Chapter 610: Being Framed
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
What was in front of Zhang Tie was a colorful dodger. On the top of that dodger was a shocking title——"Zhang Tie, Selnes Eagle Surrenders to the Holy Clan and persuades the allied human forces to give up resistance".
Below that shocking title was the introduction of Zhang Tie's event on surrendering to the demons along with some photos.
The introduction was wholly bullshit; however, the photos were real.
In the first photo, Zhang Tie was wearing a suit of brilliant clothes and sat in the same car with Scala.
In the second photo, Zhang Tie was standing on Scala's side and pointing at the distance.
The third photo was the distribution diagram of the allied human forces' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations.
In the first two photos, Zhang Tie didn't look like being forced at all due to the angle of the photographer. On the contrary, he looked intimate to Scala. Especially in the 2nd photo, standing together with Scala, Zhang Tie was watching the gravetower demons. The blurry background of the 3rd photo was that those human captives were queuing up to be swallowed by the gravetower demons in a miserable way. That photo reminded readers that Zhang Tie was like a leader of demons like Scala, which formed a sharp contrast with those miserable human captives.
To be honest, although Zhang Tie had stayed in Selnes Theater of Operations for such a long time, he had not seen the distribution diagram of the allied human forces' defense line so far; because it was classified. However, there was such a line "This distribution diagram of the allied human forces' defense line is what Zhang Tie gifts to the Holy Clan." in the remark of the third photo.
As Zhang Tie's battle strength was sealed and his ring of consciousness had already been taken away by Senel Clan, Zhang Tie didn't know that someone was stealthily taking photos of him using the telephoto lens from afar. The photo was real; however, under the fake background and introduction, it would easily arouse misunderstanding to others.
"What's that for?" Zhang Tie asked Scala icily.
"Yesterday, our wing demons troop had already distributed 300,000 dodgers like this across the Selnes Theater of Operations. Now, almost all the human soldiers in the entire Selnes Theater of Operations have already known that you've surrendered to us!" Scala explained casually with a smile, Therefore, you're not their idol anymore; instead, you've become a traitor being sworn by every human!"
Eyes turning red, Zhang Tie wanted to spring up; however, he was pressed forcefully back onto the chair and couldn't move at all.
Zhang Tie understood that Senel Clan had been planning this trick since the beginning. Both the recipe of all-purpose medicament and his status as Selnes Eagle were useful for Senel Clan. These b*stards had been thinking about making full use of Zhang Tie since they caught him.
——Needless to say, besides the first two photos, the diagram must be stolen away from the allied human forces by Three-eye Association's lackeys. However, Senel Clan used it to frame him. Zhang Tie didn't even have a chance to explain it at this moment.
Zhang Tie could imagine how those average soldiers in the defense zone of the allied human forces would respond when they saw these dodgers. The morale of the entire allied human forces would be severely weakened. When their idol and hero betrayed them in the most unacceptable manner, they would be disappointed, furious, frustrated and fully pessimistic about the future. They would further doubt the meaning of staying in Selnes Theater of Operations, even shake their battle will.
This was indeed a vicious trick, which both prevented him from returning to the allied human forces and gave a heavy blow to the allied human forces.
"Your trick will not come true. Such an insidious pattern could not cheat everyone!" Zhang Tie glared at Scala.
"Ha...ha..." Scala burst out into laughter, "Why would we have to cheat everyone. We only need half, one-third, even one-fourth of those average soldiers among the allied human forces to believe in it. If some people believed in it, and some people did not, they would have utterly different opinions and attitudes; thus, they would have conflicts and arguments with each other; the morale of the allied human forces would be weakened. As a result, they would not unite with each other tightly. That's what we want!"
Zhang Tie knew that these b*stards of Three-eye Association had been using these methods to alienate and estrange humans from thousands of years. Although the fact was unacceptable, Zhang Tie had to admit that these sc*mbags were really good at playing tricks.
Knowing that it was useless no matter how much he argued at this moment, Zhang Tie directly kept his mouth closed.
Scala watched Zhang Tie as he seemed knowing what Zhang Tie was thinking about. He then revealed a smile, "Even if you could return to the camp and base of the allied human forces, do you know what's waiting for you? You're facing the cruelest interrogation. Based on the experiences in the former two holy wars, as long as you encounter such an interrogation, your future on humans' side would come to an end, no matter what the result of the interrogation was. You would have to hide yourself forever or prove that you're loyal to humans on the battlefield at the cost of your life. Which would you rather choose?"
"Are you saying that I have no other choices but to surrender to you?" Zhang Tie asked icily.
"Right. That's our intention. After figuring out your current situation, I think you will make a wiser choice!" Scala put it straightforwardly, "You're just 20 years old. It's a very young age. You have not started your real social life yet. Wealth, power and beauties are all waiting for you. Are you going to give up all of these? The winner of this war is going to be us. As long as you surrender to us, you could even join Three-eye Association and become one of us. After this war, you can also be an owner of this new world. Don't you think it's good?"
Zhang Tie suddenly burst out into laughter, "I have to admit that you're really great. Your tricks are indeed impossible to guard against. However, you missed one point. You don't know what I want and care about at all. Do you think that I care about losing the honor of Selnes Eagle? Forget about that. That honor is nothing serious to me. As long as those people who care about me don't believe in your words, I don't care what other people think about me. This father is not the God, I don't need to concern about so many things."
"The honor of Selnes Eagle won't influence me at all. What you've framed me will not wound me either. I only need to follow my heart. As to my future, I don't need to follow others' order even in Huaiyuan Palace, not to mention other places; if I could really leave out of here, do you think that I would care about that motherf*cking future being rewarded by you or hide myself? Do you think that I will fall into your trap once again by attending the motherf*cking interrogation? By doing this, even if you completely separate me from the allied human forces, you will not cause any mental burden to me at all. Later on, I will still do whatever I want. Even if I recover my freedom, I won't prepare to go back to the allied human forces; neither would I worry about being framed by those b*stards in the allied human forces."
Just like how Zhang Tie had not imagined how they played those tricks, it was also out of Scala's imagination that Zhang Tie, at the age of only 20 could have such a transcendental thought.
In the eyes of Senel Clan, Zhang Tie was qualified as an elite with such a great honor at such a young age. People at such age would usually care most about honor, power and social status. However, Zhang Tie didn't care about that at all.
Actually, Zhang Tie was not transcendental; instead, he could be easily satisfied. When he was a teenager, he only dreamed of enjoying life while lying on gold coins, being accompanied by some beauties. He pursued for power; however, he was not immersed in it. If Zhang Tie was fascinated by power and social status, he should be in Ice and Snow Wilderness, instead of Selnes Theater of Operations.
Therefore, Scala's lure didn't affect Zhang Tie at all. "After all, I would not lack money by selling all-purpose medicament if I could leave out of here. As Linda, Beverly and Fiona had been pregnant, they would follow me for the rest of their lives. Perhaps, I could marry some more in the future. With enough beauties on my side, even if I have a very bad luck in the future, I would go to Eastern Continent and enjoy my life. Like what they always say, I would survive and die together with the other humans there. That life is rightly what I dream for. I don't care about motherf*cking future and social status at all."
"As I'm innocent, I don't care how destructive was Senel Clan's trick to the allied human forces. This is a war, a holy war between humans and demons. Both parties are doing their best to destroy the opponent; I don't need to feel guilty for the opponent's deeds. Additionally, I am a victim of the trick and have already made all my efforts for the allied human forces. Finally, I'm even framed by those b*stards of Three-eye Association in the management of the allied human forces. I don't have any moral burden at all..."
"If the allied human forces were defeated, it'd have nothing to do with me. In the words of Donder, it's the 'common undertaking' of the allied human forces."
After thinking through it, Zhang Tie became relaxed, instead of being angry anymore. He then stared at Scala like watching an idiot.
This is a real wrestle between him and Senel Clan. Zhang Tie knew that if he wanted to survive on, he could not be negative; instead, he had to take the priority. Although it was out of blades and blood, it was testing his will, intelligence, decisiveness and courage. If he was defeated on any of the above 4 aspects, he would die.
After hearing Zhang Tie's words and seeing Zhang Tie's strange smile, Scala's look gradually turned icy...
Chapter 611: Tenacious Bones
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Zhang Tie sensed Scala's fury from his icy eyes. However, he became more relaxed.
"Do you think that we dare not kill you?" Scala threatened Zhang Tie.
"Do you think that I expect to survive here?" Zhang Tie glared at Scala, "The only purpose for you to keep me alive is that you still want something from me; you want to use me to weaken the morale of the allied human forces. Will you keep me alive when you reach your target?"
"It seems that you understand everything!"
"I've witnessed many life and death situations; everyone will die, including me!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.
"How do you feel about your current life?" Scala changed his tone.
"Not bad. I have food and drinks here. I also have servants. Very few captives could enjoy such a special treatment!"
"Yup. Precisely, you're the first captive who could enjoy such a special treatment. At this moment, such a life in Tokei City is almost like living in paradise. It seems that good living conditions couldn't move you. Meanwhile, you have some misunderstandings about Senel Clan as you start to doubt our abilities. Usually, we will use another set of methods to open the mouth of the captives and make them docile to us. Do you want a try?" Scala revealed a frightening look.
"Pleasure!" Zhang Tie stared at Scala with crossed arms as he raised his mouth corners, revealing a sarcastic look.
Scala suddenly launched an attack as fast as a lightning bolt. Although they were 2 m away from each other, Scala instantly pointed at Zhang Tie's left chest with one finger.
Even If Zhang Tie's battle strength was not sealed, he still could not easily dodge away from such a super powerhouse's attack in such a short distance.
In a split second, Zhang Tie had sensed that the icy battle qi of Scala stabbed in his body through his left chest. Soon after that, the battle qi started to shoot around in his body like disordered icy blades...
Zhang Tie's face turned pale. In a minute, Zhang Tie's face had been covered with a thin layer of frost while blood ran out of his nostrils, being surrounded by icy, white vapor.
Scala watched Zhang Tie with a cruel look as his finger still rested on Zhang Tie's body, "How do you feel now?"
"Cool...very cool...like...like eating ice cream..." Due to the great pain, Zhang Tie's body quivered as he forced a smile on his face which was covered with a layer of white frost, "That's all you Senel...Clan could do?"
Scala frowned as Zhang Tie's tenacity was out of his imagination. At this moment, Zhang Tie's suffering was very clear. The Icestar battle qi of Senel Clan could cause a LV 12 pain in one's body. It was almost as painful as delivering a baby. He could never imagine that Zhang Tie could bear it.
"Do you want something sharper? Fine, I will show you!"
As Scala said this, his eyes revealed cold lights. Meanwhile, the battle qi that raged in his body shrunk into a bundle of needles which were as fine as ox's hair and ferociously stabbed into Zhang Tie's heart.
"...cool..." Zhang Tie squeezed out this word as he glared at Scala with bloodshot eyes. His face then turned red. In less than 10 seconds, he sprouted out of a mouth of blood. Closely after that, he fell backward and passed out.
Some of Zhang Tie's blood fell on the table; some on Scala's clothes. Reeking cold vapor, they froze very soon.
After standing up, Scala shook those ice dregs off his clothes. After that, he threw a cold glance at Zhang Tie who was lying on the ground as he clapped his hands.
After hearing the clapping sound, Navas, the steward of this manor instantly drilled in the door like an old jackal who had a sensitive smell. At the sight of Zhang Tie lying on the ground, Navas looked very happy as he bowed towards Scala respectfully, "Young master."
"This person's honeymoon in Tokei City has come to an end. He's yours. Keep him alive. You know I want from him!"
Licking his lips, Navas threw another vicious glance at Zhang Tie, "The recipe of all-purpose medicament, I know it. Erm...some methods are very effective. However, they might cause severe damages to his body, erm..."
"I've told you. Just keep him alive. Don't let him lose his hope for living. This man is very tenacious. He's very important. As he killed a member of Senel Clan, he could only be executed by Senel Clan. Am I clear?"
"Clear!"
"We cannot stay here anymore. In the evening, I will dispatch someone to escort him together with you to Ironedge Castle. It's much safer over there!"
"Ah, young master, do you mean someone would come here to save him?"
"There's a message from the allied human forces. The alliance command has already been discussing the plan to save him. Although they've not passed the plan, we have to strengthen protective measures. As this person is a hero of the allied human forces, they would come here to save him for sure. After escorting him away, make some arrangements here, keep everything running as normal as usual like he is still here. We should set a trap here. If some people really came here to save him, we would capture them all!"
"Young master, don't worry. If he really exposes something about the recipe, I will tell you right away. Without your consent, I would never expose any secret to anybody, even Ruben. " After hearing that Scala's order, Navas immediately expressed his loyalty.
Scala nodded satisfactorily as he praised inside, "What a shrewd old man!"
"Hmm, he's yours!"
"Navas will never disappoint you, young master!"
"Hope so..."
...
After Scala left, Navas watched Zhang Tie who was in a deep coma on the ground as he couldn't stand to grin hideously. He squatted down and patted Zhang Tie's icy face, "Brat, I will treat you well!"
...
Zhang Tie didn't remember when he was in the coma like this the last time. Neither did he know how long he had been in the coma. With a sharp icy sense, Zhang Tie quivered as he opened his eyes once again.
This time, he didn't see that luxurious bedroom and those beautiful female servants who called him master anymore; instead, he saw a furnace about 8 m away in front of him.
That furnace was about 1 m in height. The coals inside the furnace were glowing, making its surroundings red. In the beating flames, Zhang Tie saw all sorts of grim instruments of torture, because of which, the entire room was filled with a gloomy qi.
At this moment, water flew off Zhang Tie's hair one drop after another. Zhang Tie knew that he was awakened by water. He found that he was fixed on a hob. As a result, he could not move his limbs. He was a bit weaker as he was stripped to the waist.
The icy water flew onto the ground along Zhang Tie's feet, making Zhang Tie quiver once again; meanwhile, he remembered the aggressive battle qi of Scala in his body. Until then, Zhang Tie's heart still ached, "F*ck, hope it could bring me an iron-body fruit."
After realizing his current situation, Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile, "It seems that the Senel Clan finally revealed their inner true side. Are they going to execute penalty on me? Is this the psycho war of those b*stards? What a sharp difference in treatment!"
"Brat, you are awake?" Navas walked in front of Zhang Tie with a gloomy face as he looked pleasant and ferocious, "You finally fell in my hand". With a kurbash in hand, he supported Zhang Tie's chin with the handle of the kurbash.
"I planned to sleep for a long while, but you woke me up!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "What? Have you changed the room for me? The method that you used to wake me up is really special. Is there also a new room service? Hmm, very special morning call..."
After hearing Zhang Tie's words, Navas' eye corners jumped a couple of times. After that, he gave Zhang Tie a sharp smack, "Brat, you're still tenacious, hope you can stick to it after a short while!"
"Your massage skill is really harsh!" Zhang Tie twisted his neck as he turned his face back. At the same time, he swam his tongue towards one cheek inside his oral cavity. Soon after that, he spat out a mouth of bloody saliva before smiling like nothing had happened, "Actually, the most tenacious part of me is not my mouth, but my bones. After a while, you can give me a good massage service on my bones. If you do it well, I might reward you some copper coins!"
"Wuh, really?" Navas turned around with an insidious smile. He took out of a triangle-headed hot-red brand iron from the furnace. When the brand iron was still over 10 cm away from Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had already felt the hot waves, "I'm sorry to make you wet just now. I'm afraid that you're a bit cold; how about warming you up..."
"It seems that the room service is really well-matched, I can have a free warm-up!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile...
Navas revealed an insidious smile as the hot-red brand iron was pressed onto Zhang Tie's chest forcefully.
With a scorching smell, Navas forcefully pressed the handle of the brand iron as he stared at Zhang Tie's look...
Zhang Tie quivered all over as the veins on his forehead bulged. He gritted his teeth silently while his sweat rolled off his forehead like water drops...
1 minute later, when the color of the brand iron became fully dark, Navas took the brand iron away from Zhang Tie, "How about it, brat, what else do you want to say?"
Lowering his head, Zhang Tie watched that scorched skin as he raised his head and revealed a faint smile, "I've...not imagined that...this room...could also provide tattoo service...can...can you give me a try...on my right side? Symmetric triangle patterns...would look better..."
Navas' pleasant look froze at once...
Chapter 612: Soul-based Animal Controlling Skill
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Zhang Tie was locked in a narrow cell alone. The prison cell was close to the torture chamber. Zhang Tie could only judge time through the sunlight penetrating through the fist-sized windows on the shared wall of the prison cell and the torture chamber.
Besides Zhang Tie, there were only Navas and some jailers who were responsible for torturing him everyday in the two rooms. Zhang Tie didn't know exactly where he was. He only knew that this place ought to be nearby Tokei City.
Only after 3 days, Zhang Tie had been tortured too much. He would be in the coma several times a day. Besides, 3 fingers were broken, 4 toenails were pulled out; furthermore, the bones on his left shin was broken into many pieces by an instrument called grinding rod.
Anybody else, if being tortured in this way, had long been collapsed, except for Zhang Tie.
Senel Clan wanted the recipe of all-purpose medicament. Zhang Tie knew that he was doomed to die as long as he exposed his secret.
...
On the 4th day, Navas inserted hot-red steel needles into Zhang Tie's ten fingernails, causing Zhang Tie quiver all over. Due to extreme pain, Zhang Tie uttered a shriek before passing out.
Before passing out, Zhang Tie remembered that some sunlight penetrated through an air vent on the wall of the torture chamber. When he was woken up by a basin of water, he saw no sunlight from the same air vent anymore.
Zhang Tie didn't know how long had he been in the coma. He only knew that it ought to be dark outside. His 10 fingers were too painful that it even became numb. He felt that those fingers were not his.
"You really have tenacious bones!" Navas sneered as he walked in front of Zhang Tie. In front of the glow of the furnace, his face became as grim as that of the ghost. He clutched Zhang Tie's hair brutally, "How about that? What else do you want to say? We've got something more funny for you!"
"F*ck..you!" Zhang Tie said weakly as he opened his eyes. At this moment, Navas' look had become blurry and trembling in Zhang Tie's eyes.
Navas replied with a sneer. After putting down Zhang Tie's hair, he turned around and looked at a jailer who was immersing kurbash into the water, "Have you added salt?"
"Not yet..."
"Idiot. His wounds are just going to form scars, if we add some salt to the water and dip it with kurbash, it would have a better effect. He would feel getting burned all over. Nobody could stand that, hurry!"
The jailer then went away to take salt. He came back very soon with a bag of salt. After pouring it into the bucket, he started to mix it with kurbash.
After a few minutes, the jailer kept slashing Zhang Tie so forcefully that he even sweated profusely, causing Zhang Tie's blood and fleshes fly in all directions. However, Zhang Tie remained silent. In the end, even the jailer was too tired to move. Navas then ordered the jailer to check Zhang Tie's physical situation. He told the jailer to pour some saline water and medicament into Zhang Tie's mouth and throw Zhang Tie back into the cell. One set of alloy shackles were added to Zhang Tie's neck. In order to restrict Zhang Tie's ability to move, an iron chain on the shackles was fixed onto a wall of the cell.
"Let's call it an end today. We will continue tomorrow. This brat is really strike-resistant. It's been 4 days. I really have not seen a guy who could bear being beaten for above 3 days." Navas grumbled to the jailer.
With a sound 'bang', the door of the cell was locked from outside. Closely after that, the door of the torture chamber was also locked, leaving Zhang Tie alone in the cell.
After a long while, Zhang Tie, lying on the ground, opened his eyes as he felt being gradually recovering.
In the evening, the preliminary recovery body started to take effect. As a result, Zhang Tie could recover in a faster speed. This was also the main reason that Zhang Tie could stand these days' torture. Senel Clan sealed his surging points; however, they could not seal his preliminary recovery body. Because preliminary recovery body had become his instinct.
Lying on the ground, facing down, Zhang Tie was too weak to pick himself up. He could only wait until he gradually recovered a bit aura value. In order to keep his ability to recover or prevent him from being starved to death, Navas would pour some saline water and low-end nutrients into his mouth after each torture. Sometimes, he would throw some pieces of bread to him.
Face touching the icy ground, Zhang Tie suddenly saw a rat in front of him. It sniffed and shook its beard. It seemed that it was going to check Zhang Tie' situation. Perhaps it found that Zhang Tie was not eatable or sensed the existence of All-spirits Pagoda, it didn't bite Zhang Tie. Instead, it started to wander around the cell. Finally, it found breadcrumbs in a corner and started to enjoy it.
When the mouse was eating its supper, Zhang Tie suddenly felt the Shrine surging point gradually warming up. Only after 10 more minutes, the Shrine surging point seemingly had already broken a bind while an eccentric and relaxed feeling spread over Zhang Tie's body.
Zhang Tie knew that his Shrine surging point had already broken through the bind on him applied by the Senel Clan.
After breaking through the bind, the Shrine surging point brought a wholly new energy to Zhang Tie's body, making Zhang Tie feel like lighting his Shrine surging point and becoming a LV 1 newbie soldier from a commoner once again.
Although being a newbie soldier, the new ability was also very important to Zhang Tie.
The moment Zhang Tie wanted to support himself and pick himself up with his hands had his face turned pale. Due to the sharp pain from the 10 fingers, his forehead oozed sweat all over at once. As a result, he almost knelt down once again. Gritting his teeth, he supported his upper part of the body using his elbows and struggled to pick himself up. Finally, he threw his butts on the ground. The moment he leaned against the cold wall, the wounds on his back made him quiver all over. He then hurriedly kept his back away from the wall...
Zhang Tie painted the dirty air in the cell a few minutes. After the pains on his hands, shoulders and back relieved a bit, he closed his eyes as he started to check his conditions.
The Shrine surging point remained unchanged. In that surging point, the stick of spiritual feather being incarnated by the king roc's golden seed was still shining brilliantly, showing the supreme dignity of the emperor-level secret knowledge. It seemed not being influenced at all. The Shrine surging point was like a warm flame. When it emitted warm light in Zhang Tie's cold body, it brought limitless warmth and hope to Zhang Tie.
After the Shrine surging point broke through the bind, Zhang Tie found that the spiritual energy that had been frozen in his mind sea also became dynamic. Even the god's rune and the All-spirits Pagoda in his mind sea became more sensitive.
Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and instantly poured a lot of all-purpose medicament into his mouth. After engulfing about four vials of all-purpose medicament, he finally stopped...
The moment the all-purpose medicament entered his stomach had its powerful effect started to exert.
The sense of hunger and cold gradually faded away. His pains also relieved greatly. The 10 fingers which had been heavily wounded also started to recover gradually like being soaked in a thermos flask.
Zhang Tie picked himself up once again. Although it was a bit difficult, he finally succeeded. He then touched that metal shackles over his neck and stretched the thick iron chain being linked to the shackles. After that, he tried to turn his head to the left and right.
"Heller, can I enter Castle of Black Iron now?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.
"No, that set of shackles and chain are like your clothes. They are closely linked to your body. If you want to enter Castle of Black Iron, you have to drag them in too. However, as they were fixed onto the wall, when you enter Castle of Black Iron, your neck would be broken!"
"D*mn it", Zhang Tie swore inside, "Those sc*mbags of Senel Clan. This father has been as same as commoners, they're still restricting my movement in the cell."
"Is there any method?"
"You could only open it by key or open it with a saw."
Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and had one small saw appear in his hand. After looking around, he found nobody was paying attention to him. Therefore, he nipped that saw with his hands and started to saw the chain on a hidden location while bearing the huge pains and discomfort.
However, the moment he started to saw it had he found the chain was made of a special alloy. It was far firmer than that he could imagine. After over 10 minutes' work, he could not leave a mark on it. As his hands had just been heavily wounded, although he had drunk so much all-purpose medicament, the wounds could not recover so fast. As a result, Zhang Tie was covered with sweat all over as his face turned pale. Finally, his hands quivered uncontrollably. The saw dropped onto the ground, causing a light sound in the cell...
The rat who was eating breadcrumbs was startled greatly. It instantly sneaked into a dark corner, where there was a narrow entrance of a sewer.
After hearing the light sound, Zhang Tie realized that it would bring him a trouble. He hurriedly squatted down as he teleported that saw into Castle of Black Iron. Meanwhile, he pretended to lie on the ground due to heavy wounds.
As he had predicted, after a few seconds, the iron door of the torture chamber was opened from the outside. After hearing the footsteps, Zhang Tie knew that a jailer was entering. He seemed to check what happened inside after hearing the sound...
Zhang Tie pretended to twist his body painfully on the ground, causing a light sound using the chain.
"Jeff, what's wrong?" Someone shouted ambiguously outside the torture chamber as he was chewing something.
"Nothing, the brat moved, causing a sound of friction between the chain and the ground!" the person who had entered the cell replied.
"Don't make a fuss about that. The brat is under our eyes. He could never escape away from here. Hurry, come back. If the drinks and dishes were cold, it would not taste good!"
After mumbling some words, the guy called Jeff locked the door and left.
Zhang Tie judged that the person had walked away based on his footsteps. Finally, he heard a bunch of keys being dropped on the table...
Right then, when the keys were dropped on the table, Zhang Tie suddenly became vacant as a whim occurred to his mind.
Zhang Tie became thrilled as he realized that it was his only chance to escape.
In such a situation, such a method deserved his attempt.
After a few minutes, Zhang Tie crossed his legs and sat down once again. After inhaling deeply, he kept his eyes focused on where the rat had disappeared as he made a hand gesture and started to mumble.
After a short while, the rat drilled out of the sewer in the dark corner and sneaked all the way to the front of Zhang Tie. Sitting still on the ground, it watched Zhang Tie in a cute way.
"Alright, so let it be a rat. Hope the secret skill of the Great Wilderness School could work."
Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile as he ran the All-spirits Pagoda in his mind sea. When he touched the rat's head, a Great Wildness Seal which represented the most powerful and effective contents of Great Wilderness Sutra and could control all the living beings below LV 1 fell on the rat's body.
In a split second, Zhang Tie felt something flying onto that rat from his body.
In the next second, Zhang Tie was so scared as he sprung up from the ground and uttered a sound, "zi..." Because, his soul had already left his own body.
In front of Zhang Tie was that extremely tall guy who was sitting still on the ground with crossed legs while being covered with wounds.
Even though Zhang Tie had looked into the mirror so many times, he was still shocked by such an experience from such a visual angle.
"Am I dead?" Zhang Tie asked himself.
The moment he posed such a question had Zhang Tie realized that he was not dead; instead, he turned into that rat; precisely, his awareness and senses were transferred to that rat. At this moment, he could control the rat's thoughts and movements.
This was soul-based animal controlling skill, the most mysterious method of humans in the far-ancient times. The Great Wilderness School became prosperous and died in the Eastern Continent because of this skill. After understanding the principle, Zhang Tie became thrilled at once.
At this moment, if Zhang Tie could see the look of that rat, he would find that the rat was also surprised and shocked...
Chapter 613: Escape
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
In the world of rats, everything was full of curiosity for Zhang Tie. Everything became huge in Zhang Tie's eyes.
Zhang Tie realized that he could see clearly about 10 m. At this moment, he finally understood what was shortsighted. Comparatively, his smell and auditory sense became sharper. He could easily identify various odors and became sensitive to distant sounds. Additionally, Zhang Tie could sense that he had very sharp teeth and excellent climbing skills. He might even understand how rats communicate with each other.
Zhang Tie ran around his former body for a short while and glanced at his own body from all directions. That felt pretty odd. After being adapted to the incarnated body, Zhang Tie drilled out of the cell and ran towards the outside of the torture chamber.
The doors of the cell and the torture chamber were both composed of arm-thick steel bars. The gaps between steel bars could only hold one fist. However, the gaps were still too large for a rat to pass by.
When he passed by the gap on a door of the cell, Zhang Tie raised his head and felt that he was passing by a huge gateway.
After passing through two doors, Zhang Tie soon sneaked into the passageway outside the torture chamber.
Honestly, this was Zhang Tie's first time to enter that exclusive 'VIP suite'.
It seemed like being in a castle. The passageway was dim. The walls on both sides of the passageway were made of large blocks of rocks. There was only one dim kerosene lamp on one wall of the 5-6 m long passageway. There was a corner in front of the passageway, beside which was a room, which was a bit brighter. Although it was several meters away, Zhang Tie had already smelt alcohol and cooked-meat and heard two people smacking their lips.
Zhang Tie ran over there along the high wall. When he came to the corner, he looked inside.
Two people were eating and drinking at a table 7-8 m away. As lackeys of Senel Clan, they had tortured Zhang Tie a lot these days.
Zhang Tie looked around this room and saw another table and two benches behind them. Additionally, there was a key hook on the wall, beside which were their hats and waistbands.
Although Zhang Tie could not see what was on the table, after combining with what he heard just now, he was sure that the keys were lying on the table at this moment.
Zhang Tie then waited there silently. After 20 minutes later, a guy finally burped and picked himself up as he staggered, "Jeff, you stay here till midnight. I will take a rest in the bedroom. Don't forget to wake me up after midnight. By the way, prepare some midnight snack for me..."
"Don't sleep like a dead pig like you were yesterday!"
"Don't worry. I drank less today. That brat is really strike-resistant. It's already 4 days; however, we still haven't got any information we need. D*mn it..."
"When we finish this job, we can play some bloody slaves. It was said there were a lot of female bloody slaves, many of which were young ladies and madams of former rich families. They would do everything to survive themselves. Even slaves are better than bloody slaves, heh...heh...if only we surrendered to Senel Clan earlier, we could at least have a better position and select bloody slaves for free..."
"Ha...ha..."
After uttering an evil laughter, that guy, who stood up, patted on Jeff's shoulder as he burped and left the room from another door. Jeff ate and drunk alone for a while. After emptying all the bottles on the table, Jeff rocked the last bottle and mumbled a short while. After that, he bent over the table and started to snore.
Realizing that Jeff had fallen asleep, Zhang Tie rapidly rushed out of the corner and jumped onto that chair. After that, he easily climbed onto the highest point of the chair's back, from where he saw clearly the keys on the table.
The chair's back was about 30-40 cm away from the table. Zhang Tie accelerated on the chair's back and flew onto the table. He soon came to the side of the keys.
There were three keys, which matched the two doors and Zhang Tie's shackles.
Zhang Tie tightly bit the keys. Meanwhile, he adjusted his gestures by pressing the keys with his front paws. After confirming that he had bitten them firmly and wouldn't make any sound, Zhang Tie rapidly rushed to the end of the table and directly jumped onto the chair. After that, he jumped from the chair to the ground. Finally, he hurriedly rushed towards the cell. Before leaving here, he even turned around and watched Jeff who had been like a dead pig.
As the keys were lying horizontally in his mouth, they were blocked by the iron rails of the iron door of the torture chamber. Zhang Tie put down the keys. After that, he bit the keys vertically and dragged them in slightly. Finally, he came to the side of his own body and placed the keys on the ground.
Zhang Tie then opened his eyes as his consciousness returned to his own body.
He smiled as he touched that rat beside him. After that, he picked up those keys and inserted one of them into the keyhole of the shackles over his neck. With a cracking sound, the shackles were opened.
Zhang Tie put the shackles on the ground slightly before picking himself up from the ground once again. After that, he walked to the door of the cell. Stretching his hand out of the gap on the cell's door, Zhang Tie opened the cell's door slightly and came into the torture chamber.
After opening three locks constantly, Zhang Tie came to the passageway outside the torture chamber.
With barefoot and upper body, Zhang Tie supported the walls using two hands as he dragged his broken foot towards the room at the corner, followed by that docile rat.
After entering the room, Zhang Tie immediately took out a dagger from Castle of Black Iron and came to the back of the guy who was sleeping like a dead pig on the table. Covering his mouth, Zhang Tie instantly stabbed into the b*stard's heart.
After twitching his body for a while, that b*stard was dead...
Zhang Tie loosened his grip and drew his dagger out of that b*stard's body. After wiping off the blade's blood on the guy's dead body, he limped towards the exit of this room...
There was a dim upward corridor outside this room. However, with the effect of Zhang Tie's dark vision, the dim corridor was as bright as daylight. It was over 30 m in length, on both sides of which were all dim kerosene lamps. There was another iron door at the end of the corridor, which was fully closed. It seemed like a huge steel plate. There was no gap on it. Whereas, there was a room in the middle of this corridor. The wooden door of the room was half covered while snoring sounds drifted out of the room.
Zhang Tie pushed open the wooden door and limped inside. After 20 seconds, he came out of the room with some fresh blood on the tip of his blade. However, no snoring sound drifted out of the room anymore.
Of course, Zhang Tie would not treat politely those lackeys who had surrendered to demons and tortured him these days. The only thing that made Zhang Tie feel pitiful was that Navas was not inside.
Zhang Tie kept limping towards the end of the corridor. When he arrived at the iron door, he knew that Senel Clan really paid special attention to him; because this iron door could only be opened from outside.
Based on Zhang Tie's senses, there were 2 guards outside the iron door. As it was too late, most of the people had already fallen asleep, it was very quiet outside the iron door. Zhang Tie sensed that the two guards were both below LV 6.
Zhang Tie sensed that this door led to another passageway in the castle. This cell seemed to be in a hidden place in the castle. Besides himself, it seemed that nobody else was locked inside this castle.
Zhang Tie didn't hear any other prisoners' sounds these days. From the chat of the two jailers, Zhang Tie judged that this place might be outside the Tokei City. It was not a standard prison; instead, it was a castle, a real estate of Senel Clan. It was indeed a secret place to lock him up.
After coming to the side of the iron door, Zhang Tie knocked it. After a few seconds, he knocked it for the second time, which sounded a bit more urgent than that last time...
"Who's that?" a muffled sound drifted from outside.
Zhang Tie patted the door for the third time impatiently; meanwhile, his voice turned hoarse as he imitated that obscure drunken sound, "I want to see whether there's something to eat in the kitchen."
"Jeff and Benari? Foodie!" With this sound, the iron door was opened from outside. The moment the door was opened had the two guys been struck by Zhang Tie's binding chains.
Zhang Tie opened the door and walked out of that narrow passageway. It was indeed much spacious outside. This place led to a tower in the castle. At this moment, there was nobody in the tower anymore. Zhang Tie could see the huge windows of the tower and Tokei City outside the windows.
He immediately killed the two guards...
"Now, I could easily enter Castle of Black Iron. Even though Senel members could come in here, they would find no trace at all. This is much better than disappearing in the cell. Additionally, they would not find my secret at all."
"The only problem at the moment is whether to kill Navas or enter Castle of Black Iron to recover my wounds."
After being hesitated for a short while, Zhang Tie watched his broken leg...
Right then, he heard loud explosions and saw bright flames from Tokei City in the far. As a result, this castle was shocked while many pitch-dark rooms turned bright.
Zhang Tie threw a glance at the flames in Tokei City. It might come from the manor where he was put under arrest several days ago. Zhang Tie's heart raced, "Who's that?"
At this moment, he heard footsteps from below the tower.
Zhang Tie gritted his teeth. Facing such an urgent event, he could not hesitate anymore. After having the rat jump onto his hand, Zhang Tie disappeared...
...
Two minutes later, Navas and a group of people arrived at where Zhang Tie disappeared. At the sight of the open iron door and the two dead guards lying on the ground, Navas changed his face at once as he hurriedly rushed inside with people.
Benari was dead on the bed; Jeff was dead at the table. All the door locks were in good condition. Given this clue, they knew they were all opened by keys.
"Hurry, report to young master Scala. Zhang Tie was robbed away from the Iron-edge Castle by a powerhouse of the allied human forces..." Navas roared anxiously.
In Navas' opinion, the powerhouse must be sneaking inside the castle from outside. After killing the two guards, he broke in and saved Zhang Tie out of here. Given such strict protective measures in Iron-edge Castle, Navas knew that the one who robbed Zhang Tie away must be a top powerhouse.
The moment he thought about the two corpses in the cell had Navas felt chilly inside, "If I were inside, I must have been killed by that human powerhouse like slaughtering a poultry."
...
At this moment, the neighborhood of the Sun Avenue in Tokei City had long become a fire sea and battlefield. Thousands of demonized puppets swarmed over there from all directions. When those demonized puppets crowded the Sun Avenue, a rainbow bolt penetrated through the flesh wall of demonized puppets, causing them explode like a bloody rain...
With this bolt, a 200-m long road was cleared.
With a furious look, Lan Yunxi held a portable small bow as she took out another small bolt.
"Yunxi, Zhang Tie is not in here. This is a trap. We have to go now. If not, we could not leave out of here anymore. There were two powerful qi, one from the north and another from the south. They will arrive here in a few minutes. By then, if you were wounded, I wouldn't know how to explain it to Zhang Clan and Lan Clan..." Standing on Lan Yunxi's side calmly, Lan elder casually waved his hand like sweeping pedals off the table, causing over 100 demonized puppets' heads explode...
Senel Clan planned to fish here; however, they had never imagined that they could attract here a tigress and a prehistorical crocodile. After seeing that Lan elder easily exterminated a detachment of powerful bowmen nearby this place by casually waving his arm, nobody of Senel Clan dared come out at this moment.
For those members of Senel Clan, it was already a victory if they could drag on the two figures here until the arrival of demon fighters.
Biting her lips, Lan Yunxi shot out another rainbow bolt, causing numerous demonized puppets into a bloody rain.
After throwing a glance at Lan Yunxi who attempted to shoot another bolt regardless of her life, Lan elder sighed inside, "Love is really marvelous." If not being requested by Lan Yunxi, he didn't know that Lan Yunxi had fallen in love with Zhang Tie. "This is the last excessive thing that he could do for Lan Yunxi. After this time, no side would allow her to risk such a danger, Zhang Clan, Lan Clan or demons..."
"Let's go..." Lan elder put one hand on Lan Yunxi's shoulder.
After throwing another glance at the battlefield and recalling Zhang Tie's fatigued smile in front of her, Lan Yunxi dropped off a tear...
...
After a few minutes, three meteors arrived from the north and south along with a terrifying momentum. After reaching above the Sun Avenue in Tokei City, they suspended there for a few seconds before heading for the east...
...
2 days later, because of Zhang Tie's event, Major General Ford who was receiving the interrogation of the alliance command suddenly died in Selnes Theater of Operations. This news aroused a great shock. There were two presumptions on his death reason. The first one was that Major General Ford was a lackey of Three-eye Association. He set up Zhang Tie this time. Therefore, he committed a suicide while afraid of being blamed. There was another presumption that he was involved in the event that Zhang Tie surrendered to demons. After being treated brutally, he committed a suicide due to fury in order to maintain the dignity of a commission officer.
No matter which presumption was real, the final outcome was that the human troops in Selnes front lines started to doubt the capability and authority of the alliance command...
Among the presumptions, a piece of news almost shocked everyone in the Crystal Battle Fortress although few people across the Selnes Theater of Operations knew it——Lan Yunxi, the commission officer of the airship troop of Jinyun Country was dispatched back to Jinyun Country. With the 'protection' of a Zhang elder, she silently left Selnes Theater of Operations.
Jinyun Country and Huaiyuan Palace didn't make any explanation to the outside about this order.
It soon came to November. From the beginning of this month, endless demonized puppets had appeared in the north of Selnes Theater of Operations and started to launch attacks to human defense line constantly, causing the ground battle in Selnes Theater of Operations to enter white-hot stage...
Chapter 614: My Immortal Territory
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
After eating a full plate of fruits and drinking some vials of all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie had a nice noontime-snooze on a lounge beside grassland with a warm blanket over his body while listening to the agile gurgles of the brook.
When he felt his leg numb, Zhang Tie woke up. Actually, he wanted to snap for a long while; however, he felt numerous ants climbing in his shin. Whereas, he could not scratch it. Therefore, he could only wake up.
The feeling indicated that his broken bones were healing. If it were others, after being tortured that way, they would lose their leg or it would take them at least 5-6 months to heal. However, Zhang Tie's healing speed was really amazing. Only after returning to Castle of Black Iron for one month, his leg had almost healed.
Besides his broken leg, even those wounds all over his body had healed and scarred. After the scars fell off, his skin became as fresh as boiled eggs being peeled off shells.
This was the longest, laziest and most pleasant time that he had stayed in Castle of Black Iron since he slept 3 years here last time.
Over the past 1 month, Zhang Tie's main task was to recuperate himself. Besides eating and drinking, the only cultivation that Zhang Tie could carry out when he was free was to repeat the contents and secret knowledge of the 'Great Wilderness Sutra'.
What shocked Zhang Tie most through this narrow escape was that he indeed recognized the terror and power of the 'Great Wilderness Sutra. Compared to the soul-based animal controlling method in the Great Wilderness Sutra, all the other animal controlling skills became dwarfed. Therefore, Zhang Tie understood why the Great Wilderness School was exterminated by other schools. Because the soul-based animal controlling method really made people jealous.
Over the past one month, Zhang Tie had activated the 3rd floor of the All-spirits Pagoda in his mind sea. Additionally, he repeated the Great Wilderness endless true words on the 4th floor over 300,000 times. He still needed to repeat them about 1 million times to activate this floor.
When the 3rd floor of All-spirits Pagoda was activated, it meant that he could use LV 2 animals as his incarnation. As soon as he thought about having an incarnation had Zhang Tie become excited.
However, he could not be too excited as he had to recover his wounds.
In more than 1 month, all of his wounds had been recovered, even his broken leg had almost healed. With the great power of "King Roc Sutra", 31 surging points on his spine had broken through the bind of Senel Clan and recovered their fighting strength.
...
"Ah, master, you're awake..." Seeing Zhang Tie sat up in the lounge, Edward trotted all the way here as he placed a plate of golden pies in front of Zhang Tie which smelt pretty good, "Master, have a try, I've just made them for you!"
Zhang Tie sniffed them forcefully as he had a great appetite. He picked one of them and put it in his mouth. After a bite, he tasted the tender, sweet fluid and the special aroma of honey. It was so delicious that Zhang Tie even wanted to swallow his tongue. Zhang Tie instantly ate 4-5 pies.
When Zhang Tie ate the pies, Edward kept watching Zhang Tie with an intoxicating and proud look. He looked like receiving Zhang Tie's highest reward.
"Ah, so good, you made them?" Zhang Tie asked 'politely' based on these days of 'experience'.
After hearing Zhang Tie's question, Edward instantly raised his chest, "Yes, sir, it's my great honor!"
"How did you make it?" Zhang Tie continued.
"I used 17 fruits and grains in Castle of Black Iron, plus our specialty——honey..."
Edward kept talking about the process of making pies for 2 minutes. After that, Edward drew in a deep mouth of breath as he revealed an intoxicating look, "The above are all the procedures required to make these pies!"
"Not bad!" Zhang Tie listened to it patiently. After enjoying his life here over 1 month, Zhang Tie found that the best reward to Edward, Agan and Aziz was to listen to them introducing the manufacturing procedures besides enjoying various services provided by them. They all treated this reward as their greatest enjoyment and personal achievements.
According to Heller, if Zhang Tie could listen to and praise the services of Edward, Agan and Aziz. their souls would upgrade and grow. This was their happiest moment. Therefore, as long as there was a chance, Zhang Tie would spend a few minutes to listen to the three servants' introduction about their services.
Zhang Tie felt that he should respect and reward his servants who were so loyal to him. Therefore, he always listened to their introduction politely. Gradually, he found that he could learn a lot from Edward, Agan and Aziz. The three servants were masters in their own line for sure.
Agan was a carpenter and stonemason, who were good at building houses.
Aziz was a master in agriculture. He was excel at anything concerning agricultural production. Additionally, Aziz was excel at brewing all sorts of alcohol. Honestly, Zhang Tie was not good at brewing alcohol. After Aziz was responsible for producing all-purpose medicament, the effect of all-purpose medicament was 30% greater than that made by Zhang Tie himself. Zhang Tie was really shocked by this.
Edward was good at using fire. He could both cook yummy food and produce tools using fire.
Previously, although Zhang Tie knew about the three people's talents, he didn't pay attention to that. After Zhang Tie teleported a lot of slaves into Castle of Black Iron from the underground space in Misty Moon Woods, the three guys got rid of the low-end farming work. From then on, they gradually showed their great talents. Zhang Tie also started to sense the unusual aspects of the three people.
"Where are Agan and Aziz?" Zhang Tie asked Edward.
"They went to instruct those newcomers to build houses and do farming work!" Edward replied with a rich admiration, "Those newcomers called them the God's messengers."
Zhang Tie smiled as he threw a glance at Edward, "Do you also want to go downhill?"
"Master, if you produce some metal mines in Castle of Black Iron, I can make anything you want for sure!" Edward said full of confidence.
"Hehe, we will have such a day!" Zhang Tie smiled as he stood up. Edward hurriedly wanted to support him with his hand. However, Zhang Tie prevented him by waving his hand, "It's okay, I'm much better these days. I want to take a walk!"
Edward bowed and left.
Besides having enough rest, he also needed to do some proper movements so as to recover fast.
There was a mountain as high as 300 m in the center of Castle of Black Iron, within 1 km of the small tree. Zhang Tie was wandering on the top of the mountain.
Nothing had changed, the small tree, the spring or those houses, except for the terrain of Castle of Black Iron.
After teleporting those miserable human captives into Castle of Black Iron from Misty Moon Woods, Heller had innovated the terrain of Castle of Black Iron. After the innovation, the location of the small tree and the place where Zhang Tie was standing became more unique. This mountain was the achievement of this innovation.
Zhang Tie came to one edge of the top of the mountain as he started to glance over Castle of Black Iron.
There was a flight of natural, golden stone stages from the top of the mountain all the way to its foot. The tidy and broad stages looked pretty magnificent.
The foot of the mountain was surrounded by a black abyss. After innovation, the former Pool of Chaos turned into a moat. The Pool of Chaos became the River of Chaos.
There was a spring originated from the top of the mountain. After passing by the halfway of the mountain, it turned into a fine waterfall and finally fell into the River of Chaos. This formed a complete circulation of energy and materials.
Right above the River of Chaos was a natural, golden bridge being linked to the golden stages. It was the only tunnel from the outside to the top of the mountain. In Heller's words, without Zhang Tie's consent, nobody could pass by the River of Chaos through that bridge in Castle of Black Iron. Anybody who wanted to pass through that bridge would be rejected by the basic principles in Castle of Black Iron; they would fall into the River of Chaos and be decomposed into the most basic energy particles.
"Nobody could pass by?" At the sight of the River of Chaos, Zhang Tie asked Heller.
"Nobody!" Heller nodded firmly.
"Including my master, Zhao Yuan?"
"That person is indeed very powerful in the outside world; however, he's nothing different than commoners in front of the dimension and space rules of Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, even if your master wants to pass by the bridge without your consent, he would also fall into the River of Chaos for sure."
Time inside Castle of Black Iron was synchronous with that in the outside world. At this moment, the colorful clouds were changing their shapes and radiating a layer of halo. The entire space was bathing in a dusky light, making the inside of Castle of Black Iron more mysterious.
On a plain about 3-4 mile away from this mountain was a human town which was gradually coming into being. Those living in the town were the first batch of residents in Castle of Black Iron.
Standing at the top of the mountain, as long as it was completely dark, Zhang Tie could always see a lot of people busy doing their works these days. Some were chopping trees in the surrounding mountainous region; some were sawing logs while some others were building simple wooden houses using the logs that had been well sawn.
Most of the wooden houses were relatively narrow and rough. However, there was a complete stone building in the town, which looked more magnificent. As he had not been to the town, Zhang Tie didn't know what was that building used for.
Beside the town were large areas of farmland being reclaimed. Women were busy sowing seeds in the farmland and picking various berries and fruits in the wild.
For those people who came from the underground hell, Castle of Black Iron was definitely the paradise that only existed in their imaginations.
The soil here was very fertile. Any seed, once being buried in the soil, would start to grow sturdily.
The river and lake here tasted very sweet and was full of aura. The wildland was full of eccentric, yummy fruits. Some of those fruits could not even be identified.
Among those which could be identified, the most impressive fruits were potatoes and sunflower seeds.
Being different from those they could see before, most of the potatoes here were as large as kids' heads. Besides, after being roasted, those potatoes tasted very yummy.
Similarly, all the sunflowers were as big as golden sieves. After growing ripe, each sunflower seed would be as large as a peanut, which also tasted yummy.
Most of those fruits were new species that formed in Castle of Black Iron during the 3 years that he slept in Castle of Black Iron. Take potatoes as an instance, they were new products after the 2nd round of mutation and evolution. They were more eccentric than those Zhang Tie left in Ice and Snow Wilderness.
As Zhang Tie watched them growing up, he had been used to or numb about those mutated species. However, for those who entered Castle of Black Iron for the first time, at the sight of everything in Castle of Black Iron, it occurred to them that this was an immortal territory. Due to their piety and persistence in the dilemma, they had been taken into this immortal territory from the hell by the God.
Everybody entering this territory would kneel down, cry and pray out of gratitude.
Undoubtedly, Zhang Tie was that God who saved them out of the hell. This immortal territory was the God's home.
Chapter 615: Introspection
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
During these days, Zhang Tie would stand on the top of the mountain and watch those people in the town busy doing their own works and starting their new lives everyday. After experiencing so many things, Zhang Tie found that he had recovered his composure completely when he saw those commoners living a happy life. Meanwhile, he would introspect and think about too many things.
After experiencing a life or death test, Zhang Tie instinctively started to think about many things.
'What's the meaning of coming to the Selnes Theater of Operations?'
'Why would I be framed by Three-eye Association once again?'
'What's the reason for me this time to survive on?'
Many questions flashed across Zhang Tie's mind...
Although these questions seemed to be simple, after reconsidering them and facing his inner heart, Zhang Tie realized that he was still confused about many of them.
Whether he was here to improve his fighting strength, for the sake of Lan Yunxi, or out of his responsibility and honor as a human fighter, Zhang Tie had never been regretful about coming to Selnes Theater of Operations.
What made Zhang Tie start to introspect and review himself was his new recognition about this world.
Neither had he seen through himself nor his opponent. That was why he fell into the hands of Senel Clan.
After being rewarded with the honor of Selnes Eagle, although he looked calm, even unsatisfied, but actually, he was pleased about having such an honor. This honor made him feel being different than others and being able to do more things. Because of this honor, he started to lose himself and finally entered the dilemma.
'To the final analysis, when I was rewarded with this honor, I forgot that I was not the same poor teenager in Blackhot City who would like to be the human flesh bag for a few silver coins a day anymore.'
'I am already not that teenager anymore on any aspect. That lifestyle has been far away from me. I would never return to that lifestyle. However, the deep-rooted memory and life experience in Blackhot City over 10 years ago deeply impressed me with a mindset. Being influenced by that mindset, I would always try to recognize and observe this world through a special "window".'
'When I see outside through that window, I feel the honor of Selnes Eagle is ground-breaking and deserve being defended!'
'When I see inside through that window, I feel a LV 9 fighter who has formed an iron-blood battle qi is unrivaled.'
'That's really ridiculous!'
'Because of the first recognition, I entered the huge and complex den of the allied human forces which must have contained a lot of dark forces and was finally framed by Three-eye Association so easily.'
'Because of the second recognition, I always had a fluke mind and didn't prioritize improving my fighting strength and level; instead, I always had a thought of "let it be". Because of this fluke mind, I lost my advantage in front of opponents above LV 11 and lost my ability to resist the conspiracy of Senel Clan.'
'After being rewarded with the honor of Selnes Eagle and scaring away the pursuers of Lan Yunxi, if I tried my best to improve my fighting strength and became a bit low-key, even though I would have to leave Selnes Theater of Operations temporarily and get a secret cultivation knowledge to breakthrough LV 11 or LV 12 before coming back, I would not have entered the dilemma.'
'If a low-end secret knowledge could be bought in the illegal demon hunters' market in Selnes Theater of Operations, of course, I could get one from other places. As long as I would like to trade a "Robust Ox Skill" with 100,000 vials of all-purpose medicament when I come back to Jinyun Country or Ice and Snow Wilderness, even in Norman Empire, someone would put it in my hand soon after I released the news.'
'Why didn't I do that?"
'To be honest, I didn't put this thing in the first place. I had too many fluke minds and excuses. Subconsciously, I became a bit pleasant about owning the fighting strength as a LV 9 fighter.'
'The cruel fact was that I had to pay a great price for my own mistakes.'
'Besides not having figured out my advantages and essence of problems, I even lacked alertness to Three-eye Association. I'm really stupid!'
'The assassination in Dragon Cave, moles of Three-eye Association in Huaiyuan Palace, disaster in Ice and Snow Wilderness, bomb assassination in Mocco City and Three-eye Association killers' lurk in illegal demon hunters' market. Three-eye Association has already shown its great penetrating and controlling the ability to human society from all aspects based on demon's organizations and its hidden huge resources. As I have been assassinated by Three-eye Association 3 times, how could I not doubt it when I accepted the task from the alliance command? That's unforgivable!'
'In Waii Sub-continent, Three-eye Association's force had penetrated in human countries and organizations so much. The bomb assassination happened when the alliance command was going to reward me with the honor of Selnes Eagle. However, the alliance command which was responsible for investigating this case didn't figure out the culprit at all. This should have reminded me that someone in the alliance command might be the moles of the Three-eye Association. However, I didn't become alert about the alliance command at that moment.'
'If I was a bit smarter, I should have ended up the relationship between me and the alliance command at that moment and ignore all the orders and requests of the alliance command. Pitifully, I didn't. To the final analysis, I was viewing the alliance command as a huge body which was full of authority and sense of justice from the viewpoint of a small figure and instinctively refused to believe that a place that represented the hope of Waii Sub-continent could hide the moles of Three-eye Association.'
'Small figures always craved for the authoritative and righteous place. They always believed that the more superior the place was, the righteous it would be. How innocent small figures! However, Three-eye Association was excelled at hiding in the sunniest place to do the darkest things. They labeled evil as holiness and disguised ugliness as justice.'
'I made the same mistakes that all the other small figures would make.'
'The crisis in the illegal demon hunters market indicates that the force of Three-eye Association might have exceeded too much in Selnes Theater of Operations. Therefore, they could arrange a timely attack. That was a life-or-death crisis, which exposed many problems in Selnes Theater of Operations and implied me that a LV 9 fighter was not safe over there. Pitifully, after obtaining the "King Roc Sutra", I was too excited to consider the warning of that crisis.
'After I drove a glider into the water so as to escape from a LV 11 wing demon's chase, Lan Yunxi had already suggested me to return to Huaiyuan Prefecture and not come back until I become LV 10. Pitifully, I didn't follow her suggestion; instead, I stayed.'
'After recovering my composure, I realized that my reason and logic at that time was really ridiculous——as a LV 9 fighter, I should be able to stay here. I could rarely meet a LV 11 wing demon in the sky.'
'It's enough for others to be LV 9 and kill a LV 10 strong fighter with the javelin as a LV 9 fighter. However, it's far from enough for me. Because I'm not a commoner or a small figure anymore. I'm already a key person, whose choice could influence a lot of things. The problems and difficulties that I meet are much more tricky than that small figures faces. This requires me to have a greater fighting strength.'
Finally, Zhang Tie understood this. As a result, he reviewed himself and many events that he had encountered.
'Your enemy might understand their value better than you could understand yourself.'
When Zhang Tie fell in the hand of Senel Clan, it was neither Castle of Black Iron nor 'Great Wilderness Sutra' that survived Zhang Tie at the critical moment; instead, it was the all-purpose medicament.
'Actually, since I invented all-purpose medicament and made it a strategic material of many countries, I was already not a commoner or a small figure anymore.'
'In order to catch me, Three-eye Association spent almost all the relationships and resources that they had. Such treatment could never be enjoyed by a small figure.'
After experiencing so many tortures from Senel Clan, Zhang Tie had another chance to identify himself and the world that he was going to face.
Zhang Tie realized that his biggest mistake was the inconsistency between his viewpoint as a commoner and his real influence and the difficulties that he was going to face. He could neither figure out his advantage nor the most urgent problem and the largest crisis that he was going to face. As a result, he fell into the enemy's traps one time after another and almost lost his life.
This inconsistency was also like an invisible rope and bind which made it possible for people to frame him and determine his fate and the direction of his life.
Over the past one month, Zhang Tie's body had been gradually recovering while his mind further improved. If a man didn't experience frustrations and strikes, he would not grow mature.
Through such a review and introspection, that 15-year old teenager who lacked confidence deep in bones from Blackhot City was replaced by a wholly-new man, a more confident and wiser Zhang Tie who had a clearer and deeper recognition about himself
'As the honor of Selnes Eagle was rewarded by others, it would be taken away in the end. At the critical moment, only I could save myself.'
'As for me who joined this war between humans and demons, life is my most precious thing; fighting strength is my most reliable partner while freedom is my biggest advantage. With freedom, I could create numerous possibilities. Perhaps, I'm not unrivaled, even weak in front of real powerhouses; however, I'm able to create numerous possibilities...'
'The numerous possibilities comes from Castle of Black Iron, from the small tree and from the "Great Wilderness Sutra" and myself who is growing mature constantly...
...
The colorful clouds in the sky of Castle of Black Iron were like an intelligence colorful lamp of humans before Catastrophe in the legends. As time went by, the inside of Castle of Black Iron gradually became dark while the colorful clouds looked like the bleak and smooth moon.
Zhang Tie found more and more bonfires were lit in the town. Those human captives who were teleported inside by him might be holding a grand ceremony as all of them were surrounding the highest and the most magnificent building in the town.
As he couldn't hear clearly what they were talking about, after a yawn, Zhang Tie turned around in a sluggish way and walked into the house. The moment he thought about Edward's yummy food had Zhang Tie's mouth filled with saliva.
...
At this moment, in the most magnificent and highest building in the town, after some noble elders pulled off layers of veils which took hundreds of women more than half a month to wave with quivering hands, exposing a tall stony statue on an immortal altar in front of them.
The moment they saw that stony statue had they knelt down in the square and the building piously.
"Great and benign God, please accept your men's humble piety and sacrifice. It's you who took us into your immortal territory from the hell; it's you who relieved us from the sea of bitterness; it's you who sprayed the holy brilliance to warm up and cleanse our body and soul. We'd like to give everything we have to you..."
Some elders knelt in front of the crowd and prayed. After that, some virgins in beautiful crowns and linen clothes slowly walked out from aside and served high-quality fruits and grains onto the altar in the most pious manner, namely at the foot of the stony statue...
If Zhang Tie was here, he must be shocked at the sight of the stony statue. Because the stony statue was carved according to his own look, which looked almost as same as him.
The entire stony statue must be a priceless, holy masterpiece which would be praised by numerous sculptures if it was taken out of Castle of Black Iron.
The stony statue was supporting a vigorous small tree by one hand while holding a javelin in another hand. He was standing in the hell full of burning flames while a holy, brilliant arc door was opened at his foot. Hopeless people were pouring towards that arc door. Each one's look was very vivid. That stony statue was wearing a holy crown, above which were patterns like sun, moons, stars and various birds, insects and beasts...
This stony statue was carved by Agan.
...
Closely after supper, Zhang Tie felt his broken shin growing more numb. Zhang Tie became restless. He wanted to scratch it; however, he couldn't. If this feeling could disappear after he slashed towards his shin, Zhang Tie didn't mind having a try.
"Hmm, Castle Lord, the wound on your shin would recover in a few more days. As it's dark, your preliminary recovery body would start to exert its effect fully as your wound is recovering faster than that in the daytime; therefore, you are having such a feeling!"
Zhang Tie signed helplessly, "I know, but I've not imagined that the healing process is so torturing with the effect of preliminary recovery body!"
"After this strike and torture, when your body completely heals, you can eat some iron-body fruits which were produced in this torturing process. After that, you will grow stronger. It's hard for you to suffer such a heavy wound!" Heller comforted Zhang Tie.
"Hope so!"
"Those people whom you took in Castle of Black Iron had established a shrine in the town. They are worshiping your stony statue over there. They've already taken you as the God!" Heller briefed.
"They've made my statue?" Zhang Tie became slightly stunned. Soon after that, he felt relieved as he asked Heller, "Erm, will this reduce my longevity?'
"Reduce your longevity?" Heller watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look. After that, he understood that Zhang Tie referred to a Chinese custom——if an alive young person was worshiped by others, especially seniors, the young person might reduce his or her longevity. Heller then revealed a smile, "Don't worry, it won't!"
"Oh, alright!" Having pretended to be a holy priest many times, Zhang Tie waved his hand as he didn't think too much about that, "They can do whatever they want, as long as they don't pose any bad influence to me!"
Heller also lowered his eyes and didn't mention it anymore. Zhang Tie even ignored this event.
...
After recuperating another 3 more days, although the wound on Zhang Tie's shin had not fully healed, the last surging point on his spine had broken through the bind. As a result, Zhang Tie's fighting strength as a LV 9 fighter completely recovered. He could cultivate and light new surging points once again...
'This time, I will never leave Castle of Black Iron until I eat up all the leakless fruits that have been accumulated 3-4 years and improve my fighting strength and level greatly.'
Zhang Tie made his determination.
Chapter 616: Cultivation under the Small Tree
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
From the ferocious battle between Zhang Tie and Abyan in Abyan's castle to the 3-year deep sleep in Castle of Black Iron all the way to now, the manjusaka karma fruit tree had not stopped producing leakless fruits. It had been 3 years and about 10 months in total. With so many leakless fruits, the small tree looked fruitful.
One leakless fruit per week, 52 ones each year, 156 ones in 3 years. Plus 42 ripe ones and 1 unripe one in 10 months, there were totally 199 leakless fruits over the small tree.
Therefore, standing in front of the small tree, Zhang Tie felt having a heavy, pleasant, bumper harvest.
"What's the date today?" Zhang Tie asked Heller in front of the small tree.
After recuperating over 1 month idly in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie didn't even know the current time. Before lighting his new surging points officially after 4 years' suspension, Zhang Tie thought this date was memorable.
"November 21, the 894th year of Black Iron Calendar..." Standing under the small tree, Heller watched Zhang Tie as he added, "Castle Lord, before lighting the new surging points, you'd better confirm the order of lighting those surging points from LV 9 to LV 10. As it's an emperor-level secret knowledge, If you made any mistake in cultivation steps, you might become nothing but a strand of smoke at once."
Zhang Tie nodded. As he recalled the order of lighting those surging points daily these days, he had been very familiar with the order. However, after hearing Heller's suggestion, he closed his eyes and recalled the order once more. After confirming that he would not make any mistake, Zhang Tie picked off one leakless fruit from the small tree and sat down below the small tree with crossed legs.
When he took the familiar ripe leakless fruit once more, Zhang Tie became pretty tranquil inside. After slightly closing his eyes for a few seconds, he put the leakless fruit into his mouth.
Like before, soon after he swallowed the leakless fruit had he felt the great energy of the fruit gathering between his chest and abdomen and turning into an energetic fire dragon.
Under Zhang Tie's manipulation, that fire dragon didn't rush towards those invisible surging points which had manifested in Zhang Tie's body.
Instead, it rushed into his Shrine surging point and charged at the stick of spiritual feather incarnated by the seed rune of the 'King Roc Sutra'. After that, the stick of spiritual feather started to glow the entire Shrine surging point.
At the sight of this scene, the Shrine surging point turned into a forge used by refiners. Like a rarity being refined by fiery in the forge, the stick of spiritual feather was constantly absorbing the energy of the fire dragon of the leakless fruit as it changed its color. The whole process was completely mysterious.
Of course, the process of cultivating an emperor-level secret knowledge might be different from that applied by Zhang Tie when he was a newbie. The stick of spiritual feather incarnated by the golden seed of king roc in the Shrine surging point became the center of the entire cultivation process and the key to expose the secrets of surging points according to 'King Roc Sutra'.
After the entire fire dragon's energy was absorbed by the stick of spiritual energy, the luster of the stick of spiritual feather changed its color from red, orange to yellow...
Zhang Tie opened his eyes and saw Heller standing on his side and watching him seriously.
In the process of cultivation, he would forget time. In that realm, although he felt it was just a split second, actually, it might have been several days.
"How long have I spent?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.
"3 hours!" Heller replied.
Zhang Tie nodded. He then picked himself up from the ground and picked another leakless fruit. After sitting down, he ate it.
After eating the 2nd leakless fruit, the stick of spiritual feather in the Shrine surging point started to radiate blue luster like surging points being polished...
After 3 hours, Zhang Tie stood up once again and picked the 3rd leakless fruit.
With the 3rd burning dragon, the stick of spiritual feather's luster turned purple. When it turned extremely purple, the entire Shrine surging point and that stick of spiritual feather slightly shocked as a ball of golden, brilliant bird-shape flame flew out of that stick of spiritual feather and started to circle around that stick of spiritual feather.
Even though, the 3rd flame's energy had not been completely exhausted. After this ball of golden flame was produced, the stick of spiritual feather's color recovered to its original look as it continued to absorb the dragon's energy; finally, the 3rd fire dragon's energy was exhausted as the stick of spiritual feather started to radiate orange luster. The entire Shrine surging point recovered its tranquility once again, leaving that stick of spiritual feather radiating orange luster and a golden bird-shape flame circling around it.
Zhang Tie looked inside for a second. After recalling the order of lighting surging points according to 'King Roc Sutra', Zhang Tie focused on that golden bird-shaped flame, which then flew out of his Shrine surging point and headed for Zhang Tie's heart like a real bird leaving its nest.
In Zhang Tie's heart, there were 7 manifested invisible surging points and runes in each of them. At this moment, the 7 invisible surging points were like 7 shadows composed of virtual glass.
After locking one surging point, that golden bird dove into it at once.
Closely after that, the invisible barriers of that surging point on his heart broke into pieces at once. When his heart quivered a bit, Zhang Tie felt breaking a shackle as a strand of energy poured out of his heart. All the cells in his body were cheering.
After touching that dark rune in the invisible surging point, the golden bird-shape flame integrated into it at once. Soon after that, the rune brightened up like a burning fire-pan as it radiated a golden light. As a result, it brightened the entire surging point. After that, with a sound "boom", the surging point was completely lit as it started to radiate golden luster like a burning torch.
From then on, the first invisible surging point out of the 34 surging points on the spine was lit as Zhang Tie stepped onto the advancement road of 'King Roc Sutra'.
Under the small tree, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. This was just a new start. He was not satisfied with it. After picking himself up from the ground once again, he picked another leakless fruit and ate it...
3 hours later, he ate another leakless fruit.
After eating another 2 leakless fruits, the stick of spiritual feather produced another ball of a golden bird of flame. Meanwhile, the stick of spiritual feather turned red...
At this moment, another golden bird-shape flame flew out of the Shrine once again. This time, it didn't head for Zhang Tie's heart; instead, it locked a manifested invisible surging point in the qi sea at his lower abdomen and lit it like how it lit the one in the heart.
After the second invisible surging point was lit, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. He started his cultivation in the morning; however, it was already deep night in Castle of Black Iron now. Heller was still standing on his side. Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground and was going to pick the 6th leakless fruit; however, Heller persuaded.
"Castle Lord, you've already lit 2 surging points in the past 16 hours. You need to adapt to the change in your physical strength and supply a large amount of energy. At this moment, you need to take a rest and let your body have a buffering effect!"
Soon after Heller's suggestion, Zhang Tie's stomach had started to grumble. After throwing a glance at the rest leakless fruits on the tree, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. He then went downstairs from the high platform where the small tree was planted as he waved his hand, "Alright, I will eat something and go to bed. I will be back tomorrow!"
"That's right. If you want to be the real powerful man, you need to control your desire. Nothing powerful and valuable could be obtained easily." Heller said thoughtfully.
...
After having a bumper supper, Zhang Tie took a walk at the top of the mountain. After that, he drank two vials of all-purpose medicament and went to bed...
When he woke up the next day, he cleansed himself as casual as usual. After that, he ate breakfast and took a walk. When he felt better both spiritually and physically, he sat under the small tree and started to eat leakless fruits.
Zhang Tie would cultivate 16 hours a day under the small tree. Besides lighting 2 invisible surging points a day, he would rest, sleep and supply energy so that his body could adapt to the change brought by burning surging points.
Although it felt limited in time, everything was undergoing regularly.
During this process, Zhang Tie genuinely understood why it was called 'Robust Ox Skill', an incomplete version of 'King Roc Sutra'. After lighting 5 invisible surging points, the terrifying strength which was as robust as a ferocious ox constantly poured out of his body like the flood, which shocked Zhang Tie too much...
On the 4th day, after lighting the 8th invisible surging point, he felt the strength of qi, the strength of blood, the strength of bone, the strength of marrow, the strength of channel, the strength of vein and the strength of god were back and growing stronger.
The emperor-level secret knowledge showed its terrifying power once again...
Chapter 617: The Power of a Strong Fighter
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
When in conscientious cultivation, Zhang Tie felt time flying.
He even didn't find that his broken leg had already healed.
He needed to light 21 invisible surging points to promote to LV 10 from LV 9. The 21 invisible surging points spread all over his body. Sometimes, even Zhang Tie felt that he was not cultivating but decoding a very advanced safe in a special method.
His body was a safe with a 987-digit code. The front 34 digits were easily decoded; however, the later 953-digit code became complex and difficult to decode.
In the beginning, Zhang Tie thought that there ought to be some rules to light the invisible surging points. Later on, he knew that no rules existed at all. Perhaps, for the human body's safe, each surging point carried an unusual meaning and effect. There was a hidden special part behind each surging point. When all the special parts were integrated with each other, they would form a human body, the most precise machine in the world, which could not run if lacking any of its parts.
'It seemed that the function of secret knowledge was to tell people how to assemble this most precise machine in a certain method and order. After injecting energy into the machine, people would start it once again.' Zhang Tie thought.
...
Zhang Tie lit his 9th invisible surging point on the bone under his left first toenail.
...
The 10th invisible surging point being lit was on a small piece of triangular bone inside his right ear.
...
He lit the 11th invisible surging point on his liver; then one on his throat, one on his skull, some near his qi sea, one on the bone under his right first toenail, one on his lowest abdominal muscle, one on the left sole and one on the piece of triangular bone inside his right ear...
These invisible surging points were not lit according to a certain order; however, after lighting each invisible surging point, Zhang Tie felt that he did that naturally or the invisible surging point was indeed lit according to some rule or at the certain rhythm. Nevertheless, the rule and rhythm were out of the reach of people's imagination in this age. Therefore, it looked chaotic.
Zhang Tie asked Heller the outcome of making a mistake. Heller told him that he could have a try in the trouble-reappearance situation after lighting all the invisible surging points according to the incomplete version of 'King Roc Sutra'. If he tried in the real world, the only result would be Game Over at once...
The effect of leakless fruits remained unchanged. Precisely, it required him to consume 7 leakless fruits to light each 3 invisible surging points. He needed to consume 49 leakless fruits to promote to LV 10 from LV 9.
On December 1, after sitting 11 days consecutively under the small tree, Zhang Tie ate the 48th and the 49th leakless fruit.
When it was about 12 am at noon, a LV 6 black spider-totem, a LV 7 huge centipede-totem, a LV 8 king snake-totem and a LV 9 bloody scorpion-totem appeared behind him at the same time, which formed a wonder in the sky...
Zhang Tie didn't know that the moment the battle-qi totems rose behind him, Heller had already waved his hand as the colorful clouds started to cover the entire peak and dozens of square kilometers' land under the peak. As a result, those people in the town could not see clearly what was happening here; neither did they know that the God they worshiped was promoting to LV 10.
At the sight of the four battle-qi totems behind Zhang Tie, Edward, Agan and Aziz instantly ran over here. Standing outside the range of the small tree with Heller, they watched Zhang Tie with an amazing and admiring look.
"Heller, what's happening to our master?" Aziz asked.
Aziz, Edward and Agan were masters in their own lines. However, they had very limited knowledge about other things. Therefore, they could only learn them later on.
"Castle Lord has officially entered LV 10. This is the symbol of promoting to LV 10, totem digestion..." Heller replied with a satisfactory look.
Soon after Heller finished his words, the four totems behind Zhang Tie had started to change.
The huge centipede totem moved like a real one as it engulfed the hell black spider; after that, the king snake swallowed the huge centipede; closely after that, the king snake was eaten by the bloody scorpion, which grew larger at least one time. However, the final winner didn't live longer. It immediately turned into a golden rain of light and poured into Zhang Tie's body from the top of his head.
Zhang Tie opened his eyes and stood up. His eyes were full of shrewd lights as his bones started to crack like fried beans for about 2 minutes. After that, Zhang Tie rapidly grew over 3 cm higher in the gaze of Heller, Aziz, Agan and Edward.
Zhang Tie finally understood how it felt to open his qi sea. After lighting 46 invisible surging points, Zhang Tie felt space was opened over there, which covered the Shrine surging point. As a result, the iron-blood battle qi swimming through his body immediately returned to the space of the qi sea and gathered there like it found its home.
Additionally, the iron-blood battle qi that gathered in the qi sea seemed to be compressed. It was of higher density and greater energy. Moreover, it became more flexible. At this moment, the iron-blood battle qi all over his body integrated into one unity.
With energy surging and battle qi rising in the qi sea, Zhang Tie became thrilled. At this moment, he finally understood how it felt as a LV 10 strong fighter. What a great, great, great power!
Zhang Tie couldn't wait to roar. Closely after that, he sprung up from the ground below the small tree. Due to a pair of powerful legs, he could jump over 10 m high in the sky. When he was still in the sky, he punched a 1.7 m thick parasol tree over 20 m away.
Zhang Tie felt like shooting a cannonball as a red fist being covered with red battle-qi luster flew out as faster as a lightning bolt. In a split second, his fist had struck that parasol tree.
With a boom, the wood dust flew in all directions from the hard trunk, causing a fist-sized hole through its trunk.
Before landing on the ground, Zhang Tie had already launched the second round of attack with his foot, while an ax-shape battle qi luster flew out of his foot and hacked onto the ground like a huge ax. As a result, a trough about 1 m long and half a meter deep was left on the ground more than 10 m away.
After that, Zhang Tie landed on the ground as he burst out into laughter. After so many days of cultivation, he finally felt being confident once again.
"Congratulations, Castle Lord, you've promoted to LV 10 and stepped onto the road of becoming a powerful person!" Heller walked towards Zhang Tie and suggested, "Castle Lord, do you want to try the javelins?"
"Yup!"
The moment Zhang Tie replied had Agan, Aziz and Edward carried some heavy javelins over here jubilantly with a flattering look.
Zhang Tie took a heavy javelin and weighed it with his hands. He felt it was as light as a stick of straw. Zhang Tie knew that it was not because the javelin became lighter, but he became stronger.
The moment Edward and Aziz took the target and ran away had they been stopped by Zhang Tie.
"No need. There're so many trees here. I can shoot them..."
Soon after saying this, Zhang Tie had thrown his javelin towards one shagbark more than 400 m away at the foot of the mountain.
This time, the sonic boom turned lighter. By contrast, when the shagbark was struck, a thunder boom drifted from afar; meanwhile, the entire shagbark was broken into pieces, leaving a huge pit on the ground.
Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this strike. It was at least two times more effective than that of before. With such a great power, Zhang Tie knew that a LV 11 wing demon would not pose any threat to him anymore.
Through this advancement, Zhang Tie knew that his battle strength had increased by more than two times. His battle pattern had changed greatly because he could realize battle qi attack without having to touch the opponent now. After promoting to LV 10, he became qualified to cultivate some senior battle skills and martial arts. A wholly new gate was opened to him from then on. Heller was right. This was the start to be a real powerhouse.
After doing some warm-up, Zhang Tie noticed that the entire mountain was covered by the colorful clouds.
"Heller, what happened?"
"Castle Lord, when you promoted to LV 10, there was an abnormal phenomenon. As it was very eye-catching, if those residents in the town saw such a phenomenon which would appear when a commoner promoted to LV 10 on the God's mountain, they might wave their belief. Therefore, I covered that place with colorful clouds!" Heller explained.
Zhang Tie didn't agree with Heller's deed because he felt that Heller cared too much about their belief. However, as Heller was always meticulous and did this for his sake, Zhang Tie didn't say anything about that.
If Zhang Tie was a commoner, he must have been very satisfied; however, after being thrilled, Zhang Tie threw his glance towards that small tree once again. The iron-body fruits that he obtained through torture were still hanging over there. Additionally, there were another over 150 leakless fruits. "Compared to having them hang over there, I'd better turn all of those fruits into my battle strength..."