Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie saw Zuoqiu Mingyue and Ye Qingcheng in a room at the top of the huge pyramid-shaped building in the middle of Xuanyuan Fortress. It seemed that the 2 people were waiting for Zhang Tie.

Through this room at the greatest altitude, Zuoqiu Mingyue and Ye Qingcheng could overlook all the 11 advanced bases in the entire Xuanyuan Fortress through the huge crystal French windows which carried the strong alchemical qi.

White clouds arrived outside the windows leisurely at their foot. Ye Qingcheng and Zuoqiu Mingyue had been fixing their eyes onto Zhang Tie since Zhang Tie entered the room.

“Commander-in-chief, commander...” Zhang Tie instantly made a military salute to the two people soon after he entered the room after glancing over the room. The two people were respectable from both cultivation base and military exploits. Although Zhang Tie didn’t know about their moral standings, he felt they should be better than Feng Yexiao at least.

When Zhang Tie gave a military salute to them, he especially paid attention to Zuoqiu Mingyue who was known as the Military God in Taixia Country. Given his look, Zuoqiu Mingyue was just an elegant, hale old man like an immortal being. His qi as a whole was calm. If not the special uniform that was specially designed for top 3 counselors of the state, nobody could believe that this person was the Military God of Taixia Country, the commander-in-chief of numerous soldiers in Taixia Country next to Emperor Xuanyuan.

Of course, Zhang Tie knew that was just his superficial look or a supreme realm of simplicity. However, if anyone felt that commander-in-chief was such a calm and plain old man, that would be totally wrong. When Zhang Tie caught sight of the wall behind Zuoqiu Mingyue and Ye Qingcheng, his eye light suddenly froze.

There was a specimen on the wall behind the two people, which was the head of an ox horn demon. The change of demon knight’s cultivation base would be reflected on their own bodies. After promoting to a heavenly knight, ox horn demon would have one more horn in the middle of their forehead. The head belonged to a 3-horn heavenly demon knight.

There was even a faintly grim and painful look before his death on its face.

It was Zhang Tie’s first time to see a specimen of a heavenly demon knight’s head in an office. Therefore, he was shocked more or less.

“It’s a demon prince. It was brutal and killed so many human knights in the 2nd holy war; additionally, it liked to chop off human knights’ heads and hang them on the wall for collection and appreciation. Therefore, I chopped its head and hung it on my wall. Only in this way could we frighten demons!” Zuoqiu Mingyue opened his mouth as he pointed at a location in the room as if he had sensed that Zhang Tie was gazing at the head of the heavenly demon knight on the wall, “Take a seat...”

“Commander-in-chief is really mighty and admirable. This really raise people’s morale!” Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Zuoqiu Mingyue as he took a seat frankly.

“Blackwater Base have already figured out why you were ambushed by Gao Tianzhao. Among the knights from Northeast Military Region in this base, You Dazhong the clan head of You Clan in Mozhou Province is a mole of Heavens Reaching Church. He leaked the intelligence that you have a mount and your traces to the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church after you came to the Western Theater of Operations. You Dazhong has been cleared secretly. You Clan in Mozhou has been confiscated. As we don’t want to make people in the base flurried, we won’t make any notice to the public. Now that you’ve come back, I should be responsible for you!” Ye Qingcheng said.

“Thanks, Commander Ye, Heavens Reaching Church has penetrated into our party so deeply that we could barely defend them!”

“Therefore, most of the military exploits for clearing moles in the base should owe to you this time. If you’re not meticulous and don’t provide us the clues, I’m afraid that bigger troubles would be aroused in the future if You Dazhong continued to lurk in Blackwater Base!” Ye Qingcheng let out a sigh too, “Oh, how did you discover that Go Tianzhao would ambush you in the underground space and survive his ambush?”

After hearing Ye Qingcheng’s question, Zhang Tie started to depict what he experienced at that time. In front of Ye Qingcheng and Zuoqiu Mingyue, Zhang Tie admitted that he had grasped animal controlling skills. However, he didn’t tell them that he had lotus-flower eyes. Through meticulous probe, Zhang Tie discovered the traces of Gao Tianzhao. Alchemist’s bomb was also a method that Zhang Tie adopted to keep himself safe in a hopeless situation. After getting injured and leaving the mountain cave, Zhang Tie flew off Helan Mountain with the help of thunder hawk. After that, he started to recover his injuries in a hidden place. Although Zhang Tie didn’t tell them where did he recover his injuries, now that he appeared in Xiangshan Prefecture, Wuzhou Province for the first time lately, the listeners must think that Zhang Tie didn’t have the thunder hawk fly back to Huanzhou Province, but have it fly to a mountain region in Xiangshan Prefecture, Wuzhou Province out of the imagination of Gao Tianzhao and those demon knights.

Zhang Tie was telling the truth in details. Nobody could find any fault in his words. Even though those demon knights and Gao Tianzhao were here, it was hard to say Zhang Tie’s depiction was wrong. Because Zhang Tie was telling true. However, nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie had body separation skill. His secret skills were also amazing. Finally, he could defeat Gao Tianzhao easily by the secret skill of King Roc Sutra.

After hearing Zhang Tie’s words, Ye Qingcheng and Zuoqiu Mingyue exchanged a glance with each other before nodding inside at the same time. Zhang Tie’s depiction was completely consistent with the information that they got through investigation later on. Although nobody else saw Gao Tianzhao chasing Zhang Tie out of the mountain cave and Zhang Tie escaping away by thunder hawk, like how Zhang Tie could find that mountain cave by animal controlling skill, the tracing professionals assigned by Blackwater Base and Xuanyuan Fortress could also restore what happened at that time using animal controlling skill too.

“Did you see Gao Tianzhao any more from then on?”

“At that time, Gao Tianzhao chased after me very hurriedly; however, he didn’t catch up with me in the end. After that day, I’ve not seen Gao Tianzhao in the western theater of operations for over 2 months!” Zhang Tie was telling the truth. Zhang Tie spoke very carefully facing two powerful figures because high-level knights might grasp some unpredictable lie testing skills. If he told a lie in front of them, they might be able to sense it. In fact, Zhang Tie’s reply was true. If he didn’t add “in the western theater of operations”, he was telling a lie; if he added “in the western theater of operations”, he wasn’t telling a lie. Zhang Tie saw Gao Tianzhao in his Castle of Black Iron since then instead of in the western theater of operations. “Why do you ask me about this? Commander Ye?”

“The knights in Xuanyuan Fortress and the 11 bases might not have known that for the time being. But we’ve got the concrete information. The remnants of Heavens Reaching Church being wanted by Taixia Country have long escaped to Yezhou Province, a barren province in the west of Taixia Country. They were hiding in secret places over there. Soon after demon’s vanguard arrived, those remnants of Heavens Reaching Church had jumped out and started to coordinate with demons to occupy cities and land. A couple of days ago, the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church have already established a puppet regime in the region occupied by demons called Heavens Reaching Empire. Strangely, as Gao Tianzhao had the supreme position among the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church, he should definitely be selected as the puppet emperor; however, it was Gao Zeji the son of Gao Tianzhao who ascended to the throne. Gao Tianzhao didn’t show up at all...”

After hearing this news, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded. It was not strange that the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church hid in a barren province in the west of Taixia Country. Even Lancang Palace of Bloody Soul Temple could be discovered in the volcano being so close to Xuanyuan Hill, not to mention the western border of Taixia Country. If the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church really wanted to hide here, it was really hard to find them.

Actually, Zhang Tie had guessed that the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church being wanted might be hiding in some hidden place of Peacewest Military Region 2 months ago when he caught sight of Gao Tianzhao. However, it was really out of Zhang Tie’s imagination that Heavens Reaching Church could found a puppet regime openly and select an emperor. Because such a situation didn’t happen in the former 2 holy wars at all.

However, after thinking about it carefully, it was reasonable. Because Heavens Reaching Church which inherited the doctrine of Bloody Soul Temple excelled at confusing people, controlling and enslaving commoners. The remnants of Heavens Reaching Church needed power, liquors and beauties; demons wanted to consume the strength of Taixia Country and Hua people and have Hua people fall apart into pieces by killing each other. Therefore, the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church and demons made cooperation.

The same tactic had been used in the history of Hua people for many times. In the history of Taixia Country, all the invaders would finally play off one group of Hua people against the other by means such as differentiation, bribery and threat, assisting traitors, cultivating various ambitious people and agents and having Hua people separate from inside through mutual animosity and carnage for the purpose of ruling, enslaving and eliminating Hua people. Given the large population and land area, if they attacked Hua people blindly, they could only make Hua people more consolidated; however, if they cultivated some agents and puppet lackeys, they could realize the maximal destruction at the lowest price. It was similar to the tactic of leaving one exit while surrounding the other 3 exits of a city.

There had not been such cunning and delusive guys among Hua people for many years. Now that Heavens Reaching Church founded Heavens Reaching Church with the assistance of demons, it meant that the entire Heavens Reaching Church had completely abandoned the bound and foundation of Bloody Soul Temple and stood on the opposite of Hua people and Taixia Country. No matter what Bloody Soul Temple did at that time, it was still one of the top sects in Taixia Country and didn’t separate Taixia Country openly and deteriorate to the lackeys of demons.

“Heavens Reaching Church’s traitors are seeking for death...” Zhang Tie said resentfully while gritting his teeth...