Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie stayed in Xujia Village for 1 day.

In that day, his 53 LV 9 apprentices indeed caught 6 alive bloody figures within 35 miles under the leadership of Liu Xing, Zhao Bing and Wu Yinhui.

When the 6 bloody figures were caught back, their limbs had been broken. As a result, they could only move their heads. Plus the 6 live bloody figures, Zhang Tie caught 8 live bloody figures in total.

After the rescue force arrived from Xingyu City, the raging flames in Xujia Village were soon put out. The clean-up jobs in Xujia Village also sped up.

Only 83 of the 769 people of Xujia Village survived the one night massacre and raging flames, including those who were severely wounded. All the others had been killed or burned to death. Some kids were even eaten alive by bloody figures.

Xujia Village had completely become ruins.

The rescue force from Xingyu City was led by a border region general surnamed Lu. After confirming what happened in Xujia Village, General Lu instantly passed the situation here back to Xingyu City, which shocked the entire Xingyu City and its surroundings.

Xujia Village and Xingyu City were located in Shanghe Prefecture of Mingzhou Province, which neighbored Longxi Prefecture in Zhongzhou Province. However, the distance between Pingsha Valley, Longxi Prefecture and Xujia Village and Xingyu City was over 1,400 miles.

Only after a few days, the bloody figures that rushed out of Pingsha Valley had already exited Zhongzhou Province and influenced over 700 miles.

Although these bloody figures couldn’t influence those well-prepared big cities, they could cause a great catastrophe to rural areas outside the city walls for sure.

There were numerous small villages like Xujia Village which were far away from prosperous big cities in Taixia Country. However, not each small village like Xujia Village could have a LV 10 strong fighter like Xu Yian on their back. Generally, most of the young men above LV 6 would leave these small villages and make a living outside instead of staying in their own villages. Very few people would like to stay in the small villages after reaching LV 9. Therefore, such a small village could become ruins overnight by 10-20 bloody figures.

As Zhang Tie, an earth knight, was here in Xujia Village, who had saved so many people, both General Lu and those bounty criminal hunters who jumped off the passing airship by rotachutes came here to see Zhang Tie respectfully.

Zhang Tie gained much first-hand news from General Lu and those bounty criminal hunters.

Longxi Prefecture in Zhongzhou Province was growing more chaotic. It was safe inside big cities. After learning lessons, all the big cities had been ready for combat while heavy forces were patrolling across the cities around the clock. Due to the appearance of bloody figures, many places outside the cities were in greater chaos. Those bloody figures had scattered in terms of smaller teams and were attacking villages, towns, traffic arteries and railways at any time. Additionally, they were scattering like an epidemic virus, causing people to become nerve-wracking.

Lately, bloody figures had appeared in the Shanghe Prefecture of Mingzhou Province. They started to cause troubles everywhere. After receiving the notice, the garrisons across Shanghe Prefecture had been strengthening the vigilance at the same time within 130 miles around Xingyu City. It was the utmost effort that Xingyu City could do. However, nobody could imagine that the catastrophe happened in Xujia Village. It was beyond Xingyu City’s grasp. Therefore, the garrisons of Xingyu City couldn’t find the problem timely. They didn’t dispatch rescue force to Xujia Village until they received the message sent from the airship that passed by Xingyu City. But it was still too late.

Because of the event in Zhongzhou Province, all the major cities in Taixia Country were in strict vigilance. Even airships that parked in these major cities for supplies had to be inquired.

General Lu extended his thanks to Zhang Tie’s righteous deed. Additionally, he expressed that he would provide every convenience to Zhang Tie within his ability when Zhang Tie passed Xingyu City.

The general paid a formal visit to Zhang Tie in the morning; at noon, some bounty criminal hunters also arrived.

Starting from Li Butian and Yang Zhigang, Zhang Tie had a good feeling about bounty criminal hunters in Taixia Country. In Zhang Tie’s opinion, Taixia Country was too large. It contained various elements. The bounty criminal hunters in Taixia Country were like white cells in the body of Taixia Country and the woodpeckers in woods. Bounty criminal hunter was an unnecessary link of the entire ecosystem of Taixia Country. These bounty criminal hunters performed as a very positive role. When the government and the judicial system of Taixia Country couldn’t solve something, they would always have the nongovernmental forces in Taixia Country deal with it. The profession of bounty criminal hunter combined the chivalrous spirit with its legal system in Taixia Country and served as an equilibrium point. As an important security force in Taixia Country, bounty criminal hunters cooperated with the Supreme Court. By serving as bounty criminal hunters, cultivators could make money and improve their battle strength. It was very not bad for both cultivators and the government of Taixia Country.

Because of this reason, Zhang Tie received those bounty criminal hunters without putting on his airs at all.

From those bounty criminal hunters, Zhang Tie knew that the Supreme Court and all the Buildings of Brightness across Taixia Country had already officially offered a reward for killing bloody figures in Zhongzhou Province.

The reward that Buildings of Brightness could provide was very high. The head of a bloody figure could be easily exchanged for 5,000 gold coins.

5,000 gold coins’ reward for one LV 9 bloody figure. This reward was much greater than that for many LV 9 criminals. As for many bounty criminal hunters above LV 10, it was nothing different than gifting them money.

Being stimulated by such an alluring reward, all the able bounty criminal hunters converged in Zhongzhou Province from all directions.

Before those bounty criminal hunters paid a formal visit to Zhang Tie, they had heard that Zhang Tie caught two alive bloody figures. Therefore, they wanted to take a look at the bloody figure so that they could easily identify them. After hearing this request, Zhang Tie immediately showed the two alive bloody figures to them in the prison of his airboat.

Given their looks, it was hard to distinguish them from commoners. However, the bloody figures had two very special features. First, they didn’t speak; second, their eyes contained bloodlines, which looked a bit grim and very special. Actually, people could identify bloody figures through their eyes...