these grains and grain seeds, they had preset the precise time for the bombs. Given Taixia Country's population, as long as it runs out of grains, ordinary people would have no food. As a result, Taixia Country would be in a civil strife due to "hunger" before demons arrive. Because no subcontinents or continents could bear the great food consumption of Taixia Country.