Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie was also shocked by Elder Muray’s bayonet-charge.

Elder Muray moved very fast; however, Zhang Tie also had a quick response. He dodged from the first strike by retreating 300 m away in a split second.

"Elder Muen, have you also forgotten that I wanted to add sugar to the Top Quality Wild Spring Tea from Eastern Continent in the airship outside the Heavens Cold City?" Zhang Tie roared towards Elder Muen, instead of explaining it to Elder Muray.

Only Zhang Tie and Elder Muen were at present when this happened. Additionally, such a detail could be barely known by others.

"Brother Muray, wait for a second!" Elder Muen urged.

The moment Zhang Tie finished his words had Elder Muen flashed towards Elder Muray as fast as a lightning bolt and stopped him.

In such a short period, Zhang Tie had dodged three strikes from Elder Muray; however, he didn’t launch any counterattack at all.

Zhang Tie felt that Elder Muray was just a bit better than that knight who chased after him. Elder Muray’s true trump card was his brilliant huge bow, which was suitable for long-distance fight most.

"You believe him?" Elder Muray’s face turned completely purple, which looked pretty majestic, "How come Zhang Tie became a knight at such a young age? This demon is obviously disrupting and mocking our Huaiyuan Palace!"

"The drinking details, a few years ago outside Heavens Cold City, could hardly be exposed to the public!" Elder Muen watched Elder Muray with a solemn look.

"However, it’s possible. With some secret skills, people could easily get one’s memory. If Zhang Tie fell into the hand of that demon, it’s not strange for the demon to know the details..." Elder Muray urged as he slowed down.

"If it’s a real shadow demon, we can cooperate to kill it after a short while. He won’t escape!"

After hearing Elder Muen’ words, Elder Muray finally stopped. However, he was still glaring at Zhang Tie as if he wanted to see what other tricks could this shadow demon play.

Zhang Tie just suspended about 50 m away from the other two Elders.

"How can you persuade us that you’re Zhang Tie?" Elder Muen asked Zhang Tie calmly.

Zhang Tie smiled, "Have you forgotten about it, Elder Muray? You’ve already identified my status in the Ancestral Bloodline Palace of Clansmen Pavilion with bloodline crystal. As you might feel that I’m disguised no matter what I say now, why not identify it once again? I can wait here. You can go back to get the bloodline crystal; I can also follow you in the Clansmen Pavilion. No matter what, it’s not far from here!" Zhang Tie pointed at the location of the Clansmen Pavilion below his feet.

After hearing Zhang Tie’s answer, even Elder Muray became stunned. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be such straightforward. If Zhang Tie was really a disguised one, how could he be so confident? In front of the bloodline crystal, any disguised person would expose his original look. Shadow demon could disguise as Zhang Tie. Some people could get Zhang Tie’s memory through some secret skills. However, bloodline heritage could never be disguised.

After exchanging a glance with each other, the two elders nodded slightly and tacitly. After that, Elder Muray stayed here; Elder Muen turned around and flew towards Clansmen Pavilion as fast as a lightning bolt. In the knight’s speed, it only took him a couple of minutes to come and go. Even if Zhang Tie was the Demon General, Elder Muen believed that Elder Muray could also stand a couple of minutes’ fight with Zhang Tie.

Soon after Elder Muen left, watching Zhang Tie waiting for him back with a calm look, Elder Muray finally couldn’t help but ask with a dubious look, "You...you’re really Zhang Tie?"

After letting out a sigh, Zhang Tie watched Elder Muray calmly, "Elder Muray and I met in the Ancestral Bloodline Pavilion for the first time. As we have our own persistence, I made you unhappy at that moment. However, I could also sense Elder Muray’s concern about me when I was chased by the demon knight. I have to extend my thanks to Elder Muray!"

After saying it, Zhang Tie deeply bowed towards Elder Muray.

Zhang Tie didn’t tell Elder Muray that he had witnessed how Elder Muray killed Koz, the head of Senel Clan. As he was in the incarnation of a beetle, it would be hard to explain about it.

After hearing the two relevant events, Elder Muray’s snowwhite eyebrows jumped one time as his aggressive qi instantly relieved.

"I know your doubt, Elder Muray. As I was chased by the demon knight, I was forced to jump into the subterranean river before you arrived. The watercourse of the subterranean river was very complex. Thankfully, I had a good diving skill which was formed when I was in Hidden Dragon Island. I had a chance to survive myself in the subterranean river. However, I was taken into an underground space by the subterranean river, where I had a marvelous experience and promoted to a knight within 1 month!"

Elder Muray now looked a bit relieved. However, before Elder Muray said anything, Elder Muen had already returned from the Clansmen Pavilion with the bloodline crystal in his hand.

Elder Muen directly threw the bloodline crystal towards Zhang Tie, "Now that you’ve used it, you should know how to use it!"

Watching the crystal which radiated a fantastic brilliance with a drop of blood roiling inside, Zhang Tie directly pierced his finger with the tip of the crystal, having his fresh blood drop onto the crystal.

When the blood inside the crystal met Zhang Tie’s fresh blood, the bloodline crystal instantly radiated the glow, brightening hundreds sq m, making it like an afterglow. The crystal even floated in the sky weightlessly.

When the crystal radiated the glow, it indicated that this person was the offspring of the Lord Huaiyuan. The crystal floating in the sky indicated that the drop of fresh blood entering the crystal truly came from the knight.

At the sight of this scene, Elder Muen and Elder Muray were both surprised and excited as their eyebrows and mustaches both raised.

Realizing that someone on the ground had paid attention to the glow radiated from the bloodline crystal, Elder Muen waved his sleeve and put away the bloodline crystal before saying, "Go back to the Ancestral Hall first!"

Zhang Tie then followed the two elders towards the Ancestral Hall of Huaiyuan Palace.

It was Zhang Tie’s first time to go to Ancestral Hall. After arriving at the terrace outside the Ancestral Hall, Zhang Tie then followed them in a magnificent hall.

At the end of the Ancestral Hall, there was an over 20-m high huge metal statue, which was heroically drawing open a crossbow towards the gate of the hall. There were many huge pillars as high as dozens of meters and as wide as 3-4 m in the hall. Some huge purple gold-copper cauldrons were standing in the corners while burning a special whale oil. Without causing any smoke, the burning oil released an exotic fragrance that made people reassured. The power, wealth and family background of Huaiyuan Palace were all exhibited in the hall.

The moment Zhang Tie caught sight of the characters " 怀远堂 1 " above the metal statue had he known that this man was Zhang Huaiyuan, the founder of Huaiyuan Palace and his direct ancestor.

At the foot of the huge statue were over 20 rows of more than 10,000 memorial tablets in total that were tidily and solemnly placed in stages. Beneath these tablets was a worship desk. In the middle of the worship desk was a piece of huge, pure, transparent black crystal as high as almost 1 m.

Everything here was very solemn and majestic.

Zhang Tie just watched the ancestral tablets and the statue of his ancestor silently. He then moved forward and took 3 sticks of incenses from the worship desk and lit them.

"Zhang Tie, apprentice of Huaiyuan Palace worships ancestors. I hope you could safeguard Huaiyuan Palace, keep it prosperous forever and keep my parents safe and happy for the rest of their lives. Please let me shoulder the diseases, aging, sorrows, pains and all the disasters for my parents!"

After saying that, Zhang Tie reverently knelt down and kowtowed three times before inserting the incenses into the incense burners.

Elder Muray and Elder Muen had long heard that Zhang Tie was extremely obedient to his parents. When Zhang Tie’s family lived in Blackhot City, they were poor. Zhang Tie’s mother sold rice brew to make up his father’s income at the price of 2-3 copper coins per bowl. Zhang Tie liked to eat rice brew very much. However, after 4 years of age, he didn’t eat anymore. When his family members asked why, he said he didn’t want to take too much as he knew his parents were working too hard. Later on, when Zhang Tie’s family returned to Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie then saved his father out of the prison using a "Mental Arithmetic by Abacus". After that, Zhang Tie invented all-purpose medicament and became the pillar of the whole family. Although he could make too much money per day, he still didn’t complain about his parents at all; instead, he always disguised as a naive kid to please his parents.

As all these things about Zhang Tie were too trivial, of course, the two elders would not pay attention to them until Zhang Tie had 3 outstanding sons.

Listening to Zhang Tie’s prayer, the two elders felt emotional. As an old Hua saying went, parents were the pillars of a family. If there was an obedient son in a family, the family would naturally be surrounded by fortune qi and always have good lucks. Even if the whole family was in a dilemma, they could still get rid of it due to bliss. As Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang were both obedient sons, although their family had just returned to Huaiyuan Palace from Blackhot City a few years ago, their family lived better one year after another. After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie made Zhang Clan even the entire bloodline of Golden Sea City of Huaiyuan Palace prosperous. With one more knight, Huaiyuan Palace also became more powerful. Being obedient counted most in Hua culture. What a simple truth!

Watching Zhang Tie finishing his prayer, Elder Muen had Zhang Tie take a seat and wait for a few seconds. After then, he pointed at a golden jar with a narrow neck while a strand of battle qi flew out, causing a muffled sound. At the same time, Zhang Tie felt a bizarre strength spreading in the hall like ripples.

"Elder Muen, what’s that for?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.

Elder Muen and Elder Muray had long changed their attitudes utterly. After exchanging glances with each other with a smile, Elder Muray opened his mouth, "This is used to transmit sound. As long as it utters a sound, all the other elders of Zhang Clan will receive the signal through their jade chips. Closely after that, they would arrive as soon as possible."

"Isn’t it as same as remote-sensing crystal?"

"Almost like that. However, remote-sensing crystals are natural born which could only be used in a pair. However, the sound-transmitting jar and jade chips are alchemist’s objects, many of which could be used at the same time. Besides, they are limited to a distance. They could only resonate, instead of transmitting too many messages like remote-sensing crystals!"

Zhang Tie nodded. He had not imagined that he could see such a marvelous object in Huaiyuan Palace.

"Your affair counts most. After Elder Muyu and Elder Muan arrive here, you’d better explain it to them!" Elder Muen added.

Besides Elder Muyuan, Zhang Tie’s 6th granduncle who had gone to the Eastern Continent, the rest 4 elders were in Huaiyuan Prefecture.

"Alright!"

At this moment, Elder Muray, although being bad-tempered, was also sitting quietly and waiting for the arrival of the other two elders. As it was a big event for Zhang Clan, the rest two elders in Huaiyuan Prefecture had to know about it.

...

After 10 minutes, Elder Muen saw Zhang Tie moving his ears. Heart racing a bit, he then asked.

"You’ve sensed that too?"

"I feel that an elder is 50 miles away from here. He’s flying at his full speed while releasing his powerful battle qi!"

Having not imagined that Zhang Tie had already completely stabilized his realm of knight, Elder Muray and Elder Muen glanced at each other out of amazement, ’Those who have not stabilized their realm of knight could never be that sensitive to a knight’s qi. One could not stabilize his realm of knight until he promotes to knight for 10 years at least. Although one person might have a chance to promote to a knight rapidly, one could never save time in stabilizing his realm of knight...

The two elders both faintly guessed something.

...

Only after a few more minutes, Zhang Tie heard a sound outside the Ancestral Hall, when the elder landed outside the hall and walked in.

"Zhang Tie..." That elder exclaimed at the sight of Zhang Tie with an amazed look.

"Brother Muan, Zhang Tie came back, let’s talk about it later when Elder Muyu arrives!" Elder Muen uttered.

Each elder had reached an extremely deep level in mental and physical cultivation. At that moment, although Elder Muan was amazed, he directly became quiet and took a seat.

After sitting down, at the sight of Zhang Tie’s easygoing look, Elder Muan abruptly felt something as he drew in a breath, ’Zhang Tie’s qi could almost match that of the other two elders’ qi, has he...’

Elder Muan looked at Elder Muray, who slightly nodded towards him.

A few minutes later, Elder Muyu arrived.

After all the 4 elders arrived, they all moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.

...

"The task that I accepted from the Allied Force Command was a trap. Senel Clan had long known that I would make an investigation in Tokei City, therefore, they arranged some powerhouses and high-level wing demons to wait for me in Tokei City. Soon after arriving at Tokei City, I had been discovered by some high-level wing demons. In the battle with wing demons, my glider dropped off. I was then captured by Koz, the head of Senel Clan..."

"What happened later, you might have guessed. Senel Clan and Three-eye Association wanted me to serve them. I refused. They then sullied me in dirty means. Finally, Senel Clan wanted to make me succumb to them by locking me in a castle outside Tokei City.

"I didn’t succumb to them. Instead, I found a chance to escape out of there. Due to some special reasons, after escaping from the territory of Senel Clan, I recovered and improved my battle force during a period. Later on, I returned to Selnes Theater of Operations. At that moment, Selnes Theater of Operations had been broken through by demons. Therefore, I just followed the demonized puppets corps all the way to revenge them from Selnes Theater of Operations, the Symbian Republic to Norman empire!"

"However, I failed to find such a chance. The demonized puppets covered everywhere in the camp. I even didn’t know where were the family members of Senel Clan. Later on, the demonized puppets corps suffered a great loss in Nein City, causing a great chaos in the demonized puppets corps. After hiding in the chaotic demonized puppets corps for 2 months, I still failed to find the trace of Senel Clan. Therefore, I left Norman Empire for Upton City!"

"After that, I met a familiar person Tharant in Upton City, a young elite of Arthur Clan, another clan of Three-eye Association. After following Tharant for a few days, I found a conspiracy that he was planning in Upton City. He wanted to coordinate with the demonized puppets corps to close the south gate in the north of Kalay Mountain Range."

"After that, I sent the discovery to my elder brother..."

"Later on, the Upton battle broke out. You all knew what happened then. I was chased by a demon knight and finally jumped into the subterranean river to escape. However, I was led into a mysterious underground space, where I found a huge pyramid being made of crystals. Being shocked, I walked inside unconsciously..."

When Zhang Tie said this, all the other elders exclaimed, "Ahh? Tower of time?"

Elder Muray almost stood up as he asked, "What happened then?"

Zhang Tie shrugged and said with a helpless look, "Honestly, it happened a long time ago. The moment I entered the pyramid had the demon knight arrived. As he was far away from me, he failed to catch me timely. I thought I was going to die as there was no way to escape. However, it was unimaginable that the demon knight could not follow me in the pyramid. He could not open it no matter how forcefully he attacked the pyramid from outside. Therefore, I became a bit reassured!"

Listening to this, all the other elders nodded inside, ’It’s true. Tower of time could only allow one person at one time. Now that Zhang Tie had entered it, the demon knight could never enter it, neither could the Demon General. Zhang Tie was really lucky enough.’

"As the demon knight was waiting outside the pyramid, I dared not go out. In the beginning, I thought I was destined to die inside the pyramid as there was no food in it. After staying in the pyramid a few days, I didn’t feel like hungry or thirsty at all. As it was open inside it, I then started to cultivate inside there!"

"I didn’t know how long have I stayed in the pyramid. I remembered that I was almost driven mad by the loneliness for a few times. However, when I remembered that demon knight was right outside the pyramid, I forced myself to constantly cultivate until I entered a tranquility. I forgot about the existence of time and the demon knight. I just cultivated and cultivated until one day I felt being a bit hungry. I then walked out of the pyramid, when I found that I had promoted a to knight..."

"Ahh? How long have you stayed in the tower of time?" Elder Muen asked.

With a serious frown, Zhang Tie shook his head helplessly before letting out a deep sigh, "In that state, I forgot how long had I stayed inside. I felt that I had stayed inside for my whole life. It was too long..."

Of course, Zhang Tie lied. If he told them that he had promoted to a knight only after staying in the tower of time for 15 years, the elders would definitely burst out clamor as they would be further curious about his cultivation methods and chance. As it was too short for commoners to promote to a knight in only 15 years, Zhang Tie just let them think about it themselves. After all, according to Jaray, different towers of time had different time velocity. Even though Huaiyuan Palace wanted to figure out how long had he stayed in the tower of time, they had to wait another 6 decades at least. By then, it didn’t matter even if they knew that ZhangTie had promoted to a knight in 15 years.

The elders exchanged glances with each other out of amazement...

They all knew that Zhang Tie hid some secrets purposefully such as how he escaped out of the prison of Senel Clan and how he increased his battle force so fast. Now that Zhang Tie skipped them, nobody forced him to say that then.

If a king didn’t keep his secret, he would lose his country; if a chancellor didn’t keep his secret, he would lose his position; if a shi didn’t keep his secret, he would lose his life. In this world, everybody had their own secrets. Even the roadside billboards had a hidden side, not to mention a person. All the elders of Huaiyuan Palace had their own secrets which they didn’t want to expose to the public. Therefore, they didn’t ask Zhang Tie about the details that Zhang Tie covered purposefully. It was also unnecessary. There were only two points that counted most. Zhang Tie was a member of Huaiyuan Palace; he had promoted to a knight.

"Do you remember the location of the tower of time? When will the tower of time open again?" Noticing everyone else become silent, Elder Muan finally posed the questions that all the other elders were concerned about most.

"Hmm, I’ve made marks all the way out of there. The tower of time should open once again in 6 decades..." Zhang Tie pretended to rack his mind as he frowned, "When I left the pyramid, a message occurred to my mind. After leaving the underground space, I remembered the message, it said that the pyramid would open 60 years later!"

After hearing Zhang Tie’s reply, all the elders let out a sigh.

"What other questions do you have?" Elder Muen glanced at the other 3 elders before asking.

After exchanging a glance with each other, all the other elders shook their heads.

"If so, from today on, our Huaiyuan Palace will have one more clan elder, the only one who has promoted to a knight before 25!"

Zhang Tie became stunned at once, ’What? Clan elder...’