Castle of Black Iron

If Zhang Tie had not fully recovered, he could ignore the black invitation cards aboveboard. However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the fact that he had fully recovered in the Dongtian and carried out a performance with Yun Zhongzi inside there provided a chance for the three top sects to attack him.

The honor and fame of Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace didn’t belong to Zhang Tie alone. Therefore, Zhang Tie would not do anything to ruin the fame of Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace, as which would turn those people on his side into a laughingstock.

After looking at Zhang Tie, Mr. Fang sighed inside as he thought Zhang Tie didn’t understand at all, saying, “Superficially, the black invitation cards indicate that the three top sects are going to end the animosity between you and them. In fact, they have long been intervening with the war for the throne of Taixia Country by choosing the third prince or the ninth prince for usurping the throne. Because you root for His Majesty, you became sore in their eyes. Therefore, they want to defeat you. Although His Majesty doesn’t know which prince is the three top sects colluding with, he’s already been investigating it. We would get the answer soon.”

‘I knew the existence of Imperial Alliance by accident; however, Mr. Fang could catch the secret behind the even of the delivery of black invitation cards from the three top sects through speculation. The royal prince really has a subordinate powerhouse!’

As Zhang Tie thought, he revealed an amazed look as if it was his first time to hear that news, saying, “You mean there’s a war for the throne of Taixia Country behind this event?” Zhang Tie performed so vividly that even Mr. Fang couldn’t find any loophole from his performance.

“Right, therefore, the event of black invitation cards is not your personal affair. The so-called black invitation card is neither an imperial decree nor a law. To be honest, it’s just an unwritten folklore rule between sects in Taixia Country. If immortal could stand it and give way to it this time, even though you’re mocked, you would regain your respect one day. As a hero, you should be flexible. You should bear the humiliation of passing one’s crotch sometimes, not to mention such a bit of trouble. When immortal promotes to a heavenly knight or a sage-level knight, you would be unrivaled. Immortal, as you’re free to make the choice, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion wouldn’t want to attack you…”

Zhang Tie watched Mr. Fang calmly, asking, “His Majesty wants me to escape?”

“Not escape; just evade its sharpness for the time being. Similarly, when two armies were fighting, when the enemy outnumbers our party, it’s great for us to fight them like an animal in a cage; however, it’s also wise for us to judge the current situation and evade their sharpness. His Majesty regards immortal as his good master and friend. In this case, His Majesty doesn’t want immortal to be involved in the conflict with the three top sects, nor does he want immortal to be in danger; therefore, he sent me here to persuade immortal!” Mr. Fang continued, “As long as immortal agrees to leave for the time being, His Majesty would deal with the rest for you!”

“I wonder how His Majesty plans to deal with the rest for me.”

“First, the result of the investigation about the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect would be a piece of His Majesty. If immortal leaves, His Majesty has his way to frighten the three top sects using this case!”

“What else?” Zhang Tie asked Fang Qingming with interest.

“His Majesty has a daughter who’s 16 years old. His Majesty loves her pretty much. His Majesty knows that immortal has three sons in Heavenly Fortune Sect who’re all getting mature. Therefore, His Majesty would like to marry his daughter to one of your sons. By then, Zhang Clan of Jinwu Palace would be the relatives of the royal prince. Even though immortal leaves Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace for the time being, the three top sects dare not do any harm to Iron-Dragon Sect or Jinwu Palace!”

Zhang Tie was really shocked by the second trick of His Majesty. To marry the daughter of a prince was always a big deal, not to mention that of the royal prince. According to the rule, when the royal prince ascended to the throne one day, it was equal to marry the daughter of the will-be Emperor Xuanyuan, which would have a great influence. As long as Jinwu Palace became the relative of the royal prince of Taixia Country, it would be unrivaled across the country.

Zhang Tie didn’t answer him immediately; instead, he just watched Mr. Fang with a smile, saying, “Is the royal prince sure that I couldn’t win the combat 100 days later?”

After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Mr. Fang took out a beautiful case out of the void. There was a bizarre piece of black crystal in the case on which hung a small symbol by a golden wire.

Mr. Fang then gave the case to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie took the piece of crystal as he found it was like secret knowledge crystal; however, it was a bit heavier. One end of the crystal was covered with mithril, on which were the runes of master-level consolidating skill. The runes could prevent the crystal from being destroyed. The symbol and the golden wire were tied to the mithril through a small hole.

Zhang Tie saw three lines of tight, decent and clear words on the symbol.

The first line was——Pavilion 360, Building Mou, Departure Secret, Treasures and Rune Items Center, Imperial Palace of Emperor Xuanyuan, Taixia Country.

The second line was——The Combat of Taiyi Old Man in the Deities Region, Earth-elements Realm on the 763rd year of Black Iron Calendar.

The third line was——Sage-level Knight’s Aiding Strength, Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Real Sun Flame.

At the sight of the words, Zhang Tie had known that it was a classified file collected in the Archives of the imperial palace in Taixia Country. ‘Mr. Fang might take it here at the request of His Majesty.’

Like reading a secret knowledge crystal, Zhang Tie penetrated his spiritual energy into it. Closely after that, he saw a dynamic picture in his mind as if he was watching a film before the Catastrophe.

The picture was vivid as it was from a person’s angle of view——It’s a flight at a high speed; actually, it’s more like a chase. Because Zhang Tie saw another figure wrestling with the main character at the same high speed. After flying across tens of thousands of meters in the air, the strong sword qi missed its target and finally struck against the ground, causing a huge ravine as long as thousands of meters, despite it could move thousands of meters in a split second in an overwhelming manner.

Watching such great battle strength, Zhang Tie was full of excitement and shock.

Given the anxious look of the one in the latter, Zhang Tie found it was a demon; given its battle strength, Zhang Tie confirmed that it was a sage-level demon knight.

Of course, the one in front of it was also a sage-level knight. After evading one stroke from that sage-level demon knight, the main character rubbed his hands, causing a thunder-like rock in the air. At the same time, numerous, dense starlights besieged the demon knight behind him before striking it like tens of thousands of meteors.

Meanwhile, the sage-level demon knight used a full moon to confront with those meteors.

A heavy explosion was dazzling within 0.001 seconds. Flying starlights, 360-degree rolls, earth-shaking wrestles, strikes and collisions.

The scenes changed so fast that commoners would definitely feel dazzled at the sight of it. Even ordinary knights might not catch up with its speed.

Except for Zhang Tie; instead, Zhang Tie just felt a bit thirsty as it was combat between sage-level knights.

The two sage-level powerhouses wrestled and moved fast. Only after a short while, they had flown over thousands of miles and entered another battle region.

With the move of the angle of view and attention in the picture, another picture appeared, enlarged and was focused on…

It was an old sage-level human knight in silver hair and gloomy face. He was fighting a sage-level demon knight in the air. At the same time, a heavenly demon knight was flying towards the battle region from hundreds of miles away. When the old man was focused, he suddenly gave out light. Closely after that, the entire sky became crimson like a furnace. In the crimson, the sage-level demon knight and that heavenly demon knight were flying back at pretty high speeds. Additionally, the elements realm appeared having been broken beside the old man as numerous berserk fire elements were pouring out like halos and storm, rocking the entire space. Even the angle of view from hundreds of miles away rocked two times out of control…

After the halos of fiery elements rolled over, the sage-level demon knight instantly released a shrinking black light curtain, which wrapped it like a huge cocoon. Zhang Tie knew that the light curtain was a performance of sage-level realm.

The fire element didn’t stop pouring down. Element storm was just the first round of strike. Fire element constantly gathered and finally realized a qualitative change. Closely after that, a burning blue sun appeared behind the sage-level human knight, whose high temperature appeared to be able to twist the space…

The sage-level human knight pointed at the heavenly demon knight was escaping away over 60 miles away. Almost at the same time, the heavenly demon knight gave out a dazzling light as he had already been caught by three blue flames.

The heavenly demon knight released its protective battle qi in vain. Facing the blue flames, even its protective battle qi caught fire along with his black outfit and zigzag weapon.

The heavenly demon knight cried miserably as it shot into a bizarre, green lake. However, closely after that, it flew out of the green lake while still burning all over. It then hit itself against a mountain range and penetrated through the cliff. However, the flames didn’t die out either…

The sage-level human knight in silver hair and gloomy face threw a cold glance at the escaping sage-level demon knight while flickering his eyes.

The entire process only took a few seconds; although it was hard to describe.

The picture was still rolling. After a few minutes’ wrestle, the angle of view finally caught the heavenly demon knight who had been caught by three blue flames. However, it had already deteriorated into burning ash on the ground…

The picture then turned into dark.

Zhang Tie exited his spiritual energy from that piece of crystal with a great shock as he asked, “What’s this…”

“As long as one promotes to a sage-level knight, he would be able to duplicate what he see in form of this kind of crystal for the sake of memory. It records the scene that an employed sage-level human knight in the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill saw in the Earth-elements Realm. Less than 10 people could see this scene. Additionally, the items in the Treasures and Runes Items Center are forbidden to leave the imperial palace. However, His Majesty let me hand it to you, immortal!” Mr. Fang said calmly as he gently shook his feather fan. After that, he took a cup of tea and had a sip. At the same time, his frown relieved as a shocking look flashed by. He glanced at the teacup for two more times before transfixing onto Zhang Tie, saying, “Immortal, what you watched just now was the power of the aiding strength of Taiyi Old Man of Taiyi Fantasy Sect; it’s called Real Sun Flames. We’ve received the intelligence that the three top sects would recommend a sage-level knight to fight you. The one who was recommended is Taiyi Old Man. Immortal, do you think whether you could escape safe and sound facing such a sage-level knight…”

Closing his eyes, Zhang Tie knocked at the table, sending the room into an absolute silence at a stroke. A few minutes’ silence was as long as a few hours.

The tea water tasted special. Therefore, Mr. Fang couldn’t stand having a few more while waiting for Zhang Tie’s decision.

After a while, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes. He stopped knocking at the table as he pressed his hand onto the table, saying, “Please tell His Majesty, Zhang Tie extends his sincere thanks to His Majesty and would pay for His Majesty for sure. However, now that his opponents have come for him by force, it’s hard to avoid it; Zhang Tie would not retreat!”

Mr. Fang watched Zhang Tie with a bit dumbfounded look as he saw Zhang Tie’s unwavering decision and will from his eyes…

…

Half an hour later, Mr. Fang boarded on the airboat with five kgs’ tea leaves produced especially in Iron-Dragon Sect. Meanwhile, he felt confused, ‘Why didn’t Immortal Qianji scare when he saw Taiyi Old Man displaying his aiding strength?’

It was the first time for Mr. Fang to feel confused about someone. Zhang Tie had become a hot, hard mist in his heart…