Castle of Black Iron

It was pitch-dark and quiet in Zhang Tie’s cell. In the darkness, the time flew by; especially for a knight, two days flashed by…

Darkness drove away brightness while silence shielded uproar. In darkness and silence, the images in Zhang Tie’s mind became increasingly clearer.

Burning corpses of Hua civilians…

The mother who was burned to death with her baby…

Numerous whines…

Endless blood penetrated through the ground in the west bank of Weishui River as if it was going to flow out of the floor of the guardhouse. After reaching Zhang Tie’s instep, it kept going upward as it almost made Zhang Tie suffocated.

It was the quivering remote-sensing finger rings that Zhang Tie carried that broke this sense of suffocation. In the beginning, those remote-sensing crystals in the finger rings started to quiver one after another. In the end, all the remote-sensing finger rings that Zhang Tie carried were quivering constantly and repeatedly…

It was Zhang Tie’s first time to meet such a situation. The urgent, constant waves from the crystals in the remote-sensing finger rings shattered the images in Zhang Tie’s mind, drawing him back to the reality as he raised his head in the bloody darkness.

Zhang Tie knew that something crucial must have happened outside.

In this case, Zhang Tie contacted Zhang Yang first, “Elder brother, what’s up…”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Zhang Tie, why…”

“Where’re you?”

“I’m in Ningzhou Province!”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m okay…”

“I’ve just received the news that you were ambushed and killed by a heavenly wing demon knight when you inspected Anxi City, Xinglin Prefecture, Military Province. You scared me…”

“Tell our parents that I’m fine. I’m very good…”

“Okay. Take care of yourself. Don’t loaf outside recently. Your safety comes first. If you got hurt, what about our parents…”

Zhang Tie finally knew what happened. His stunt was inspecting Anxi City, Xinglin Prefecture, Military Province under the arrangement of Zuoqiu Mingyue. Zhang Tie had not imagined that demons could assign a heavenly demon knight to ambush and kill him.

After finishing the contact with his elder brother, Zhang Tie instantly injected his spiritual energy into 10 more remote-sensing finger rings and told them that he was safe and sound…

At this moment, Zhang Yang was not the only one who was gagging for confirming Zhang Tie’s existing situation. Zhang Tie’s family members in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, elders of Huaiyuan Palace, Bai Suxian, Feng Cangwu, Immortal Deyang, Lord Guangnan’s Mansion, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi, Zhang Tie’s disciples, Zuoqiu Mingyue, Agricultural Administration of Kangzhou Province, Pontiff Sarlin…almost all those who could contact Zhang Tie were hurriedly trying to contact him to confirm that he was safe.

Since Yan Feiqing defeated Zhu Qianqian, one of the four elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect a few months ago, she had been in closed cultivation for a secret method of Fantasy Lady Sutra. Therefore, she didn’t know what happened to Zhang Tie for the time being.

Feeling those vibrating remote-sensing finger rings, Zhang Tie was in a trance as he had not imagined that so many people were concerned about him. The moment he was “murdered”, the news had already spread over the country and made everybody intense. By contrast, 2 days ago the death of tens of thousands of Hua civilians outside the camp of demons seemingly didn’t arouse too much attention in the Western Theater of Operations.

However, the reality always went like that.

‘Which is more valuable, my life or the lives of tens of thousands of people?’ Zhang Tie retrospected…

At the same time, Zhang Tie realized that he couldn’t stay in the no. 46 air cavalry regiment any more.

…

When Zhang Tie was contacting those people who were concerned about him using remote-sensing finger rings, two human knights appeared outside the regimental headquarters of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment as fast as lightning bolts, driving those fighters which were on sentry duty dizzy.

“Where’s Xing Xiangtian, come out!” The moment they arrived, a black-faced knight had urged in a stentorian voice, regardless of the dumbfounded fighters outside the regimental headquarters.

After hearing that voice, Xing Xiangtian hurriedly rushed out of the regimental headquarters. At the sight of that black-faced knight, Xing Xiangtian instantly gave a solemn salute to him.

“General, I’m here…”

The black-faced knight was Wei Jingxian, the supreme officer of air cavalries in the theater of operations and the former Cheji General of Ningzhou Province. He was the immediate superior of Xing Xiangtian. All the independent air cavalry troops around the theater of operations were under his leadership. In usual days, Xing Xiangtian was not even qualified to meet Wei Jingxian.

As Wei Jingxian came here without any advance notice, Xing Xiangtian became dumbfounded as he didn’t know why would the general suddenly come here all of a sudden.

“I wonder whether a major called Zhang Tie came here for registration as the battalion commander of no. 46 air cavalry regiment a month ago?” Wei Jingxian asked urgently.

“Yes!” Xing Xiangtian nodded as he was shocked inside. He had not imagined that Wei Jingxian knew Major Zhang Tie. ‘Does Major Zhang Tie have any special background?’

After hearing Xing Xiangtian’s words, the two new arrivers seemingly let out a sigh of relief at once.

“Your excellency…” Wei Jingxian then looked at the silent knight on his side.

The moment Wei Jingxian opened his mouth, Xing Xiangtian had already realized that the other knight on Wei Jingxian’s side might have a higher position than Wei Jingxian. ‘Is that a shadow knight? My god! What a day…’

“Where’s the camp of no. 1 battalion? Lead us there!” The other knight said calmly as he threw a glance at Xing Xiangtian.

“Are…are you looking for Major Zhang Tie…” Xing Xiangtian asked as he scratched his head.

“It’s none of your business. Just lead us to Zhang…Zhang Tie!” Wei Jingxian stammered.

“But Major Zhang Tie is not in the camp of no. 1 battalion!” Xiang Xiangtian said. Soon after the two knights heard his words, they had widely opened their eyes and become intense. Xing Xiangtian hurriedly added, “Major Zhang Tie is in the guardhouse of the Law Enforcement Center of the regimental headquarters…”

“What, guardhouse?” The two knights became both stunned with splendid facial expressions.