1245 - 1253
Chapter 1245: Starting a Strike
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Ockham was cunning as he could discover the truth of the so-called manifestations of God's will in the underground relics from a trail of clues; additionally he was tolerant and could judge the occasion and dared seize the opportunity to launch an attack when he knew that Zhang Tie had a "heavenly knight" on his back.
Perhaps the so-called "manifestations of God's will" performed by jerk priests of Sacred Light Empire were just deceitful tricks that used to bewilder others by space-teleportation equipment. Therefore, they thought that all the "manifestations of God's will" were deceitful tricks. Additionally, each deceitful trick was supported by a space-teleportation equipment. The greater and the more shocking the deceitful trick was, the more powerful was the space-teleportation equipment on their back.
Of course, the use of Castle of Black Iron was utterly different than that of ordinary space-teleportation equipment. Ordinary space-teleportation equipment existed in the form of material objects. However, Zhang Tie had integrated with Castle of Black Iron. Castle of Black Iron didn't exist in this world. If Zhang Tie wanted to use Castle of Black Iron, he only needed to run his spiritual energy. Ockham thought that Zhang Tie used an immortal space-teleportation equipment to accomplish the performance of the so-called "manifestations of God's will". He almost approached the truth.
Ockham was stupid because he believed in his empirical judgment too much. Additionally, he was deeply convinced by his great battle strength as a shadow knight. Besides the fact that Zhang Tie couldn't give Castle of Black Iron to him, what was more important was that he had forgotten that this world would not center on one person. Even a heavenly knight or a sage knight might be in trouble, not to mention a shadow knight. If powerful ones could rule everything, Zhang Tie's master would not be the frightening alchemist devil; Han Zhengfang should still be alive; Emperor Xuanyuan would not be missing. Even these people who were much more powerful than him couldn't control their fates, how could a shadow knight think that he's unrivaled and could get whatever he wants in Ice and Snow Wilderness?
Of course, it was a laughingstock.
Ockham was a rich reward gifted by God to Zhang Tie.
Zhang Tie watched Ockham with slightly narrowed eyes while the light in his eyes was as same as that in Ockham's eyes.
Ockham thought that he had caught a fat sheep; however, he didn't know that he was that fat sheep in Zhang Tie's eyes.
After hearing Ockham's words, Zhang Tie didn't speak; instead, he just looked at Ockham calmly, which made Ockham upset.
"In front of me, you're just humble ants. Treasure my kindness and the opportunity that I spare to you. This is the last opportunity for you heretics to accomplish your self-redemption. If you don't submit the item to me within 10 seconds, I could only get it myself. You'd better determine whether you're going to live or die in 10 seconds!" Ockham released a powerful qi as he kept a close watch on Zhang Tie with his sharp eagle eyes, sparing no chance for Zhang Tie to wait for the arrival of that powerful heavenly knight in case of trouble. He started to count down, "1…2…"
As this powerful shadow knight started to count down, many people in the palace became anxious. Only the most pious followers of Ancient God Church were still looking at Zhang Tie with firm eye light. These people had unshakable confidence in Zhang Tie. As the incarnation of the Ancient God, how could Zhang Tie be troubled by a shadow knight?
The so-called truth of manifestations of God's will in the mouth of Ockham was completely like a laughingstock in the eyes of Maxim and the other priests of Ancient God Church. Because Zhang Tie was manifesting the God's will under the gaze of over 100,000 people without using any space-teleportation equipment at all. The holy vase that Zhang Tie used to manifest the God's will was still worshiped in the grey palace. How could such a manifestation of God's will be as same as the deceitful trick of those jerk priests of Sacred Light Empire?
"3…" Ockham's icy sound was like pronouncing judgment towards a group of mortals.
"Battle strength prevails the knight's world. Now that you and I are both knights, let's determine the result of this dispute in the means of knights!" Zhang said calmly as he looked at Ockham who carried a strong qi, "This is a bet between two knights. As long as you stand there and could bear a strike of my spear safe and sound, I would give you whatever you want. Even the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Ancient God Church could be incorporated into the territory of Sacred Light Empire…"
After hearing Zhang Tie's words, Ockham burst out into laughter crankily. In the eyes of Ockham, Zhang Tie just wanted to save his face. The bet was always better than being forced to make a choice. Additionally, Ockham benefited from this manner. Ockham was very afraid about that heavenly knight on the back of Zhang Tie. If he killed Zhang Tie, he had to worry about being avenged by that heavenly knight. If Zhang Tie and that heavenly knight were just trade partners, that heavenly knight might not make any response to Zhang Tie's death; however, if they were good friends, that heavenly knight might find Ockham trouble. If he stirred up a heavenly knight, even though he had Sacred Light Empire on his back, he would not feel good.
Zhang Tie was so famous that even Ockham knew the power of Zhang Tie's spear; however, even though an earth knight's spear strike was powerful, it could at most threaten ordinary black knights; however, spear strike was definitely a laughingstock for a shadow knight. Even a heavenly knight couldn't promise that his spear strike could threaten a shadow knight, not to mention an earth knight.
Each knight would gain a rare opportunity to strengthen their overall strength whenever they formed a chakra, such as from battle spirit to black iron knight and from black iron knight to earth knight; however, the most powerful overall advancement happened when one promoted to a shadow knight from earth knight. When one formed his water chakra, over 70% water in his body would be cleansed by and resonated with the water element in the elements realm. After this process, the body of a shadow knight would enter an unimaginable, powerful realm. In this realm, even if the shadow knight didn't release his protective battle qi, he could still match a black iron knight in defensive capability. Therefore, shadow knights were all confident.
"Well, I will have a bet with you. I just stand here, just attack me with your spear. I will make you sincerely convinced!" Ockham stood in the air outside the gate of the palace as he crossed his arms without even releasing his protective battle qi. He just looked at Zhang Tie like watching a clown.
In that case, even the closest seat in the palace was over 50 m away from Ockham. Those guards were holding rows of heavy tower-shaped shields around him from over 50 m away.
Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he ran his spiritual energy. Closely after that, a golden spear appeared in his hand. At the sight of that golden spear, Maxim and all the other clergies held their breath at once.
"Keep away from us, watch out!" Zhang Tie said calmly.
After hearing Zhang Tie's words, those people in the nearest seats hurriedly moved back towards the center of the palace. Those guards who were holding heavy tower-shaped shields also retreated backward in tidy footsteps, including those fighters of Thor's Hammer who were surrounding Ockham outside the palace.
Ockham revealed a faint disdainful sneer because the others' responses were like a laughingstock for him. At the sight of that golden spear in Zhang Tie's hand, his sneer became more ironical as he confirmed that Zhang Tie just wanted to save his face by putting on his airs.
Golden weapons were always used by deities in myths and legends. There were many such weapons in the Sacred Light Empire; however, all of them were sacrificial vessels and religious supplies. As one of the top 3 halos pastors in Sacred Light Empire, Ockham had a team of honor guard who used golden weapons in special occasions for the sake of face; honestly, gold was not a good material for making weapons. Although gold had good durability, it was too soft to be made into weapons. Even though they could have a good processability after being mixed with some silver and copper, they couldn't match some senior alloys, not to mention match precious metals such as abyss magical iron.
Golden weapons were used to bamboozle idiots so as to make them hold in awe and veneration. Gold was not precious for knights; however, Zhang Tie was the first knight who used a golden weapon in the world.
At the sight of Zhang Tie's look when he held a golden spear, Ockham felt that this famous Hua knight was extremely like those honor guards on his side. Therefore, he couldn't help but burst out into laughter as he watched Zhang Tie like looking at sh*t, "You're smart; if you surrender to me, I will let you rule all the halos retinues in the east parish of Sacred Light Empire…"
Zhang Tie replied with a smile too, "Are you ready…"
"Come on, I…"
Before the halos pastor of Sacred Light Empire finished his words, Zhang Tie had launched a strike…
…
With the deafening sound, an invisible impact wave swept over those heavy tower-shaped shields that were standing on the ground, causing them to buzz like being hit by heavy hammers…
Chapter 1246: Camouflage and Idiot
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
The impact wave and loud bang passed by so fast. With sound lingering in the air of the palace, all the people at present were stunned. Because Zhang Tie and Ockham had disappeared in a split second as if they were never here at all…
Actually, very few people in the palace could really understand what happened just now.
'Where're the two people? How could they disappear out of the void? Am I dreaming?' All the people wondered as they exchanged a glance with each other.
With a loud bang, the two brilliant wooden gates of the palace fell onto the ground in pieces. At the same time, the entire screen wall facing the gate of the palace along with the building that extended 20 m all the way to the palace collapsed, causing dust swirl in the air. As a result, the gate of the palace was blocked. Thankfully, there was nobody within 100 m; especially O'Laura and the other wives of Zhang Tie who were farthest away from the gate of the palace; additionally, they were surrounded by those guards by heavy tower shields. So were the crown prince and the other princes. Therefore, none of them suffered from any harm…
The only injured ones were those imperial guards who were holding heavy tower-shaped shields in the frontline. Due to the great power of the first impact wave, some guys' wrists were dislocated.
All the fluorite lamps within 50 m were blown up; therefore, it became dimmer in the palace.
The loud, collapsing sound and the diffused smoke caused a chaos inside the palace…
"Where's His Majesty? Where's His Majesty…" Someone shouted.
"Thor's Hammer, protect His Majesty…"
"It collapses outside the gate of the palace. Break out. Break out…"
Various sounds drifted in the palace.
All the knight elders in the Cardinal Elders Committee went into action at once. Pontiff Sarlin and the two elders of the huge bear tribe helped O'Laura, Sabrina, Olina, the 6 women of Spencer Clan and Zhang Tie's 9 kids leave the palace through a secret tunnel.
O'Laura looked a bit pale. As she tightly bit her lower lip, she was utterly upset. She didn't know what happened either. Therefore, she was a bit worried about Zhang Tie as she didn't want to leave out of here, Pontiff Sarlin's words stopped her from resisting anymore.
"Before His Majesty launched a strike, he had told me through a secret means. He let me and two elders of the huge bear tribe lead queen, concubines, the crown prince and the other princes to wait in the haven in Summer Palace and defend Summer Palace, Saint Petersburg…"
"What happened just now?" O'Laura asked in a quivering sound. As the queen of Sacred Iceland Kingdom, O'Laura was not weak; she was already a LV 12 great battle master. Even though she was sitting on Zhang Tie's side just now, she still didn't know what happened. Zhang Tie and Ockham disappeared in a split second. Like all the others, she just heard a boom and sensed an impact wave sweeping over the tower-shaped shields in the middle of the palace. Closely after that, she found that the buildings outside the palace had collapsed.
Pontiff Sarlin replied with a bitter smile, "I don't know either, it was really too fast…"
Those fighters of Thor's Hammer outside the collapsed gate of the palace rushed forward at once like being driven mad as they wanted to clear the way outside the gate. Those people inside the palace also coordinated with those people to clear the debris. It took them almost 2 minutes to do that.
"Get out of the way…" Dally the old wild bear roared impatiently as he fully released his battle qi. Closely after that, he punched onto a complete wall of the palace like a barbarous wild bear, making a big hole on the wall. Closely after that, he rushed out of the big hole and flew off. Standing in the air, he started to look around the summer palace…
The moons were bright and the stars were few. After seeing nobody within 60 miles, Dally the old wild bear changed his face at once…
All the other elders of Cardinal Elders Committee flew off one after another in a split second.
"Where's His Majesty?" Hags asked after looking around and not discovering any trace of flying knights…
"Just now…" The clan head of mutated bear tribe said with an unbelievable look.
"It was too fast. Even I didn't see clearly what happened…" The clan head of the mountain bear tribe shook his head too.
"What do we do?"
"Pontiff Sarlin and the others will be responsible for the safety here. We could only try our fortune. I suggest dividing into 2 groups, 3 people in one group, 4 people in another. We search over the north and south respectively. If there's any special situation, we can release our battle qi smokes…" Dally the old wild bear was very resolute at this moment as he immediately displayed his mature side. In a group of three, they could form a 3-in-1 battle formation. If they searched for Zhang Tie and Ockham independently, a black iron knight would be too weak in front of a shadow knight.
All the other tribes' knights exchanged a glance with each other before nodding. In a split second, they had divided into two groups before heading for the south and the north of Saint Petersburg.
…
Humans' naked eyes could only capture a moving object within 2 milliseconds. If an object moved too fast to be captured by human eyes constantly within 2 milliseconds, the object was equal to disappearing out of the void.
Just now, Zhang Tie launched a strike so fast. The moment he moved, he had reached greater than 13 times the speed of sound. In the limited observation space and the relatively narrow visual space between individuals in the palace, when everyone was gazing at him, the moment he moved, he had been out of their visions; because he stayed fewer than 2 milliseconds in everyone's vision.
Although Zhang Tie didn't wear Chaos, he wore a pair of metal caliga, a full-moons dragon soul waistband and a pair of rune metal wristbands. Although these items were not as integrated as the Chaos, they didn't reduce Zhang Tie's flight speed with the ability of the divine dominator.
Zhang Tie moved fast; however, his spear moved faster.
Zhang Tie aided a master-level god's rune effect on the 680 kg golden spear which he had not used before——cracking effect.
In a golden and brilliant robe, Ockham revealed a commanding and steadfast smile. He didn't even release his protective battle qi. What a good performer!
'Idiot!'
When he threw out his spear, Zhang Tie swore inside.
'It's hard to find a shadow knight as a target for an earth knight-level divine dominator frankly in this age.'
…
When those knights of the Cardinal Elders Committee were searching for Zhang Tie and Ockham in two groups, Ockham was retreating at a high speed.
Ockham was escaping like a strayed dog.
The brilliant religious robe that Ockham wore a few minutes ago had completely become strips of cloth like broken sacks that were picked up from the battlefield. Additionally, there was a punch-sized bloody hole on his lower abdomen, which directly penetrated through his body.
Ockham had lost his religious crown. His hair was swaying disorderly in the air; at the same time, he kept spitting out blood…
In this case, Ockham had used his trump card to escape as a shadow knight—— the light of life.
With this skill, he burned the source of his life for a greater speed. If not in dilemma, Ockham would never use this skill. Because each minute that he spent in this skill meant a one-year reduction in his longevity.
With the effect of the light of life, Ockham soon raised his speed to 8 times the speed of sound. This was a terrifying speed even for shadow knight. In the flight, a looming mist was wrapping around his body. As a result, his flight was quiet and secret…
The moment his body was penetrated through by Zhang Tie's golden spear, Ockham had been immersed in the sharp pains. He knew that he had a big trouble this time. He had not even heard about such a strike. He even doubted that Zhang Tie was a heavenly knight, who set a trap especially to screw him.
As long as Zhang Tie kept using such a striking skill, Ockham who had been severely injured would never win the fight. Therefore, the moment his body was penetrated through by the golden spear, Ockham had made his decision, namely, lighting his light of life and escaping away from Saint Petersburg as fast as possible with the inertia when he was sent flying backward.
In flight, Ockham wanted to close his wound; however, he found that the flesh near his wound had completely become dead like being struck by a lightning bolt with the bizarre cracking effect. Therefore, although being a powerful shadow knight, Ockham couldn't control his physical function at all.
What made Ockham more embarrassed was that his spiritual energy was experiencing a terrifying storm after being severely injured. His spiritual energy was fluctuating greatly. As a result, all of his spiritual energy had been disrupted and sealed in his mind sea. As a result, he couldn't use any secret spiritual methods or use remote-sensing telecommunications device; not to mention taking out medicament from his portable space-teleportation equipment.
It was Ockham's first time to fear death…
Ockham kept flying towards the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness as he gritted his teeth and dropped blood. Lands, mountains and rivers flashed backward at his foot. After over 40 minutes and burning over 40 years' longevity. Ockham felt that he should have got rid of Zhang Tie's vision. When he wanted to stop and deal with his wound, he heard Zhang Tie's lazy voice behind him…
"Ha, you're really good at flying. I thought you could have stood a bit longer…"
Together with the voice was a 6.8 ton Thor's Hammer which crashed onto Ockham's protective battle qi at a speed greater than 13 times the speed of sound …
Chapter 1247: The Winner
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
"Divine dominator, who the hell are you?" Ockham shouted exhaustively as his eyes turned bloody. At the same time, his battle qi turned berserk as he shot out booming battle qi towards Zhang Tie constantly. Meanwhile, a spray of blood spurted out from the bloody hole on his body, causing his strike to stagnate slightly. As a result, the destructive power of his strike declined by 30% at once.
The shadow knight's battle qi hit onto the ground like impact waves while rubbing Zhang Tie's body, exploding the top of a 100 m higher iceberg into pieces in a split second. At the same time, Ockham constantly changed his location rapidly.
However, Ockham was in vain. After fighting Zhang Tie for almost half an hour when he was severely injured, Ockham had proved that shadow knight was powerful. However, at this moment, Ockham had almost been exhausted. This situation could be judged from his increasingly unstable battle qi strikes and protective battle qi.
It had been in disorder within dozens of miles in the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness.
Zhang Tie flew around Ockham at the speed of over 13 times the speed of sound as he constantly changed his location like jumping lightning bolt in the air. As a result, Ockham could barely cope with Zhang Tie's strike.
In the most dangerous close combat, knight's visual angle was limited. As Ockham's visual's angle couldn't follow Zhang Tie's moving speed, he couldn't threaten Zhang Tie essentially. Since the beginning, Ockham's strikes at his full strength had been dodged away by Zhang Tie at an extremely high speed, at most touched the edge of Zhang Tie's protective battle qi. Additionally, Ockham's large-range strikes were directly blocked by Zhang Tie.
Actually, since the beginning, Ockham had not completely hit Zhang Tie's protective battle qi, not to mention breaking through Zhang Tie's protective battle qi.
Zhang Tie's protective battle qi of king roc sutra experienced a cruel test this time.
The last test was in the fight with Han Zhengfang.
Compared to the last fight with Han Zhengfang, Zhan Tie was more advantageous this time.
Because Zhang Tie at this moment was definitely more powerful than that when he fought Han Zhengfang. However, Ockham was not as powerful as Han Zhengfang; therefore, Zhang Tie took the initiative.
Ockham didn't get rid of Zhang Tie's strike. Zhang Tie's Thor's Hammer crashed onto Ockham's volatile protective battle qi mercilessly once again.
After almost half an hour's fight, Zhang Tie could use his Thor's Hammer much better. Therefore, his striking frequency gradually grew. He could also release more power by Thor's Hammer and kinetic energy strike in a shorter distance.
This fight meant a wholly new start for Zhang Tie. He finally experienced the effect of the hypersonic strike in fight.
Hypersonic speed was his weapon and his shield.
The loud sound of Thor's Hammer reverberated through the heavens and the land like thunders.
As long as he could move at a speed greater than 13 times the speed of sound, the destructive power of Thor's Hammer from over 6 miles away was as same as that from 100 m away or 1 m away. However, the latter situation could shorten the responsive time of the opponent and make the opponent harder to respond to the strike of Thor's Hammer. In close combat, Thor's Hammer would have an overwhelming advantage when it could reach 13 times greater than the speed of sound in the air.
In fist positions, inch strength was emphasized; namely, how to maximize the strength of the fist in the shortest distance between the fist and the target. When fighting Ockham, Zhang Tie was also comprehending the law of "inch strength" in close combat by Thor's Hammer.
What a rare opportunity! If not make full use of this shadow knight-level target and sparring partner, Zhang Tie would feel sorry about himself.
Even Ockham had felt that he was taken as a sparring partner when Zhang Tie was striking him in an increasingly higher frequency with an increasingly greater strength. It was a humiliation for Ockham. However, he couldn't shriek off this humiliation. He even started to doubt that this person was not Zhang Tie but a divine dominator with a terrifying destructive power…
In this world, there were less than 10 divine dominators. Each of them was famous. Ockham didn't believe that there was another divine dominator who came out of nowhere.
Although Zhang Tie was well-known across the human knights' world, nobody mentioned that Zhang Tie was a divine dominator. Therefore, Ockham doubted that this man in front of him was not Zhang Tie at all.
With another strike, the Thor's Hammer completely shattered Ockham's protective battle qi and turned it into enshrouding battle qi like snowflakes before falling down in pieces. The energy of tens of billions of Joule not only completely shattered Ockham's protective battle qi but also shattered the greater part of Ockham's bones all over. Ockham wanted to stretch out his hands to resist the strike; however, his arms were shattered by the irresistible strength of the Thor's Hammer, including his bones and muscles…
The bloody hole spurted out blood once again. Some broken innards even sprayed out of that hole. At the same time, Ockham's eyes, nostrils, mouth and ears spurted out blood as his body smashed onto the icy and snowy land with a boom, causing land cracks while ice scums, hard soil and snowflakes sprayed in all directions. Additionally, there was a 30 m deeper pit on the point where Ockham fell down.
This was the last strike of Zhang Tie.
"Hahahaha, I see…" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he muttered. In the last blow, he finally comprehended the secret of making a kinetic strike by Thor's Hammer in close combat——By combining spirit, consciousness, eye light, body, hand and hammer at the same time, he could release a kinetic energy strike by Thor's Hammer in the shortest distance.
Zhang Tie threw a glance at Ockham who was lying in the deep pit. Closely after that, the Thor's Hammer disappeared as he fell on one side of Ockham who had completely lost his ability to resist…
Chapter 1248: An Unbearable Load
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Heavy snowflakes fell from the lingering night sky. Just now, the fight between the two people made this air territory brilliant and full of rumbling thunders; additionally, the land here was covered with pits. However, the moment the fight came to an end, the surroundings became quiet at once. Besides snowflakes, there was only icy and hard wind in the air…
Ockham had lost his arms and was bleeding all over; however, he was still alive.
Zhang Tie looked down at Ockham as he exclaimed about the strong vitality of this shadow knight inside. Even 10 earth knights would have been killed by Zhang Tie in this case; however, after being penetrated through by Zhang Tie's golden spear, Ockham could still fight Zhang Tie until now. Therefore, Zhang Tie became more expectant about the realm of shadow knights.
Ockham looked at Zhang Tie hardly with bloody and tearful eyes. He still had faint battle qi response as if he wanted to form his battle qi once again. At this moment, a snowflake flew over here and covered his eye, causing his eyelid to quiver. Ockham seemingly wanted to take away this snowflake; however, his body twitched for a short while as he could only wait for that snowflake to melt on his face with a bit cold.
The halos pastor who was pretty arrogant in Summer Palace just now was like a dead dog at this moment. Besides anguish, there was only fear on his face.
When the big figure who had been used to power, beauties and all the luxuries in the world found that he might say goodbye to all these things, he would not behave more dignified than those hooligans on the streets.
Ockham moved his lips as if he wanted to say something; pitifully, Zhang Tie's last strike was too powerful. After penetrating through his powerful body which he was proud of, it even tore his vocal cords. As a result, he couldn't utter any complete sound…
Ockham faintly roared for a short while. Through his mouth shape, Zhang Tie guessed that Ockham wanted to say, "Don't kill me…"
Zhang Tie revealed a sneer as he squatted down in front of Ockham as a winner. Closely after that, he waved his hand and drew away those snowflakes on Ockham's face as he looked at Ockham from his foot to his head like how an experienced butcher looked at a big fat pig. After that, he patted Ockham's old face as he said tenderly, "How could I kill you? You don't know how happy I was when I saw you. I won't agree even if you want to commit suicide…"
Ockham watched Zhang Tie with an amazed look. Although his hearing had been damaged greatly, he could still hear Zhang Tie's words. Although Zhang Tie expressed that he wouldn't kill him, Zhang Tie's eye light made Ockham twitch all over…
Ockham wanted to say something; however, he couldn't. At that moment, Zhang Tie's hand suddenly quivered while a bizarre strength passed onto Ockham's, causing him to pass out at once.
Closely after that, Ockham disappeared as he was teleported into Castle of Black Iron.
"Heller, this guy is a fat sheep, he's yours!" Zhang Tie told Heller through a secret means.
After that, Zhang Tie heard Heller's answer with a smile, "Castle Lord, don't worry, I will keep this guy alive. But I'm afraid that I couldn't completely recover him without using some senior medicaments that Castle Lord collected and some demonized fighters who were frozen in Castle of Black Iron."
"It doesn't matter. It's all worth it, right?"
"Of course, this one is a shadow knight. If not being severely injured by Castle Lord's golden spear, it would be not easy for us to teleport a shadow knight who has lost his resistance ability into Castle of Black Iron!"
"Greed is an original sin of humans!"
"5 days later, Castle Lord would be able to enjoy this achievement. I'm expecting for that…"
"I'm expecting for that too!"
"This guy carries a lot of rarities. Castle Lord might be interested in it. This must be a bumper harvest…"
Closely after Heller's words, a golden necklace appeared in Zhang Tie's hand. The moment this guy was teleported into Castle of Black Iron, none of his belongings could be covered in front of Heller.
Zhang Tie looked at that necklace. Compared to the precious material of the necklace, the emblem on the necklace was more valuable.
That emblem was bloody which had a metallic texture. It looked like a sun; of course, it was not as completely round as the sun; instead, it was like that kind of shiny sunflower in abstract paintings. In the dark, as long as there was faint light in the surroundings, the purple light being reflected by the surface of the bloody sun-shaped emblem could be seen. Additionally, there was an odd-looking classic mark of Sacred Light Church on the emblem. Touching the emblem on the necklace, Zhang Tie gradually felt a bizarre warmth. Furthermore, the necklace had been aided with a strong rune effect.
Of course, Heller would not give it to Zhang Tie if it was just a rune equipment.
After injecting his spiritual energy into the necklace, Zhang Tie knew that this sun-shaped bloody emblem was actually a space-teleportation equipment.
There was a huge cubic space whose length, width and height were over 30 m respectively in the emblem. The moment Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into space, he had seen two hills of golden bricks, which occupied over 3,000 cubic meters. It indicated that there were at least 60,000 tons of gold.
At the sight of such golden hills, Zhang Tie immediately swore inside, 'F*ck.' He knew that Sacred Light Empire was rich. The halos pastor who ruled one of the three major parishes of Sacred Light Empire would definitely not lack money; however, he had not imagined that a shadow knight's space-teleportation equipment could contain so much gold. 'How greedy this guy is! Why did he put so much gold which is meaningless for knights into his portable space-teleportation equipment?'
Zhang Tie was greatly shocked by the items in this space-teleportation equipment.
Although this space-teleportation equipment was not bad; it was still far worse than the other space-teleportation equipment that Zhang Tie had gained such as Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple. What shocked Zhang Tie most was that he had not seen such a crowded space-teleportation equipment before.
The space-teleportation equipment contained about 35,000 cubic meters. Those gold only occupied less than 1/10 of this space. Besides gold, it was filled with various items.
Earth element crystals, water element crystals, wind element crystals and fire element crystals occupied one corner of the space respectively. As for a shadow knight, earth element crystals and water element crystals couldn't further promote his cultivation base anymore; however, earth element crystals and water elements occupied most of the element crystals. There were over 100,000 earth element crystals. If Zhang Tie could have so many earth element crystals before he promoted to an earth knight, he didn't even need to grasp any purgatory samsara method at all. Because he could promote to an earth knight only by absorbing all the earth element crystals.
Besides earth element crystals, there were over 30,000 water element crystals, over 5,000 wind element crystals and over 1,000 fire element crystals.
Besides these gold and four element crystals, there were tens of thousands of square boxes which were made of precious metals such as gold, mithril, mountain copper, abyss magical iron, violet gold, platinum,etc.. These boxes were not furnishings or artworks; instead, they were used to maximize this space. Those boxes contained dazzling priceless treasures. Hundreds of boxes among them contained various gold checks and certificates about the ownership of lands, manors, castles, share certificates of business groups, mines and factories of Sacred Light Empire and the other countries on Western Continent. Zhang Tie really wondered whether these things were plundered by Ockham from Sacred Light Empire or being presented by others.
'F*ck, this is more like a bank vault than a portable space-teleportation equipment of a shadow knight.'
Besides these items, there were living necessities in this space such as grains, a water tank and clothes.
Over 1,000 expensive metal boxes contained medicaments.
There were 3 silver secret items which included an odd-looking long saber, a golden-horned helmet and a long spear.
At the sight of these 3 silver secret items, Zhang Tie started to feel lucky about the strong effect of his master-level cracking rune on the opponent's spiritual energy. Without this effect, Ockham might be able to use his silver secret items; if so, it would be more difficult for Zhang Tie to deal with him.
There were 2 boxes of bronze secret items in this space, among which, Zhang Tie saw elements gathering matrices in different specifications. He even saw another full-moons dragon soul waistband which was as same as that on his body.
Besides, there were other items which Zhang Tie could count for the time being…
The entire space was almost occupied by these items. Only less than 20 cubic meters' space was available. Although the word "overload" was not used to describe space-teleportation equipment, this space-teleportation equipment reminded Zhang Tie of an old truck which had been overloaded by many times that of the speculation on a mountain road.
Zhang Tie finally knew why Ockham was fascinated by his marvelous space-teleportation equipment. 'Perhaps that guy was thinking about having a space-teleportation equipment with a greater space so as to contain more items. Perhaps that guy usually struggles due to the limited space of his space-teleportation equipment. He had to give up something each time he wanted to put something more inside…'
When Zhang Tie looked at this space-teleportation equipment in a dumbfounded way, he suddenly understood something, 'What this space-teleportation equipment couldn't bear was not treasures, but humans' greed…'
Chapter 1249: Truths and Lies
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Not until the next day broke did Zhang Tie slowly fly back to Saint Petersburg.
It only took Ockham over 40 minutes to fly over 3,600 miles away and enter the unpopulated zone on the border of the iced land in the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness.
There was only ice, snow, and storm here. Nobody else but Zhang Tie and Ockham could be seen here. Even few living beings could be seen here. Of course, their fight would not arise the attention of anyone else. Neither were the members of Cardinal Elders Committee able to fly so far away in such a short period. Furthermore, as Ockham's spiritual energy was disrupted by people, he couldn't even send a message to his men through the remote-sensing crystal. Therefore, this entire battle process was both earth-shaking and silent. Besides Zhang Tie and Ockham, nobody else in this world knew that a fight had broken out between a powerful shadow knight and a more powerful divine dominator in the ice-capped land in the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness.
Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this fight. It was a bumper harvest for him.
After this fight, Ockham became his captive. Benefited from this, he would promote to a shadow knight more easily. It was predictable that he could at least enter the 5 change earth realm after absorbing Ockham's water chakra.
The wealth in the portable space-teleportation equipment of Ockham was even greater than that he gained from those Three-eye Association clans and the demon general in Waii Subcontinent. What made Zhang Tie more reassured was that his kinetic energy skill and the ability of divine dominator could already match the battle strength of a shadow knight completely through the test and improvement of this fight.
Although Ockham was not a top shadow knight, his battle strength was at least between 3 change shadow realm and 5 change shadow realm. Although Zhang Tie severely injured Ockham with his golden spear at the beginning before the latter made any preparation, it was his first time to defeat a shadow knight in the public by force. Being different than that fight between him and Han Zhengfang, this was a milestone fight for Zhang Tie.
When the first sunlight reached the tip of the highest tower in the Grey Palace, Zhang Tie arrived at the air territory of Saint Petersburg too. He started to slow down.
Overnight, Saint Petersburg as a whole had been heavily guarded. Looking down from the sky, Zhang Tie found that armies were mobilized both inside and outside the city. Some large-scale battle airships were patrolling around Saint Petersburg.
The moment Zhang Tie arrived there, he had been discovered. A knight rushed into the sky towards him while some battle airships also flew towards him from afar.
"Your Majesty…" Elder Toles greeted Zhang Tie with a big surprise as he continued, "Are you okay?"
"Of course, I'm okay. Oh, was there any trouble last night? Is everybody good?"
"We're all fine. There's no trouble!" After approaching Zhang Tie, Elder Toles looked at Zhang Tie carefully from head to toe. After confirming that Zhang Tie was fine, he finally became reassured as he asked, "Your Majesty, have you met Dally and the other elders?"
"No, where are they?" Zhang Tie replied as they flew back towards the Summer Palace. After those battle airships approached Zhang Tie, the crew saw clearly Zhang Tie's look. Closely after that, those fighters on those battle airships cheered up as their airships turned around.
"Last night, closely after Your Majesty and Ockham left Summer Palace, they had rushed outside. However, they couldn't see your trace; therefore, they divided into two groups and searched for you towards the north and the south respectively!"
Ice and Snow Wilderness was so large in size. Generally, as long as they left Saint Petersburg for about 120 miles, even if they were in the same direction with Zhang Tie and Ockham, they could barely meet Zhang Tie and Ockham. Additionally, over one night, old bear Dally and the other elders could at most move 600 miles. They could never approach that battle area between Zhang Tie and Ockham. Therefore, it was normal that Zhang Tie had not met them on the way back.
"I'm fine. Call them back!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. 'Although these elders of tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness didn't give me a favor last night, their loyalty satisfied me. At least, they were more loyal to me than before. Previously, a chief pastor of Sacred Light Empire could almost split up the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, it was a halos pastor from Sacred Light Empire who came here last night. Even in that case these guys still dared come out to find me, that's not bad.' Zhang Tie thought as he continued, "Is Saint Petersburg in a state of siege?"
"Yes, the entire Saint Petersburg had been in a state of siege since last night…"
"You're overreacting. Cancel it off…"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Although Elder Toles wanted to ask about the condition of Ockham, he didn't as he found Zhang Tie didn't mean to talk about that. What happened last night was too weird. Even those elders of the Cardinal Elders Committee didn't know what happened at that moment.
"Ockham will not come anymore…" Zhang Tie said calmly.
After hearing Zhang Tie's words, Elder Toles' heart pounded as Zhang Tie's reply contained many meanings…
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had arrived at the Summer Palace. At the sight of Zhang Tie coming back safe and sound, all the fighters of Thor's Hammer who were ready to fight the shadow knight of Sacred Light Empire to the end immediately cheered up, which could be heard within miles…
"Wula…Wula…Wula…"
These fighters were single-minded. No matter what, as Zhang Tie and Ockham disappeared at the same time last night; now that Zhang Tie came back alone safe and sound, it meant that Zhang Tie was the winner.
After one night's oppression and tension, so many people were waiting for the news. The cheers of the Thor's Hammer immediately drove away that oppressive and intense atmosphere like a warm current.
The collapsed part of the palace was still in clean-up; however, the loud cheers and the command of lifting the martial law and the return of those fighters to their own camps indicated that the crisis brought by that shadow knight of Sacred Light Empire had been defused. Therefore, a fervent and festive atmosphere spread over the entire Saint Petersburg at once.
When Zhang Tie returned to the Summer Palace, his wives and kids also returned to the earth surface from the hidden shelter. At the sight of Zhang Tie, all the women's eyes were filled with tears.
Many people across Saint Petersburg and the Summer Palace must be worried about Zhang Tie last night. However, Zhang Tie's lovers were more worried about Zhang Tie. They didn't sleep last night at all. Although it was just one night, when they saw Zhang Tie once again, they felt like experiencing a life or death situation.
Zhang Tie wiped off their tears one after another and finally made his women reassured.
Andre, Matvey, Alexander, Anatoli and the other kids were watching Zhang Tie with extremely adoring eyes. What they heard most were various legends about Zhang Tie's braveness and manifestations of God's will. Their moms told them their father was a real hero. Those kids did not have a concept of hero previously. However, last night, they witnessed their father's braveness and how their father alone overcame that shadow knight.
"Papa, when I grow up, I will also protect mom and all the others using my spear like how you did…" Andre raised his tiny face as he told Zhang Tie decisively with shiny eyes, "Can you teach me how to use a spear?"
After hearing Andre's words, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he stretched out his hand and touched Andre's head, "As long as you want to learn, I will teach you for sure. Besides spear, I could teach you many others skills. After you grasp them all, you will protect your moms like me by driving away the enemies!"
All the kids nodded forcefully.
"Let's go, I'm afraid that you've not had breakfast yet. Let's go and have breakfast…" Zhang Tie waved his hand.
After hearing Zhang Tie's words, the kitchen of the Summer Palace became busy at once…
…
Old wild bear Dally and the other members of Cardinal Elders Committee didn't return to the Summer Palace until 2 pm.
After all the members of Cardinal Elders Committee returned, Zhang Tie called them in a study. He had to make an explanation to these core figures of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom about what happened last night.
Zhang Tie sat on the most important seat in the study. All the elders of Cardinal Elders Committee sat on both sides of the study as they exchanged glances with each other. As a result, the entire study was in a weird atmosphere.
"Your Majesty, how about Ockham the halos pastor of Sacred Light Empire who raided the Summer Palace last night?"
Many elders wanted to ask the same question; however, only old wild bear Dally dared ask it carelessly.
Actually, Zhang Tie was waiting for someone to ask that.
"The power of Sacred Iceland Kingdom is definitely not as weak as you see, a shadow knight couldn't rock the foundation of Sacred Iceland Kingdom!" Zhang Tie said firmly and vaguely.
All the elders understood it right away. They immediately recalled that legendary heavenly knight who exterminated the entire expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire only by one blow——Last night, that mysterious heavenly knight gave a favor to His Majesty once again. That heavenly knight must be hiding somewhere in the Summer Palace last night; he must have long predicted that someone more powerful from Sacred Light Empire would launch a strike; therefore, that heavenly knight was waiting for the halos pastor to seek for death himself. That explained why Zhang Tie could come back safe and sound…
The power of a heavenly knight was out of black iron knights' imaginations. This might explain why Zhang Tie and Ockham directly disappeared in the public in a split second last night.
The elders of Cardinal Elders Committee thought that they had got the answer. Only Pontiff Sarlin threw a glance at Zhang Tie; meanwhile, he slightly frowned with a dubious eyelight; however, he didn't say anything.
"Realm, it must be the power of realm grasped by the heavenly knight…" The clan head of the mountain bear tribe, who was always taken as a rustic nodded and said loudly as if he had seen the realm of a heavenly knight…
"That heavenly knight would almost promote to a semi-sage…" The clan head of the fire bear tribe was also shocked.
Hearing their discussions and watching their looks, Zhang Tie could only speak to himself inside���—I'm not cheating you. I'm telling the truth; if you misunderstand my words, don't blame me for not clarifying it to you…
…
In less than 1 day, a news had spread over Saint Petersburg. The halos pastor from Sacred Light Empire who raided the Summer Palace last night had been killed by a heavenly knight who had promoted to semi-sage. That heavenly knight was actually always the secret No. 1 knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom…
The gossip was so vivid that those who attended the evening banquet last night even swore that they had witnessed how that mysterious heavenly knight displayed his power of realm and had Ockham the halos pastor of Sacred Light Empire and His Majesty disappear in front of the public.
The gossip spread over Saint Petersburg on the 2nd day and the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom on the 3rd day.
Like how the Sacred Iceland Kingdom acquired the intelligence about the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire through various channels, Sacred Light Empire could also acquire the intelligence about the Sacred Iceland Kingdom through almost the same channels. One of the simplest methods was to pay those merchant ships who traveled between subcontinents, Western Continent and Ewentra Archipelago and many forces' offices or diplomatic agencies in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom.
After hearing this news, Sacred Light Empire was scared too much…
After another 2 days, Golden Roc Bank sent a news to the Sacred Iceland Kingdom as the intermediator. The pope of Sacred Light Empire had already dispatched a special envoy to Ice and Snow Wilderness for diffusing the disputes between the two countries…
Now that a special envoy would arrive, it meant that the Sacred Light Empire really wanted to sue for peace…
Chapter 1250: Qianji Hermit
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Peter Hamplester's real identity was Zhang Tie, the famous Hua knight…
Zhang Tie founded Ancient God Church in Ice and Snow Wilderness…
Ockham the halos pastor of the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire raided the Summer Palace; however, he was killed by a semi-sage knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom…
Zhang Tie abdicated…
Zhang Tie awakened a powerful, immortal Hua bloodline…
Andre, the 4-year old son of Zhang Tie and O'Laura, namely his eldest son would become the next tsar of Sacred Iceland Kingdom…
The Sacred Light Empire on Western Continent assigned a special envoy to Saint Petersburg to sue for peace…
In April of the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar, various news about Zhang Tie became the focus of the Mountain of Brightness once again.
On April 12th, a paid article "Deciphering the Legendary Life of Qianji Hermit Zhang Tie" became a hot topic in Mountain of Brightness only after it was posted for 2 days.
This article was like a legend of Peter Hamplester. As for knights, what Peter Hamplester did in Ice and Snow Wilderness was not amazing including how he saved sexy fox Olina from the conflict between Ewentra Archipelago and Demon Snake Island, how he saved over 100,000 people in the underground relics and founded Ancient God Church, how Peter Hamplester pacified the disaster of demons in Eschyle City; how he proposed the Axis Railway Plan; how he housed refugees and founded Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Many ambitious knights would establish countries and religions in poor subcontinents and regions out of specific purposes.
However, when the legends about Peter Hamplester and the legends about Zhang Tie who had long been famous in knight's world combined with each other, the result became dramatic and subversive as if a more marvelous chemical reaction happened when two marvelous elements mixed with each other, which made everybody dumbfounded for sure.
Peter Hamplester, the former tsar of Sacred Iceland Kingdom was Zhang Tie the Hua knight who had been famous in the knight's world.
What an unbelievable fact!
…
"——Nobody in the main palace of Summer Palace could imagine that Peter Hamplester could say such words and display his body-changing bloodline in the public after standing up. This was Zhang Tie's second public display after holding his rotating chakra ceremony as an earth knight. All the people in the banquet had seen that. In the eyes of the followers of the Ancient God Church, Zhang Tie's display of body-changing ability was undoubtedly another manifestation of God's will. As a result, they further firmed their belief…"
…
"——Zhang Tie's women are undoubtedly happy at this moment. This man who incarnated into Peter Hamplester using his immortal body-changing bloodline proved who's most precious in his eyes by abdicating his throne. At this moment, Zhang Tie indeed treated the country as sh*t and ignored the sneer of powerful ones…"
…
"…However, according to the most reliable first-hand news that I received, closely after Zhang Tie recovered his original look, the halos pastor had appeared and wanted to threaten Zhang Tie by destroying the Summer Palace and Saint Petersburg. He wanted some equipment from Zhang Tie. However, the result was that Zhang Tie and the halos pastor had disappeared in front of the public before they started a fight…"
…
"——Is there really a semi-sage knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom? Do Zhang Tie, Qianji Hermit have other secret identities? Black Iron Know-All will pay attention to the relevant information constantly for you…"
…
Zhang Tie read the entire article in Mountain of Brightness.
As this was a paid article. In order to know what he looked like in others' eyes, Zhang Tie immediately paid 1,000 gold coins for this hot article after logging on the Mountain of Brightness…
When Zhang Tie was reading the article, this article had been viewed for over 30,000 times.
After knowing that guy called "Black Iron Know-All" had made over 30 million gold coins by selling his intelligence, Zhang Tie became speechless.
Black Iron Know-All was a very famous byname in Mountain of Brightness. Many hot articles in Mountain of Brightness were written with this byname. Zhang Tie didn't know whether Black Iron Know-All was a person or an organization. However, given the content of this article, Zhang Tie knew that it probably was an organization. Because the intelligence about Zhang Tie in the article was very detailed and complete. Therefore, the article was very infectious and influential.
Even Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could gain the byname of Qianji Hermit in the Mountain of Brightness. In Taixia Country, it was outstanding for a knight to gain a widely accepted byname which had nothing to do with his cultivation method. Special bynames represented the special position and a much greater influence and reputation among his peers. Zhang Tie revealed his incarnation of Cui Li on his rotating chakra ceremony; this time, he revealed his incarnation of Peter Hamplester; plus the fame of his original name, the three identities shocked the public too much. Only in a few days, through Black Iron Know-All, the byname of Qianji Hermit had spread over Mountain of Brightness and become Zhang Tie's signboard.
"Qian" referred that Zhang Tie could change his looks whenever he wanted; "Ji" referred to the secret methods and trump cards of Zhang Tie. It seemed that Zhang Tie would not get rid of this byname in the future.
At the bottom of this article, there were many replies.
Most of the people replied this article anonymously in Mountain of Brightness. Even someone didn't hide their bynames, nobody could identify who were they.
——With terrifying body-changing immortal bloodline, soul-forbidden method, amazing battle strength and various secret methods, Qianji Hermit hid his true identity for so many years. Qianji Hermit's enemies would have nightmares. I feel worth spending 1,000 gold coins for this article.
——I mostly want to know who's that semi-sage knight on the back of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Qianji Hermit. I would like to spend 100 earth-element crystals on this news…
——I wonder whether you've found that, after reading the confession of Qianji Hermit, I speculate that Qianji Hermit might have gained a great secret item when he was young. Since then, Qianji Hermit grew more and more powerful from a common teenager in a short period.
This article was followed by many replies too.
——It's said that Qianji Hermit has been struck by a lightning bolt. After that, his potential was gradually tapped.
——I've also heard about that.
——I still stick to my opinion.
——Luck is also a part of one's power; actually, it's a very important part of one's power. I feel that Qianji Hermit is a lucky person. A lucky person would be special wherever he is.
——I'm on the Western Continent, who knows what conditions are required to be Qianji Hermit's disciples?
——It seems that Qianji Hermit should be one of the most powerful earth knights among Hua people.
——Qianji Hermit is young and dissolute; he's a good example for our Hua people. Hahahaha, by the way, I make an advertisement here. This man is handsome, tall, tender and considerate. I have a good moral standing and excel at 2-person secret method. I'm in 7 change black iron realm. I want for a foreign female knight for 2-people cultivation, regardless of race. Female Hua knight preferred. Best in above 5 change black iron realm. Female earth knight is also welcome. If you intend to be my partner, please contact me according to the following method. Sincerely…
——Ahh, over 20 years ago, I've flown over Blackhot City in Waii Subcontinent. At that moment, Qianji Hermit must be in the city below as a common teenager.
——This is the handsome boy that I want; he's too handsome and tender…
——I'm Zhang Tie the Qianji Hermit. This is my another byname on the Western Continent. Any female knight who wants to get pregnant could come for me. I promise that you could give birth to boys. Additionally, our babies might have a chance to inherit my body-changing immortal bloodline. 20 water-element crystals for each pregnancy. Discount! 1 for 3. More discount for group purchase. I could keep you secret and never find you trouble after that…
…
There were various replies. In Mountain of Brightness, as they were all knights, they were on the equal footing. Knights might put on their airs in front of commoners. However, in Mountain of Brightness, many knights would not put on their airs. Being covered by their bynames, all the knights could talk freely in Mountain of Brightness. It was like the cyberspace before the Catastrophe. In this virtual space, many people became different than that in reality. Knights might require a place to relax themselves and release pressure…
After reading that "paid pregnancy" thing, Zhang Tie was dumbfounded.
When Zhang Tie was immersed in Mountain of Brightness, a voice sounded, "The airboat of the special envoy of Sacred Light Empire has already arrived…"
Chapter 1251: Returning to Taixia Country
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
The special envoy assigned by the pope of Sacred Light Empire was called Astor. Although he was just a chief pastor, his title as the clerk of pope clearly indicated that he was the henchman of the pope. Astor came to the Sacred Iceland Kingdom to negotiate with Zhang Tie about how to diffuse the conflicts between the two countries as the plenipotentiary of Sacred Light Empire.
Golden Roc Bank had spoken volumes for the identity of a special envoy to the Sacred Iceland Kingdom before his arrival.
Astor arrived at Ice and Snow Wilderness by an airboat of Golden Roc Bank on April 19th. Zhang Tie received him in a pavilion of the garden of Summer Palace on the second day.
According to diplomatic customs, after coming to Saint Petersburg, Astor met Elder Gulas who was responsible for diplomatic affairs, the Cardinal Elders Committee and Queen O'Laura consecutively. After releasing those merchant ships and businessmen of Sacred Iceland Kingdom which were intercepted and detained by Western Continent and compensating for that, Astor was received by Zhang Tie in the garden of Summer Palace.
At his 50s, Astor looked a bit fat with a kind smile. If not that religious robe and the faint knight's wave and qi, this man was like a common boss of a bar.
All the big figures must be handsome, ugly, abnormal or have some strange hobbies or exceptional temperaments. These contents were all plots in novels and stories. Zhang Tie also thought so when in Blackhot City; however, as his experience grew rich, Zhang Tie gradually found that it was far-stretched. Although those big figures had distinctive temperaments and impressed people deeply, Zhang Tie found that over 80% of big figures above knight level didn't look much different than commoners.
Zhang Tie himself was not outstanding.
So was Astor. Now that he could become the henchman of the pope of Sacred Light Empire, how could he be average?
At the sight of Astor, Zhang Tie was not cheated by Astor's smile; instead, he told himself to be vigilant inside.
"Your Majesty, this is Astor the personal secretary of the pope and a chief pastor of Sacred Light Empire!" Astor put his right hand on his chest sincerely as he bowed towards Zhang Tie sincerely.
"I'm not the tsar anymore. You can call me Zhang Tie or Qianji Hermit, please take a seat!" Zhang Tie told Astor politely.
The two people then sat down in the pavilion. There were a pond and a garden in the surroundings. It was April, the best season in Ice and Snow Wilderness and Gozidari Plain. It would be the traditional flowers picking festival of Slavs in Ice and Snow Wilderness after a few days. At this moment, the garden of Summer Palace had been covered with various fresh flowers such as rose, herb trinity, marigold and iris. Swarms of bees and butterflies were flying across the garden. Sitting in the pavilion and smelling the fragrance of flowers, they became reassured at once.
"The secular imperial crown is eye-catching and could be easily put down. However, the imperial crown of one's belief is invisible and immortal!" Astor said as he came to Zhang Tie's front and sat down on the opposite of Zhang Tie's seat; at the same time, he started to look Zhang Tie up and down decently.
Zhang Tie's young look and his great fame among humans made Astor curious.
Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he said, "You're right. Invisible things are always more valuable than visible things!"
"It's not my words, it's our pope's proverb!"
"If so, we have a common habit. Your pope and I always pay more attention to invisible things than visible things…"
Zhang Tie faintly expressed his sincerity for compromise. No matter what the others said, Zhang Tie was clear that there was no real heavenly knight or semi-sage knight in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. He might be advantageous for one or two times; however, Sacred Light Empire had a much deeper background than the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Additionally, the pope of the Sacred Light Empire was a real heavenly knight. The Sacred Iceland Kingdom couldn't maintain its long-term advantageous position in the wrestle with Sacred Light Empire. Now that the opponent would like to compromise, Zhang Tie would seize this opportunity for sure.
As Zhang Tie had a good card for the time being, he would make the greatest profit for Sacred Iceland Kingdom while diffusing the threat from Sacred Light Empire. Otherwise, even if they returned to Taixia Country, they would not be reassured as Sacred Light Empire would always cast greedy eyes on Ice and Snow Wilderness. In this case, they didn't need to be deadlocked. If Zhang Tie was too soft; the opposite would engulf Sacred Iceland Kingdom completely; if he was too hard, those crazy guys who had been brainwashed by Sacred Light Church could do anything. The best way was to inflict heavy losses on the opponent and save the opponent's face at the same time.
After hearing Zhang Tie's words, Astor's eyes turned bright. Actually, Astor's mission was not easy. As for Sacred Light Empire, Sacred Iceland Kingdom was just a tiny sesame. Ockham the jerk halos pastor of the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire and his subordinates created so many troubles only for such a tiny sesame. Finally, they ruined the reputation of the entire Sacred Light Empire; additionally, the pope might offend a heavenly knight or a semi-sage knight. Of course, the pope was irritated by what they did.
"In Sacred Light Empire, the halos pastors in each major parish had pretty great rights. They could make decisions on many issues. The expedition towards the Sacred Iceland Kingdom is not out of the original intention of the pope. It's definitely a pitiful mistake. Even our pope is very furious about this outcome!"
"I also believe in the foresight of the pope of Sacred Light Empire. I don't think he wants this fuss…" Zhang Tie said with a smile too.
Astor's words were true. The power of the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire indeed came from the eastern parish under the leadership of Ockham. Because the Sacred Iceland Kingdom was too small, such an expedition would almost not fail. Even if the pope knew it, he would absolutely acquiesce in the action of the eastern parish. However, the pope didn't wish to see it if this action failed.
"Ockham should be fully responsible for this event…"
"I also think so!"
"Sacred Light Empire will compensate for Ockham's mistake; however, our pope wants to know whether Ockham is still alive or not. If he's still alive, could Sacred Iceland Kingdom give him back to us?" Astor said while looking straight into Zhang Tie's eyes.
To confirm whether there was a heavenly knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom and bring Ockham back if he was still alive was one of Astor's missions.
Zhang Tie had long prepared for this question.
Zhang Tie shook his head as he said calmly, "I don't know whether Ockham is still alive or not. That day, Ockham displayed a powerful ability in crisis. He escaped away in a speed of about 8 times the speed of sound in the air towards the northwest of Ice and Snow Wilderness. He moved so fast that even heavenly knight couldn't catch up with him…"
After hearing Zhang Tie's words, Astor's eyes turned bright at once. Ockham grasped the secret method of life halos. Therefore, he could escape away from Saint Petersburg at such a high speed. Pope said that Ockham's flight speed was 8 times the speed of sound in the air. Only a couple of people in Sacret Light Empire knew this secret. Now that Zhang Tie said that Ockham could fly at such a high speed, he was definitely not telling a lie. Additionally, there must be a heavenly knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom; otherwise, Ockham wouldn't fly at such a high speed.
After escaping away from Saint Petersburg using his life halos, Ockham had not contacted the pope yet. Nobody knew whether he was alive or not. If not being severely injured by the heavenly knight, Ockham would never use this secret method. The northwest of Ice and Snow Wilderness was a vast, unpopulated ice-capped land, which was far away from the sphere of influence of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Therefore, it tallied with Ockham's thought in that case.
"I wonder about the heavenly knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom…" Astor asked carefully.
"He's a friend of mine. We got acquainted with each other in Earth-elements Realm. We're good friends despite the great difference in age. He's not famous and likes to be alone. He's entering a secluded cultivation somewhere in Ice and Snow Wilderness…" Zhang Tie said solemnly as if it was true.
After analyzing all the information that he received, Astor stretched out his hand while a scroll suddenly appeared in his hand. He put the scroll onto the desk and pushed it in front of Zhang Tie as he said sincerely, "This is a bit sincerity of our pope. His Majesty hopes that this gift could express that Sacred Light Empire is not ambitious about the territory of Sacred Iceland Kingdom and diffuse the misunderstanding between the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Sacred Light Empire…"
Zhang Tie opened the scroll and found that it was a map. The name of the map was the Fadillan Province of Sacret Light Empire, which was a piece of land in the southwest corner of the Western Continent. It was far away from Sacred Light Empire. Fadillan Province neighbored a country called Federation of Barbarians in the northeast. and another powerful Rhesa Republic on the Western Continent in the northwest. In the south of this piece of land, it was a coastline. On the map, this piece of land covered over 6 million square miles, which was almost half of that of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. However, it was definitely larger than that of Zhang Tie's Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory although it couldn't match that of Sacred Light Empire and Western Continent.
Zhang Tie looked up at Astor.
"This is an enclave that Sacred Light Empire acquired dozens of years ago. It's far away from Sacred Light Empire. Although being not large, it belongs to you from now on, Qianji Hermit…"
After watching Astor for a few seconds seriously, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Closely after that, he put away the scroll as he stretched out his hand and said, "As it's in the holy war, all the human countries could seek for peace commonly. Let the bygones be bygones…"
"Pah…" Astor clapped with a big smile.
…
After Astor left the garden of Summer Palace for less than half an hour, Zhang Tie had gained the information about this "gift" from Golden Roc Bank. The predecessor of Fadillan Province was Fadillan Empire on the Western Continent. Since Sacred Light Empire let Fadillan Empire "voluntarily merge into" Sacred Light Empire in various means and made the imperial households of Fadillan Empire have no offsprings 6 decades ago, this enclave had become Fadillan Province of Sacred Light Empire.
However, this piece of land was always in troubles over the past 60 years. The dignitaries of the former Fadillan Empire constantly opposed with the secret support of the Federation of Barbarians and Rhesa Republic. As a result, pastors and chief pastors of Sacred Light Church were always assassinated here. Even so, Sacred Light Empire still tried its best to maintain its ruling in this piece of land for the sake of face. That was to say, Sacred Light Empire had not completely ruled this piece of land. With this opportunity, Sacred Light Empire used this piece of land to pacify the conflict between Sacred Light Empire and Sacred Iceland Kingdom.
Zhang Tie didn't care about the intention of Sacred Light Empire. In Zhang Tie's opinion, this piece of land could work as his springboard and base to enter the Western Continent. What was more, over 600 square miles' land was not small? Although it lagged behind Western Continent economically, it was still much more prosperous than Ice and Snow Wilderness.
Zhang Tie really made a big fortune this time.
Being different than the fact that Ice and Snow Wilderness belonged to so many Slavic tribes. Zhang Tie gained this piece of land from Sacred Light with his own ability. He didn't use any force of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Sacred Light Empire also expressed that they would send this gift of Zhang Tie; instead of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Of course, this piece of land belonged to Zhang Tie's personal property.
Zhang Tie didn't care about the current situation facing Fadillan Province and whether he could rule this piece of land effectively. Now that Sacred Light Empire had gifted him this piece of land, legally, Zhang Tie and his descendants would be the owners of this new piece of land. Nobody could replace them. As long as he wanted it, he could take over this piece of land in a justifiable way whenever he wanted.
On the same evening, Zhang Tie had called in all of his lovers and kids in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Like holding a family party, he showed that map and the corresponding certificates left by the special envoy of Sacred Light Empire to those kids as he told them, "Andre is your eldest brother; therefore, I leave Sacred Iceland Kingdom to Andre. When you grow up, if you want any land, this piece of land on the Western Continent belongs to you. It depends on you how much could you take. If you couldn't even safeguard what I left to you, stop thinking about others. Just live your steady and leisure lives!"
Alexander and the other kids couldn't fully understand Zhang Tie's words. However, Zhang Tie's women exchanged a glance with each other as they nodded. Zhang Tie had too many kids, as the moms of these kids, they should consider about the future of his own kid.
…
After becoming reconciled with Sacred Light Empire, Zhang Tie stayed in Saint Petersburg for 1 more month.
Although those women and kids would still come back after returning to Taixia Country, they should make a long-term plan. They had a lot of things to deal with in Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago. They should take some people away. It would take them about 1 month to deal with all the things.
On May 9th, at Zhang Tie's request, Gold and Power Law directly drove a heavenly cloud-class airboat to the Summer Palace of Saint Petersburg. When the airboat arrived, all the people across the Summer Palace were gathering in the square and watching the huge airboat to slowly decline.
The heavenly cloud-class airboat was customized by Gold and Power Law for Zhang Tie. Given its speculations, it was on the same class with that of the military commanders and the elders of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. The airboat that Zhang Tie won from Taiyi Fantasy Sect was also a heavenly cloud-class airboat, which could rank top in luxury and specifications.
Of course, this airboat aroused a shock in Saint Petersburg once again. Few people across Ice and Snow Wilderness had seen such a huge airboat, not to mention taking a ride in it. Not only Zhang Tie's lovers and kids, but even the members of the Cardinal Elders Committee also visited it.
This airboat was Zhang Tie's new Iron-Dragon Airboat.
After the iron-dragon airboat arrived at Ice and Snow Wilderness for 1 week, Zhang Tie left for Taixia Country with his lovers, kids and the other relevant personnel…
During the month when Zhang Tie was in Ice and Snow Wilderness, the severest crisis since the beginning of the holy war broke out in Taixia Country…
Chapter 1252: The Great Catastrophe Facing Taixia Country (I)
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Ninghe Prefecture was a big prefecture in Yanzhou Province. Because Ninghe River flew across this prefecture, this prefecture was called Ninghe Prefecture. After the surging Ninghe River flew by Yanzhou Province, it made two convolutions on the southeast part of the vast land of Yanzhou Province like an undulating huge dragon, each convolution covered over 1,000 miles. After that, the surging Ningheriver turned winding and headed for the east like a masterpiece and a splendid landscape work of a painter.
Tender wind and winding river both benefited Ninghe Prefecture a lot. The great convolutions of Ninghe River irrigated thousands of miles' fertile land and led to the prosperity of the entire Ninghe Prefecture.
Ninghe Prefecture was called the Granary of Yanzhou Province. The entire Ninghe Prefecture was famous for its grains across Youzhou Province, Northeast Military Region, even across Taixia Country. Xuanyuan Hill would assign officials to purchase the best grains from Ninghe Prefecture every year for the dignitaries in the Emperor's Imperial City and the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill.
The Ninghe River and the fertile black earth led to Ninghe Liquor, one of the top 10 liquors in Taixia Country.
Ninghe Liquor was brewed by the fall wheat in Ninghe Prefecture. The fall wheat in Ninghe Prefecture was sowed in late September and became ripe in late May. When it came to the bumper harvest, the entire land of Ninghe Prefecture would be covered with endless golden color. The return of the earth brought hope to many people.
Previously, in each late May, when the fall wheat became ripe, a lot of airships and airboats would arrive at Ninghe Prefecture. Of course, they were not here for reaping ears of wheat, but for enjoying the scenery.
Sitting in the airships or airboats, travelers would watch the vast land being paved with a golden carpet. When the breeze blew over, the golden carpet would undulate like sea waves, which became a wonderful scenery.
At this moment, some airboats were suspending over a piece of a wheat field in the main producing area of Ninghe Prefecture. However, being different than those in the past years, these people were not here for enjoying the scenery. Hundreds of people were standing on one side of the golden wheat field in different colors such as green, red, purple and blue.
Green, red, purple and blue represented different ranks in Taixia Country. All the big figures in northeast military region headquarters, Yanzhou Provincial Governor's Mansion and Ninghe Prefecture were here. Such a grand reunion could be barely seen in normal times except for the banquets held by the commander-in-chief of northeast military religion. Commander-in-chief always held banquets; however, today, they all reunited on one side of the wheat field in Ninghe Prefecture.
Although the breeze blew over with the faint heat of early summer at noon, the place where they stood almost froze. Many officials especially officials in Ninghe Prefecture looked poor as their legs shivered. The sweat on their backs and their temples made their uniforms wet all over.
Nobody dared utter any voice; even the Yanzhou provincial governor clenched his fist as he stood on one side of the wheat field with a cold look.
The commander-in-chief looked like an experienced old farmer. He squatted down as he stretched out one hand and broke a handful of ears of wheat. Closely after that, he opened all the hulls of the ears of wheat by rubbing them. There was nothing inside the hulls, not even a single wheat. Commander-in-chief clapped his hands, having the handful of wheat hulls fly away lightly in the breeze.
He broke other ears of wheat and got the same result.
All the ears of wheat were empty.
Watching the handful of wheat hulls flying away in the breeze, some officials felt that it was their bodies and souls that were broken by the hands of the commander-in-chief.
With a sound of "Dong", a grey-haired official in class 8 uniform passed out as he fell down onto the ridge between wheat fields with a red face and closed eyes.
If it were in normal times, the other officials had long swarmed up to look after him; however, at this moment, nobody dared move or even have a smooth breath.
At this moment, if the commander-in-chief was irritated, many officials' heads would be chopped off, not to mention passing out.
The commander-in-chief stood up as his face turned darker and colder. All the people at present sensed a great killing intent from Commander Cheng's frown.
Commander Cheng took in a deep breath as he glanced around those officials and asked calmly, "Where's Liu Yuntao the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture?"
"This humble man is here!" After hearing Commander Cheng calling his name, a 60-year old official who looked loyal and honest quivered a bit before walking out of the crowd and bowing deeply towards Commander Cheng.
"Do all the ears of wheat in Ninghe Prefecture face the same problem?"
"Yes…all…all of them…" The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture quivered once again as he answered.
"What about the loss?"
"This year, Ninghe Prefecture plant 111,955,950,000 square meters' wheat in total. As the soil in Ninghe Prefecture is fertile, plus the irrigation of Ninghe River, the wheat fields in Ninghe Prefecture always have a high yield. We could usually produce 920 kg per mu. We lose over 154 billion kg's wheat this year…" Although the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was intense, he could still report the relevant data easily.
Ninghe Prefecture was a big farming prefecture. The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was previously a farmer. After being promoted to a farming official, he was favored by Zhu Tong the Yanzhou provincial governor and was finally promoted to the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture. Of course, he was very familiar with agriculture.
"Over 154 billion kg's wheat. It's almost one year's grains for 400 million people…" Commander Cheng let out a deep sigh as he looked at the quivering magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture for a short while before asking in a kinder voice, "As you were a farmer, you excel at farming works. In your opinion, can the autumn grains this year and summer grains next year be guaranteed in Ninghe Prefecture?"
After hearing this question, the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture's face turned pale at once as he looked up at the other officials at present before stammering, "I…I don't know…"
Commander Cheng's eyes turned serious at once as he said, "As the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture, you don't even know this, what a good-for-nothing!"
The magistrate answered with a bitter look, "This…this is really not under my control…"
"Why?"
"This humble man dare not say that…"
"Just say it!"
The magistrate gritted as he raised his head at once and said, "Now that Commander Cheng allows me to say it, I will put it straightforwardly. This year, Ninghe Prefecture's agriculture is good in all aspects such as fertility, farming season, climate, tillage, irrigation and insects and disease prevention. In normal times, it should be a bumper harvest like usual. However, the wheat failure is too severe and special. Given its scale and severity, it's definitely not caused by ordinary plant pests or the weather and the fertility of the soil. There's only one reason, namely all the wheat in Ninghe Prefecture have been demonized. Only demonized plant seeds could lead to such a large-scale crop failure!"
All the people at present listened to his explanation quietly, including Commander Cheng. Therefore, the magistrate said loudly with a red face regardless of any outcome.
"The seeds of fall wheat in Ninghe Prefecture don't come from only one clan. Many seeds were preserved by farmers themselves. In this case, they could still sow the demonized seeds unconsciously, it indicates that the farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture might have long been contaminated by demonized seeds dozens of years ago. Only after generations' constant contamination and dissemination could cause such a large-scale crop failure. If it is real, not only the summer crops this year, the farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture would not produce any other grains in the future!"
Commander Cheng's face turned black as ink as he said, "What about using pure seeds?"
"Commander Cheng, as you know the seeds' genes have been contaminated. Take this piece of farmland as an instance, If demonized seeds were planted on its neighborhood; even if the seeds in this farmland were pure, these pure seeds' next generations would also be contaminated by the demonized genes of those neighboring demonized seeds through pollen dispersal between crops, farming tools, transport vehicles even the same water source and the same soil. Besides mutual contamination between plants, after humans or animals had those demonized grains, those contaminated genes would stay in farming fertilizers. Through fertilizers, they would contaminate the farmland for the second time. Therefore, after being contaminated by that, even a pure farmland would face a crop failure." The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture revealed a bitter smile as he continued, "Given the current situation facing Ninghe Prefecture, if this demonized contamination had sustained for several decades, the 111,955,950,000 square meters' farmland which suffered from a crop failure probably have been contaminated completely, including the soil and the water source. If so, the future grain yield would never be guaranteed."
"Do we have any method to wipe out the pollutant source?"
"If it was in lab, all the materials should go through inactivation treatment before being taken out of the lab in case of gene pollution and flow; all the demonized plants should be burned in the lab, even the soil in the lab should be steamed at high temperatures in boilers before being taken out of lab. Therefore, unless all the soil across Ninghe Prefecture were steamed in boilers…"
Chapter 1253: The Great Catastrophe Facing Taixia Country (II)
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
'Are you kidding me? Steam all the dozens of billions of square meters' soil in a boiler so as to eliminate the contamination of demonized plants? Who could do that? I've not heard that any brick kiln could hold dozens of billions of square meters' soil in Taixia Country.'
After hearing the magistrate's words, all the officials at present swore inside; however, nobody dared burst out into laughter or refute him. Because the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was undoubtedly an agricultural expert. Nobody else at present knew agriculture better than him. Liu Yuntao might be like a bookish; however, Commander Cheng couldn't doubt Liu Yuntao's authority even though he was a shadow knight.
However, after hearing Liu Yuntao's words, Commander Cheng's frown grew deeper.
"You mean, Ninghe Prefecture as the granary of Yanzhou Province would not only suffer from a wheat failure this year but also from a constant failure in the future even if pure seeds are sowed here…"
"The gene contamination and flow caused by demonized plants would not only cause gene change of near-source species; in the worst scenario, the entire ecological environment would change structurally. Take these farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture as an instance, demonized grains not only cause crop failure. As these demonized grains root in soil, they could cause severe impact and a major change to the microbial system in the soil. As a result, the specialties of the soil would be changed…"
Commander Cheng waved his hand to interrupt the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture impatiently as he asked straightforwardly, "Just tell me whether the fertile soil in Ninghe Prefecture could produce any grains in the future?"
The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture gritted once again as he nodded forcefully, "Yes, they will. However, the yield would be reduced. These high-yield farmlands might be low-yield farmlands and couldn't recover the high yield until dozens of years later…"
"As Ninghe Prefecture is suffering from a summer wheat failure, what's your countermeasure as the magistrate of Ninghe prefecture?"
"Burn them!"
"Burn them?"
"Yes, as there's no yield, these ears of wheat are not qualified to be reaped. In case of greater contamination, we'd better burn them all. After that, the ashes could serve as fertilizers. Through careful tillage, as long as the next batch of grain seeds are pure, we will have a harvest more or less!"
"Good, burn them then…"
"However, as the entire Ninghe Prefecture is suffering from summer wheat failure. All the people in Ninghe Prefecture are in a state of anxiety. If we want to recover the fertility of the farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture, we need to invest more into it. This humble man sincerely expects Commander Cheng to exempt this year's taxes for Ninghe Prefecture. Additionally, please deliver farming loans to farmers in order to make people reassured in case of other concerns. Furthermore, please open the top 6 warehouses of class A cities within Yanzhou Province and deliver pure grain seeds to the farmers. In this way, I promise that all the farmers of Ninghe Prefecture would put their full efforts in farming work sincerely…"
The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture proposed three suggestions.
"Well, I will exempt 3 years taxes for Ninghe Prefecture. 3 years later, the taxes of Ninghe Prefecture will be halved. Additionally, the northeast military region headquarters will allocate 20 million gold coins to Ninghe Prefecture…" Commander Cheng said after hesitating slightly for less than a second. If not on his side, perhaps nobody could discover his hesitation at this moment, "As to the other suggestions, as you wish!"
"Thanks, Commander Cheng!" The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture bowed deeply towards Commander Cheng as he said generously, "If so, if Ninghe Prefecture's fertile land still suffered from such a crop failure 3 years later, this humble man would like to commit suicide for that!"
"No need to commit suicide, just do your job at your full efforts!" Commander Cheng said. After that, he threw a glance at the official who had passed out and fallen onto the ridge between fields before waving his hand and sending an order, "Carry him away and cure him. Given his age, he's not suitable to serve as any local official in Ninghe Prefecture. After he wakes up, let him resign and return home."
"Yes!"
"Let's go…" Commander Cheng said as he flew off towards his airboat which was suspending in the sky, followed by some attendants. All the attendants were knight-level officials in the northeast military region headquarters.
"Bon Voyage, Commander Cheng…" All the other officials in Yanzhou Province and Ninghe Prefecture below said as they saw Commander Cheng flying away. As Commander Cheng didn't kill anyone to have them assume the responsibility for this crop failure, many officials had let out a deep sigh inside. However, it was just a temporary relaxation. Looking at the large-scale crop failure, everybody was in a low mood.
"Now that Commander Cheng has sent the order, let's do it…" Zhu Tong the Yanzhou provincial governor finally opened his mouth…
…
Zhu Tong was silent just now because he was also in a low mood.
Zhu Tong had already guessed why Commander Cheng didn't lose his temper here today. Because Ninghe Prefecture was not the only place that suffered from a large-scale crop failure. Most of the top 100 crops production places in Taixia Country suffered from similar large-scale crop failures. This summer harvest was in an unprecedentedly worse situation. 80% of all the other places across Yanzhou Province suffered from the same crop failure.
Even idiots knew that agricultural production which was concerned about the stability and lifeline of Taixia Country was facing a big problem. It could be confirmed from the prices of the crops in the latest 2 months. The crops' prices across Taixia Country had increased by two times in April and May. All the major clans had started to stockpile grains. Official grains were put into the market. Additionally, major clans were limited to purchase grains. As a result, the prices of crops were stabilized slightly.
Taixia Country was facing a big problem in agriculture. Of course, this problem was closely related to Han Zhengfang the former finance minister, Heavens Reaching Church and demons. Any smart one could understand the cause and the effect.
However, the storage of official grains was limited. If the farmland across Taixia country couldn't produce any grains, the official grains in military regions and prefectures couldn't stand too long.
'As one of the top 9 ministers in Taixia Country, Han Zhengfang surrendered to demons. How many fatal plots have Han Zhengfang set in Taixia Country over these years?' Zhu Tong felt chilly inside the moment he thought about this.
…
——Hope no more problems in the future.
Liu Yuntao the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was also restless. 'After the summer harvest, according to farming season and customs, soya beans should be sowed in the most part of farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture in late June. If these soya beans suffered from a failure too…'
Liu Yuntao dared not think about it anymore. 'If such a situation really cropped up, the farmers in Ninghe Prefecture would reap nothing after one years' hard work. If so, before demons arrived, Taixia Country would be in a large-scale chaos…'
Liu Yuntao only expected that the soya beans in the top 6 warehouses in class A cities had no problem.
…
The officials started to leave the ridge. After receiving the order, the soldiers started to burn the ears of wheat in the farmlands.
…
Only after a few minutes, before the Cheng Honglie's airboat left Ninghe Prefecture, heavy smoke had risen from the farmlands below within 1,000 miles…
The flames were at most higher than 10 m. However, the smoke was heavy. Looking down from the airboat, they found the farmlands were covered with smog by lots.
Standing in the airboat, Commander Cheng frowned as he watched the rising smoke. When the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture mentioned about using the stored grains in the top 6 warehouses in Taixia country, Commander Cheng hesitated slightly. Because he was not sure whether the stored crops in the top 6 warehouses of class A cities in the northeast military region were safe or not.
The grains in the top 6 warehouses in class A cities couldn't be stored forever. When they reached the corresponding time limits, they would be replaced by new grains. Otherwise, those grains would go bad. If Han Zhengfang and demons determined to demonize grains in Taixia Country, now that the grains across Taixia Country were demonized unconsciously, it was hard to say those grains in the top 6 warehouses across Taixia country were safe although the process for entering warehouses was very strict.
'Demons and Three-eye Association clans had demonized human grains before the Catastrophe. As long as humans ate demonized grains for a long time, they would be infertile, weak, sick and be inflicted by various incurable diseases. This point could be discovered from the epidemic data collected by those hospitals. Taixia Country could make and have made preventions and countermeasures about that; however, each time, demons could use the same trick to have Taixia Country as a whole suffer from crop failure in a specific period, sparing no time for Taixia Country to make any response and early-warning to it. Besides making Taixia Country run out of grains, they also destroyed the fertile land in Taixia Country. What a vicious plan!'
Commander Cheng let out a deep sigh inside.
Although demons had not arrived, Taixia Country had been chaotic. Xuanyuan Hill was missing; the crown prince was acting as regent; the catastrophe of bloody figures across Taixia country had not been pacified; the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church had not been exterminated; Taixia Country's agriculture faced a big problem. In the past half a year, the prices of grains had been roaring; the housing prices in cities started to skyrocket; major clans across Taixia Country started to build high city walls and expand their private armies in the name of exterminating bloody figures. All this indicated that Taixia Country was going to be in big chaos.
The moment he thought about this, Commander Cheng would be worried…
…
"Commander, we've inspected Gaozhou Province, Mozhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Provine, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province. Where do we go now?" Gao Tianqi the assistant of Cheng Honglie drew Commander Cheng back from his train of thoughts.
"We've not been to Youzhou Province yet. Have you received any message about Youzhou Province these days?" Commander Cheng turned around as he asked Gao Tianqi calmly.
"Youzhou Province has started its summer harvest. They're not severely affected by demonized grains. It's said that only two prefectures in Youzhou Province suffered from crop failures. Yanghe Prefecture and the other prefectures in Youzhou Province even have greater yields than previous years. As Commander Cheng was busy patrolling across northeast military region these days, you might have not heard that. This humble man heard a shocking news about Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory from one of my friends recently!"
��Is that about Fiery Oil or Zhang Tie's romantic affairs in the subcontinent?"
Speaking of Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng's tone turned strange. Gao Tianqi remembered that when he said that Zhang Tie came back to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory with a lot of wives and kids from the Sacred Iceland Kingdom in Waii Subcontinent a few days ago, Commander Cheng replied with a cold harrumph in his study as he replied, "Naive!". Commander Cheng still seemed to be dissatisfied about Zhang Tie as the latter only cared about his own family. However, Commander Cheng couldn't stop Zhang Tie as Zhang Tie was not an official of Taixia Country anymore.
"Ahem, ahem, it's neither about Fiery Oil nor Qianji Hermit's dissolute affairs in the subcontinent!"
Gao Tianqi pretended to cough twice. Although Commander Cheng could call Zhang Tie's name directly, as a black iron knight, it was improper for Gao Tianqi to call a legendary earth knight who was famous across Eastern Continent and Western Continent like what Commander Cheng called. When Zhang Tie served as the Youzhou provincial justice, Gao Tianqi might be able to call Zhang Tie's name directly; however, he couldn't do that now. Only after a few years, the man who had met him a few times and was on the same footing with him before had grown increasingly powerful. Gao Tianqi didn't even know what he felt at this moment. When he mentioned about Zhang Tie, Gao Tianqi would unconsciously recall the scene that Zhang Tie squatted down on the riverside outside Youzhou City and washed tableware. A powerful black iron knight traveled with his family by touring care and was responsible for washing tableware. Nobody else might believe in it. It was definitely a fairytale. Gao Tianqi had not washed tableware since he was born, whether at home, in the sect or on the side of Cheng Honglie.
"It's said that Qianji Hermit the master of Iron-Dragon Sect took out a great treasure that he gained from Earth-elements Realm a few days ago. It's called bloody sacrifice furnace. One could improve his cultivation base and cure his incurable diseases and wounds by sacrificing bloody figures in the bloody sacrifice furnace. Only in a few days, the bloody sacrifice furnace has aroused a shock. Due to the existence of the bloody sacrifice furnace, the prices of bloody figures across Youzhou Province and Tongzhou Province rose amazingly and are in short. Many major clans across Youzhou Province and Tongzhou Province have assigned more manpower to hunt for bloody figures alive. Someone even purchase bloody figures at high prices. Being allured by such a high profit, bounty hunters across Youzhou Province and Tongzhou Province are all in action…"
Commander Cheng turned around immediately. Looking at Gao Tianqi, he suddenly asked, "What do you think about Zhang Tie…"
After hearing Cheng Honglie's question, Gao Tianqi took in a breath before replying calmly, "Commander, you might not know that, this humble man has met Qianji Hermit outside the city before we met Qianji Hermit in Youzhou Province. When this humble met Qianji Hermit, he was squatting down and washing tableware on the riverside beside an army ranch!"
"What? Squat down and wash tableware on the riverside?" Commander Cheng asked with an amazed look as if he felt that Gao Tianqi was joking. A knight would wash tableware? Neither Gao Tianqi nor Commander Cheng had ever done that since they were born.
"Yes, he was. Qianji Hermit was driving a new touring car and traveling in Youzhou Province with his parents, wives and kids. They traveled all the way towards Youzhou City. At that moment, Feng Cangwu and I were trying horses in the military ranch. When we came to the riverside, we saw Qianji Hermit. At that time, we didn't find that teenager who was washing tableware on the opposite side of us was a powerful black iron knight. Over these years, the scene when I met Qianji Hermit for the first time always appeared in my mind and reminded me that I should treat people and things in ordinary mentality. After these years' experience, I feel making a great improvement in my mental realm. I feel that Qianji Hermit grasps mysterious earthshaking skills although he looks average. He's definitely qualified to be Qianji Hermit. I really admire him…" Gao Tianqi said solemnly.
After hearing Gao Tianqi's comment about Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng's eyes gleamed as he said, "Go to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory…"