Chapter 618: Being Dauntless and Progressive
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Although having promoted to LV 10, Zhang Tie was not satisfied with his current achievement; instead, he continued to improve his fighting strength.
According to Heller's suggestion, after promoting to LV 10, he'd better eat all the iron-body fruits so as to raise his strike-resistant ability to a new height.
Previously, it took him at least 7 days of strike in Crystal Battle Fortress for an iron-body fruit. However, after falling in the hand of Senel Clan, it only took him a few days to form 5 iron-body fruits. Given this fast speed, it could be imagined how cruel torture had he experienced.
Take Zhang Tie's leg as an instance. The leg was fully broken one part after another using instrument of torture. This sharp pain was as unbearable as in the hell. Besides the stripe on his scalded skin all over his body, there were other kinds of cruel tortures, each of which could collapse commoners.
With those cruel tortures, even a piece of iron would be smelt; however, Zhang Tie survived.
Of course, he obtained the fruits after experiencing the hell-like pains. Zhang Tie felt that he should appreciate the small tree. The small tree brought him the last beacon of hope in all pains. Because of the small tree, he escaped out of that cell.
Zhang Tie took 2 days to digest the 5 iron-body fruits.
Just like qualitative changes that happened when he lit sufficient invisible surging points, after digesting 5 more iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie felt his strike-resistant ability had met a qualitative change.
In Zhang Tie's words, he finally understood the term 'Iron man'. The term 'Iron man' could be well defined by the following data through the test made by Heller for him after he digested 5 iron-body fruits.
Heller said Zhang Tie finally reached a small achievement after eating so many iron-body fruits these years. Over 95% of Zhang Tie's body parts had been immune to pure barbarous force and strike from blunt objects below 900 kg, except for his eyes, nose, ears and inguen. That was to say, any force below 900 kg would cause no harm to Zhang Tie any longer.
Eyes, nose, ears and inguen which were very fragile for commoners, Zhang Tie could still bear over 10 times more pure barbarous force and strike from blunt objects.
Besides being fully immune to blunt objects and barbarous force below 900 kg, his body could also bear more physical harms caused by other blunt objects, high temperature or flames or battle qi strike.
Heller told Zhang Tie about his strike-resistant ability to those harms vividly.
"Simply, if you are naked now, you would not be scalded by 100 degree Celsius anymore. If an average 6-year old kid stabs you with a common blade or sword, he would not make you bleed. Your toxins-resistant ability has increased by 4%; your spiritual-strike-resistant ability has increased 5%; all the battle qi strikes on you would be weakened by 3%-12% or so."
"Battle qi strikes' effects on you would be specifically determined by the battle qi's level and features. If a person who cultivates iron-blood battle qi attacks you, you could only be immune to 4% of its total effect. If the battle qi is fury-wave battle qi, robust ox battle qi, fiery-flame battle qi or crescent battle qi, you could be immune to above 9% of its full effect.
"There's one point you need to know, iron-body fruit brings you the natural physical ability, which could not be brought by any secret knowledge and fighting skills. If you could learn some defensive secret knowledge and fighting skills in the future, you could have a defensive effect bonus on the basis of those fighting skills and secret knowledge."
Zhang Tie knew that although his harm-resistant ability could not match that pervert ability to walk out of the magma safe and sound like Zhao Yuan, his master, it was at least top-class in the same level. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt being immortal and proud in front of many low-level fighters.
Through Heller's words, Zhang Tie immediately understood many things. He realized why Heller always persuaded him to not belittle the effects of iron-body fruits.
Iron-body fruits could improve his physical qualities and defensive ability in all aspects for sure, including harm-resistance and defense against stunt and sharp objects, physical harm-resistance and defense against flames and high temperature, strike-resistance and defense against spiritual force, toxins and battle qi.
The body was the basis of everything. Only with a powerful body could one survive in the chaotic world. A strong and firm body could grant people with great and firm confidence and belief and enable them to face dilemma and challenges more calmly.
"Castle Lord, If you had not fallen asleep for 3 years because of Abyan, you should have reached this effect when you were promoted to LV 9. If you had such a strong body at LV 9, you would have fewer dangers when facing those difficulties and enemies!" Heller told Zhang Tie with full moods.
Zhang Tie nodded forcefully. He has indeed missed a lot during the 3 years. Thankfully, he still had a chance to mend it up. At least, the leakless fruits were kept hanging over the small tree. He could catch up with the schedule.
On the 3rd day since he digested those iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie continued to sit under the small tree and eat leakless fruits.
The world after LV 10 was different from that of before LV 10 in many aspects. To be a LV 6 fighter was a key watershed on the road of cultivation while becoming a LV 10 strong fighter was another watershed. The scenery before and after the two watersheds was entirely different.
Before LV 6, cultivators could neither use battle qi nor gather magical beasts' soul flames to produce battle-qi totem.
Before LV 10, cultivators could not launch the long-distance battle-qi strike. From LV 6 to LV 9, battle-qi totem on each level was fixed. Without integrating with the same level of soul flame, cultivators could not make further cultivation and advancement.
After LV 10, everything changed greatly. Cultivators could launch the long-distance battle-qi strike. Soul flames' influence on cultivators had two major changes.
First, magical beasts' soul flames which could be integrated by LV 10 strong fighters started to become rare. They could not be easily owned by people; instead, they became a rarity for cultivators.
Second, cultivators didn't have to integrate with soul flames so as to promote.
The first change could be understood easily. Because magical beasts above LV 10 could be rarely obtained, of course, their soul flames became rare. Only a few of magical beasts above LV 10 were above the ground. Most of the magical beasts above this level would hide in the deeper underground world or adventurous, unpopulated places. Without great efforts and a high price, commoners could barely see magical beasts above LV 10, not to mention their soul flames.
As to the second change, when a person reached LV 10, his physical potential treasure would be further tapped. As the most spiritual living being, after promoting to LV 10, people could be self-sufficient and didn't need soul flames to promote themselves anymore. Of course, it didn't mean that soul flames became useless after LV 10; conversely, after LV 10, soul flames became more effective and more precious to cultivators compared to that before LV 10. Because soul flames could stimulate one's battle qi to mutate and add some extra attributes or certain great abilities to the cultivator. This effect was enough to drive people mad.
Because of the above two reasons, the battle-qi totem and abilities of powerhouses started to change greatly after LV 10. Many people could not integrate with soul flames after LV 10; therefore, their battle-qi totems became popular 'Whiteboard Totems'.
There were no powerful magical beasts in the 'Whiteboard Totems'; instead, there were only bright points that represented the surging points that had been lit in one's body. Because of those bright points, 'Whiteboard Totem' was also called 'Starry Totem'.
By contrast, those powerhouses after LV 10 who had integrated with soul flames would have both starry points and a powerful magical beast image. Besides being more magnificent, the combination of magical beast's image and the starry totem also represented the cultivator's greater fighting strength. Accordingly, the battle qi's power and feature would be greatly different than that which had not integrated with soul flames.
Before LV 10, each level from LV 6-LV 9 could integrate with soul flame once. Besides, the level of the soul flame should be consistent with the level of the cultivator. Whereas, after LV 10, before one became a knight, each person only had one chance to integrate with soul flame, which didn't have to be consistent with the level of soul flame. If a LV 10 strong fighter was able and talented, he or she could integrate with the soul flame of a powerful LV 16 magical beast so as to change his battle qi's power greatly.
At this moment, Zhang Tie's battle-qi totem was a 'Whiteboard Totem'. In his battle-qi totem, there were 55 bright points in the rolling iron-blood banner, which represented the number of surging points that he had lit in his body after promoting to a strong fighter.
At this moment, Zhang Tie didn't have any super powerful magical beast's soul flame to integrate with. Neither was he worried about that. It was a major event for each cultivator to integrate with a magical beast's soul flame after LV 10. They had to treat it meticulously. Besides fortune and ability, cultivators needed to consider a lot of aspects. Without proper soul's flame, cultivators would maintain their 'Whiteboard Totem' even at LV 16.
Zhang Tie continued his cultivation.
As an incomplete version of 'King Roc Sutra', 'Robust Ox Sutra' could only allow the cultivators to be the 3-star fighter at most. Zhang Tie needed to light 34 invisible surging points from LV 10 to LV 11, which was as difficult as lighting the number of surging points from LV 1 to LV 9. Zhang Tie only needed to light another 13 surging points orderly so as to promote to a 3-star strong fighter.
Only after 7 days, when Zhang Tie lit another 13 invisible surging points, the "Robust Ox Skill" didn't work for him anymore.
That was the toughest cultivation moment...
On the afternoon of December 9th, after lighting the last surging point on "Robust Ox Skill" and producing another ball of golden flame from the stick of spiritual feather in the Shrine, Zhang Tie left the small tree. After that, he ate some food, took a rest, then walked; then he stood on the top of the mountain and watched those people living in the town. Until Zhang Tie felt that his body had recovered to the optimal state physically and spiritually did he return to the small tree and sat down.
Knowing that the later cultivation process would be extremely tough and frustrating, Heller warned Zhang Tie, "Castle Lord, you'd better choose a trouble-reappearance situation which consumes the least spiritual energy. In this way, you could make attempts by constantly activating the trouble-reappearance situation with your spiritual energy. According to my most optimistic estimation, if you want to find the next accurate invisible surging point to light, you need to die at least 450 times in the trouble-reappearance situation."
"Alright!"
After saying that, Zhang Tie closed his eyes. After activating a trouble-reappearance situation, he entered it in a split second.
...
Sea waves, refreshing wind, sand beach and sunshine, Zhang Tie watched the place where he collected blue sea iron ores in the west of the Hidden Dragon Island and revealed a smile.
Standing on the beach, he saw a small sea snake in the sea, which was twisting its body and waiting to give Zhang Tie a fierce bite.
Zhang Tie didn't care about that small sea snake; instead, he found a higher clean rock on the beach and sat on it with legs crossed. He started to visualize his Shrine surging point. The ball of golden flame which could light the next invisible surging point was still in the Shrine surging point. However, there were 919 invisible surging points to be lit in his body.
"Which one first?" Zhang Tie glanced over all of them before revealing a bitter smile, "Whatever, no matter what I choose, the accuracy is less than 1/900. No need to hesitate at all."
Thinking in this way, Zhang Tie allowed that ball of golden flame to fly into an invisible surging point on the top of his head. He prepared to try from the top for the sake of memory...
The ball of golden flame integrated with the highest surging point. In the next second, he heard the sound of breaking glass. After opening his eyes, he found he had exited the trouble-reappearance situation and returned to the small tree.
Zhang Tie became a bit surprised, "Ah? What's wrong? It's so fast..."
"You failed the first time, my lord. You've been destroyed and died one time in the trouble-reappearance situation. Therefore, you exited there!" Heller replied calmly.
"I've been destroyed so fast? But I didn't feel any pain at all."
"It needs human neurons some time to feel pain. The feeling of pain is transmitted to a certain region in the human brain in the form of electronic signal. When the speed of self-destruction is faster than the transmission speed of that electronic signal, everything would come to an end before you feel any pain! Castle Lord, do you want to see what was happening at that time?"
"Yup!"
Heller waved his hand as a holographic scene appeared in front of Zhang Tie. After standing on a beech for a short while, Zhang Tie sat on a clean piece of rock. After a few seconds, with a sound of 'bang', his body exploded into bloody mist at once, leaving nothing at all.
At the sight of the scene, Zhang Tie felt chilly all over as he quivered once, "This...this is the outcome of lighting the wrong surging point? If I did this in the reality, will I have the same outcome?"
"Yes, once you've made a mistake in cultivation, you wouldn't even have time to feel the pain of being destroyed by the emperor-level secret knowledge. After selecting the wrong target, it means that you've pressed down a switch of a bomb. As a result, the 987 surging points would explode in a split second like 987 mini alchemist bombs. They would leave any time for you to make any physical response and feel any pain! The benefit of this is that you won't have any experience in wounds or pain physically or spiritually in the trouble-reappearance situation. As long as you have sufficient spiritual energy, you can constantly try it..." Heller explained solemnly.
After being silent for a short while, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "It's indeed tough to recover the complete emperor-level secret knowledge. However, now that I choose it, I will continue!"
After saying these words, Zhang Tie sat down with crossed legs once again. He closed his eyes and activated the same trouble-reappearance situation once again.
After a few seconds, Zhang Tie opened his eyes once again. He failed again...
13 hours later, after being exploded 796 times, he finally lit the accurate invisible surging point on a muscle of his calf below his knee. This time, he didn't explode. Instead, the new lit surging point became consistent with other lit surging points, bringing a wholly new energy to Zhang Tie...
"That's it..."
Zhang Tie revealed a smile after opening his eyes.
Half an hour later, that surging point was lit in the real world...
"It's an improvement in the human history since the Catastrophe. Another emperor-level secret knowledge starts to recover its original brilliance." Heller, who was standing on Zhang Tie's side, concluded in a solemn look.
Zhang Tie smiled. He directly left the small tree silently, after eating supper he went to bed. After getting up on the next day, he came to the foot of the small tree once again. After picking 2 leakless fruits and eating them, he took a short rest before entering the same trouble-reappearance situation.
After being exploded 487 times, Zhang Tie found a new surging point, the 15th surging point from LV 10 to LV 11...
...
This time, Zhang Tie sat under the small tree for about 3 months...
Chapter 619: A Powerful Ability
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Time: 4 am, March 14th, the 895th year of Black Iron Calendar...
Location: A tower in Ironedge Castle of Senel Clan outside Tokei City, the capital of Titanic Duchy...
At this moment, the Ironedge Castle was like a stiff monster falling asleep in the pitch-dark night...
In the empty tower, a rat appeared in a corner along the wall of the aisle in a blink of an eye.
That rat had smooth fur which seemed having been well maintained. It looked shrewd all over.
The rat stood up like a person. After looking around, it sniffed. At the sight of the thick layer of dust on the floor, the rat looked a bit frustrated.
After finding that nobody was near here and the environment here became different than that a few months ago, it darted along the wall. In a split second, it had reached the staircase. Soon after that, it climbed downstairs...
There was a lobby on the first floor with an opening gate towards the outside. There were some scattered rocks and broken objects. All the items had been covered with dust. Half of a wall in the hall had collapsed. Along the moonlight from the broken hole on the collapsed wall, the rat saw this place clearly.
There was neither lamplight nor human here. It seemed having experienced a sharp change.
The rat ran all the way to the gate of the lobby. Standing at the stage outside the gate, he watched the Ironedge Castle with a dumbfounded look.
The rat found the Ironedge Castle had been completely abandoned. It looked desolate and shabby all over.
It had to be abandoned as half of its buildings had encountered a huge destruction and turned into debris. The greater part of Ironedge Castle's main buildings had collapsed. The yard of the square in the center of the castle had been covered with weeds, which were slightly waving in the night wind...
Under the moonlight, there were tweets of crickets among the weeds.
When the rat was glancing over the scene, a huge colorful cat which had long treated this place as his home was lowering its body and drawing close to the rat. The rat which was glancing at the scene out of curiosity was a rare night snack in the eyes of the big colorful cat.
The rat seemed not having found that the cat was drawing near. Drooling saliva, the big colorful cat soon narrowed the distance to 2 m. It then charged towards the rat as fast as a lightning bolt.
...
The rat didn't scream; instead, the big colorful cat groaned after being extremely stunned.
The rat disappeared; instead, Zhang Tie appeared as he glanced at this place full of excitement.
At this moment, Zhang Tie disguised as Peter Hamplester who had returned from Ice and Snow Wilderness. He was lifting the skin on the cat's neck with two fingers slightly. Facing such a thing, the cat became so scared that it kept groaning out of panic.
After calming down, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he placed the big colorful cat on the ground. Being too scared to look back, the cat escaped away at the fastest speed.
Wandering in this utterly different castle, Zhang Tie glanced at the changes here. In the square, Zhang Tie saw a 2-m deeper pit and the cracking ground nearby. In the deserted building, Zhang Tie saw the same radioactive, destructive pattern. The only reason that caused this outcome was that this place had been attacked by the alchemist bombs.
Although Zhang Tie didn't know what happened here during the past months, there was only point to confirm that besides the troops of the allied human forces, no other forces could have such a power across Waii Sub-continent.
Zhang Then climbed onto the top of the half-collapsed wall, from where he looked at the distance and was shocked greatly.
Dozens of pyramid-sized gravetower demons outside the Tokei City had disappeared. Even the exterior city wall of the Tokei City had been severely destroyed. The ground had been covered with human airship wrecks.
Looking at the distance, Zhang Tie saw at least 1000 human airship wrecks within dozens of square miles...
Under the moonlight, many human airship wrecks only remained their skeletons which supported the hard-type air sacs. Some of the skeletons were well preserved; some had been twisted like bones of dead warriors as they shined desolate brilliance.
This was a miserable large-scale battle. The human airship troop raided Tokei City and used the alchemist bombs to destroy all of the gravetower demons here. However, as a payment, human airship troop also suffered a great loss.
When Zhang Tie recalled Lan Yunxi, he became concerned at once; however, after thinking about Lan Yunxi's status, he recovered his composure again. Zhang Tie knew that Lan Yunxi would never be permitted to sacrifice in such a miserable battle by Zhang Clan or Lan Clan. Even if Lan Yunxi's airships crashed, they would escort her away too.
"I wonder what's going on in Selnes Theater of Operations?"
"Over the past months, the entire Selnes Theater of Operations must have experienced a great change."
Zhang Tie instantly disappeared. After a few seconds, a big bird appeared. It flapped its wings and rushed to hundreds of meters high in a blink of an eye and headed for Tokei City in the distance.
That bird was the wounded thunder hawk that Zhang Tie bought in the illegal demon hunters market. After recuperating several months in Castle of Black Iron, it had completely recovered; additionally, with the help of all-purpose medicament, the thunder hawk had reached its heyday. Under the moonlight, its feathers were shining like metal. Only after a few breaths, it had already reached one mile away.
At this moment, Zhang Tie was sitting calmly under the small tree in Castle of Black Iron while the thunder hawk became his second incarnation after the rat.
Previously, Zhang Tie even didn't imagine that he could manipulate in this way.
In the process of using soul-based animal controlling skill of 'Great Wilderness Sutra', he had to protect his original body. In that state, his body was just like a plant man who only breathed. It couldn't sense or move at all. If not being protected well, even a 3-year old kid or a wild-dog could kill him. It was always a shortcoming of soul-based animal controlling skill.
If the incarnation was dead, the manipulator's awareness and senses could recover on the original body; at most losing some aura qi and source soul. Although it felt not good, at least the manipulator would not die. However, if the original body was dead, the manipulator would indeed die. He didn't even have a chance to mend it up.
Therefore, when the disciples of Great Wilderness School applied soul-based animal controlling skill, they always hid their original body in a safe place or put them under the eyes of the elders of the same school. Otherwise, once there was an emergency, they would die for sure.
For Zhang Tie, Castle of Black Iron was the safest place for him. Nobody could break in without his consent. In Castle of Black Iron, his original body could be well protected. With Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie could apply soul-based animal controlling skill without any concern.
What did Zhang Tie's incarnation mean to Castle of Black Iron?
Previously, Zhang Tie had to exit from the same place where he entered Castle of Black Iron. After having incarnations, he could exit wherever he wanted as long as he controlled the incarnation.
In Heller's words, the 'anchored' space coordinate of Castle of Black Iron changed with the location of Zhang Tie's incarnation outside Castle of Black Iron. When Zhang Tie's incarnation left Castle of Black Iron, it was nothing different than Zhang Tie leaving Castle of Black iron. Similarly, when Zhang Tie's incarnation entered Castle of Black Iron, it was nothing different than Zhang Tie entering it himself.
This was a very powerful ability. It meant that he could appear anywhere where his incarnation could arrive as long as that space could hold his body. What a magic!
However, this was not a magic, but a bonus effect after Castle of Black Iron combined with 'Great Wilderness Sutra'. This effect fully displayed 1 plus 1 was greater than 1...
After combining the ability of Castle of Black Iron and the most mysterious soul-based animal controlling skill of 'Great Wilderness Sutra', Zhang Tie instantly obtained a powerful ability. Although his fighting strength didn't increase, he gained endless possibilities and a fantastic means.
Chapter 620: Being a Thunder Hawk
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
After being incarnated into a thunder hawk, Zhang Tie felt pretty cool flying in the sky, which could never be matched by a glider or the man-powered plane.
Thunder hawk was a very fierce mutated LV 1 living being. Its speed and agility in the sky could never be matched by any other birds. As a result, it had no natural enemy in the sky.
At this moment, Zhang Tie felt the real freedom in the sky.
Thunder hawk moved much faster than the man-powered plane or a glider driven by Zhang Tie. However, it was as easy as a commoner taking a walk on the ground for the thunder hawk. It felt no stress at all.
Flying in the sky, Zhang Tie felt as relaxed as a fish entering the water. He felt pretty relaxed by using the airflow and flapping his wings. Zhang Tie's body was lifted autonomously by the airflow through its feathers without any resistance.
Although being flying, it was as easy as taking a walk in the wild field for Zhang Tie.
Although Zhang Tie had tried to incarnate in a thunder hawk many times when he was in Castle of Black Iron these days, the space in Castle of Black Iron was limited compared to the outside. When he exited Castle of Black Iron, he really started to enjoy the flight.
What Zhang Tie was interested in most was the vision of the thunder hawk. Among all animals, birds had best visions; compared to that of humans, thunder hawk must have a greater vision. When in flight, even if it was in the evening, with the help of a bit moonlight, it could see clearly all the kinds of stuff on the ground. Even a rat in weeds over miles away could not escape away from its eyes.
Thunder hawk was born with a powerful sharpening effect. Like combining telescope with some special optical imaging instrument, it could see clearly very distant stuff like it was right in front of his eyes. If not Zhang Tie had a dark vision, his natural vision could never match that of a thunder hawk.
After leaving Ironedge Castle, Zhang Tie used his instinct to fly. He soon arrived at Tokei City.
The city wall of Tokei City was a bit damaged; however, there were still people inside the city.
Zhang Tie saw squads of demonized puppets patrolling in the city and various things happening in dark corners.
In the dark corners, some were doing something after dodging from demonized puppets; some were discussing something in a low voice; some were trading stuff in dim alleys; some women and men were seeking for sharp physical happiness in rooms behind curtains; some were murdering...
In a dim street in Tokei City, a man got off a carriage. When he was going to open the gate of a residence on the roadside, some humans in masks had sneaked out of the parterre on one side and stabbed into his heart, throat, neck and the place between his chest and abdomen with some pitch-dark daggers at the same time.
In a split second, the man had been stabbed dozens of times while his fresh blood sprayed over the stages outside the gate.
The man fell down. Those murderers instantly took his bag away from his hand. Before leaving, they even fumbled over his corpse before disappearing into that dark alley rapidly.
Before the man was killed, he uttered a miserable shriek, which woke up the person inside the residence. At this moment, the lamp in one room of the residence was turned on...
When a woman in pajama hurriedly went downstairs and opened the gate with candles in hand, the killers had long escaped over 500 m away.
Those killers could never imagine that what they had done was captured by a pair of sharp eyes hovering in the sky.
After escaping 2-3 miles away, the killers slowed down as they entered a slum of slaves. After hiding in a place, they unveiled their masks. They were young men who looked both flurried and excited. They opened the bag and found it was filled with food like bread. They shared the food and left there...
At the sight of this, Zhang Tie realized that the man being killed ought to be a small figure in the order chain of Senel Clan in Tokei City who had surrendered to Senel Clan and demons. He was followed by some audacious slaves. At the risk of losing their lives, those young men killed him outside the gate of his residence——perhaps for bread or opposing the ruling of Senel Clan and demons.
It was said that where there was oppression, there would be resistance. It was too normal to see such an event in Tokei City.
The alleged order of Scala was just not voluntary. It was not the real order. Although it could run bloodily and icily in the daytime, someone would attempt to break it in the evening.
This order was not real. Demons and Three-eye Association just turned cities into huge prisons and warehouses of fresh human blood and fleshes. In this order, demons were the rulers, those b*stards of Three-eye Association were the managers of the prisons. This was the truth of the alleged order of the new world mentioned by those sc*mbags of Three-eye Association.
Different view angles indeed led to different feelings. Hovering in the sky, after witnessing various people and this murder, Zhang Tie became enlightened as he instantly saw through the new world's order pursued by Scala and the Three-eye Association.
After leaving that region, Zhang Tie instantly arrived at the Sun Avenue of Tokei City according to the route in his memory. It was where Senel Clan put him under house arrest several months ago.
In the sky, he found that manor had been ruined into pieces. Many buildings on the street nearby the manor were damaged. However, the damages were not caused by the alchemist bombs but by another force.
"What happened?" a whim occurred to Zhang Tie's mind, "Someone came here to save me?"
'Who's that?'
Zhang Tie started to search above the neighborhood with his sharp eyes. He found a tidy 3 square meters of a hole on the wall and a trace of being ploughed dozens of meters behind the wall.
"Lan Yunxi?" Not knowing why, at the sight of that trace, Zhang Tie immediately imagined how Lan Yunxi pursed his lips and forcefully pulled the bolt while being surrounded by numerous demonized puppets. Several years ago, Zhang Tie visited where Lan Yunxi fought Zhen powerhouses in Heavenly Cold City. The trace left by that battle was very similar to this one. However, it could not match such a great destructive force. It was caused by Lan Yunxi's battle bow which carried the bloodline power of the ancestors of Huaiyuan Palace...
It had happened a long time ago. Given the growth of the weeds in the ruins, Zhang Tie realized that it happened even earlier than the attack in Ironedge Castle.
The moment he thought that Lan Yunxi came here to save him had he felt crying although thunder hawk's eyes couldn't drop tears.
After knowing that neither Zhang Clan nor Lan Clan would allow Lan Yunxi to deepen in such an adventurous place, Zhang Tie became reassured. After combing with the scene outside the city which had been raided by the human airship troop, Zhang Tie speculated that it was Lan Yunxi who launched the air raid after confirming the threat of gravetower demons outside the city to the allied human forces in the frontline.
After lighting 1 of the 7 surging points on the heart, Zhang Tie didn't realize that he had become much smarter. His speculation was very close to the fact.
Zhang Tie continued to hover in the sky above Tokei City and observe this city. With the vision of the thunder hawk, Zhang Tie could see everything wherever he passed by. He felt like watching a huge man-made sand table. He could even see a part of those in windows if there were no curtains.
Compared to that several months ago, Tokei City looked much more desolate at this moment. All the large-scale demonized puppet camps outside the city were empty. After hovering above there a while, Zhang Tie didn't find any regular demon troop or wing demons at all. It was demonized puppets who maintained order here.
In this case, Zhang Tie paid special attention to the blocks which had the highest and most luxurious buildings in the south of Tokei City.
When Zhang Tie was wondering whether there were powerhouses of Senel Clan in Tokei City anymore at this moment, he saw a person among the buildings...
It was Navas, the sc*mbag.
Even though Zhang Tie could not see clearly his face in the dark, he could identify the b*stard's figure and his way of walking...
Chapter 621: A Great Decline
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Slightly bending over his body, Navas was holding a fluorescent lamp while his face was as wrinkled as orange peel. It seemed that he was not in a good condition.
Since he screwed up the stuff in Ironedge Castle several months ago, his position in Senel Clan had encountered a disastrous decline. The golden gate which had opened to him closed up once again. However, he was declined to a lower position, becoming a warehouse keeper of Senel Clan in Tokei City.
How could a warehouse keeper be as comfortable as a steward of the manor? It was a low-paid position. He was only accompanied by that fluorescent lamp in his hand and that whistle over his neck which could never be blown.
If it was several months ago, he must be hugging a beautiful female slave on the bed at this moment; however, now, he needed to make an inspection tour alone one time after another. Life became tougher for him.
"How could they blame me for Zhang Tie's escape..." Navas mumbled to comfort himself as he found nobody nearby. Over the past months, he had been used to mutter to himself, "The one executing the massacre in Tokei City was a knight. The one who saved Selnes Eagle away might also be a knight. Only knights could sneak into Ironedge Castle and take away an alive person from the hidden cell without being found. I'm just a small figure, even if I was on the spot, how could I stop a knight. I've served for Senel Clan over 2 decades. I've always been so loyal to you, how could you treat me this way? When the knight was executing a massacre in Tokei City, weren't you just hiding aside and watching it like me?"
After realizing the last words were not treacherous, Navas instantly looked around out of confidence. After finding nobody nearby, he muttered some more words as he lifted the fluorescent lamp and checked whether those warehouses had been locked.
This high-wall courtyard was in the most defensive core area of Tokei City. It was once where Titanic granduke, the ruler of Titanic Duchy met his mistress. Because Titanic granduke had a wife who was jealous and always dispatched killers to kill those who tried to steal his man from him. In order to prevent from being broken in from the outside by force, this courtyard was very hidden being surrounded with the high and thick wall, which brought them a great sense of safety and trust.
After Titanic Duchy collapsed, precisely after Titanic Duchy fell into the hand of Senel Clan, this place had become a warehouse of Senel Clan.
When Senel Clan collected all the wealth of the capital of the Titanic Duchy and the most part of the wealth of the country, they had to hide this wealth in hidden places. After filling the warehouse of the bank of Titanic Duchy and the secret warehouses of the Granduke Castle and Senel Clan with wealth, they had to hide the rest in this place where the Titanic granduke met his mistress.
If it was a southern human settlement which had not collapsed, Navas might be indolent when he was here alone. However, it was in the demon's territory, where he dared not even think about it.
There were two reasons. First, money and properties were forbidden to circulate in demons' territory. People had to submit in all the money and precious metal. You couldn't buy anything here with money; neither would there be any seller. As long as one was found having money and precious metal, the person would face the death penalty. Second, even if he tried to take something away from here, he could not cross the entire Titanic Duchy and escape to south with those items alone. If he persisted in escaping, he would be the food of those demonized puppets straying in the wild.
Senel Clan also knew that Navas dared not escape; therefore, they dispatched him here so that he could still do something for the clan.
At this moment, Navas was dreaming that one day a big figure of Senel Clan could remember his name and dispatch him away from this f*cking place. Meanwhile, he started to admire about that Selnes Eagle who escaped away from his hand.
"I was told that his aircraft could fly off from any place and maintain a fast speed in the sky. If I could do that..." Navas licked his lips as he exchanged a glance at that locked gate of the warehouse.
He knew what was in the warehouse. Those items which could not be consumed or traded in demons' territory were very useful to Senel Clan.
"I was told that Senel Clan members and 'nobles' in other demons' territories were still trading things using this item. Through the relationship and network of Three-eye Association, the items inside this warehouse could still work a lot in the humans' territory and human countries. After forbidding commoners to use and store these items in demons' territory, 'nobles' here could better plunder this wealth."
After making an inspection tour around the warehouse, Navas didn't find anything abnormal. Therefore, he lifted that fluorescent lamp and went to bed in his own room. He didn't know that a pair of eyes was gazing firmly at him from the sky.
Zhang Tie was still hovering in the sky. In his eyes, after making an inspection tour around some warehouses, Navas returned to his own room. Soon after that, the fluorescent lamp was turned off, making his room dark.
This was a hidden place. There's nobody nearby. After observing this place for a while, Zhang Tie confirmed that this was not a trap. Therefore, he sneered and plunged downward.
The thunder hawk incarnated by Zhang Tie dived so fast. At the beginning, it shot downwards like a bolt; when he was about 50 m away from the ground, Zhang Tie stretched out his wings adroitly. The airflow penetrated through his feathers slowed him down at once. Zhang Tie then glided down silently like a folded paper plane that kids usually played.
As long as it didn't flap its wings, thunder hawk would not cause any sound in gliding. Even if there was a bit sound, as it was mixed with the wind sound, it could not be easily noticed by people even powerhouses.
The thunder hawk landed behind parterre which was covered with tidy plants. Several seconds after the thunder hawk entered Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie himself appeared in the shadowy place of the parterre with a killing qi. Watching Navas entering his room less than 20 m away, Zhang Tie could hear how Navas turned over his body on the bed.
"What a coincidence!" Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet Navas after making an inspection tour in Tokei City.
If not encountered him here, Zhang Tie really didn't have time to revenge him. Even if he wanted to revenge, he would revenge Senel Clan's core members, instead of their lackeys. However, now that he met Navas, Zhang Tie would not pity him. The moment he remembered how cruel punishment had Navas executed on him with a sneer had he felt a killing qi surging in his mind.
Zhang Tie walked towards Navas' room silently.
At the front of the room, when Zhang Tie wanted to open the door's lock by battle qi, he found that the door was left open. He didn't know whether it was because of the b*stard's habit or that the b*stard forgot to close it. He just pushed open the door and walked inside.
"Who's that?" Navas who had not fallen asleep instantly sprung up from bed when he heard the low sound from the door.
A LV 6 fighter responded very fast at the critical moment, including Navas. Pitifully, his opponent was Zhang Tie.
With a distance of about 7-8 m, when Navas sprung up from the bed, Zhang Tie had already launched a punch towards him casually.
As a result, Navas didn't even have a chance to utter a sound before being slapped and fell back on the bed while spitting out a mouth of fresh blood. After that, he didn't move anymore.
Zhang Tie slowly walked over there.
Navas had already passed out. After checking him, Zhang Tie found that almost half of Navas' bones had been broken. At this moment, Navas looked pale golden who only had last breath.
Zhang Tie swore him in a low voice, "F*ck, you b*stard. Aren't you good at torturing people? But I have not realized that you were so fragile when I slapped you several months ago? Why?"
Zhang Tie remembered that he was just a LV 9 fighter whose battle strength had been sealed and had just lit 34 surging points on his spine when he slapped Navas several months ago; then he realized that he had already lit 125 surging points besides the Shrine surging point and had been a LV 11 5-star battle master; besides, he was cultivating iron-blood fist and 'King Roc Sutra', of course, he felt that Navas became fragile.
Zhang Tie scratched his head bashfully, "It's not because my opponent became weak, but I became strong. I've not been used to that."
When Zhang Tie watched Navas for a few seconds, he found Navas tilted his head as black blood flew out of his mouth corner. Navas was dead! He didn't even know who killed him. How pitiful!
"F*ck!" Zhang Tie swore inside. After staying in Castle of Black Iron several months, he was curious about what happened outside. When Zhang Tie was going to wake Navas up and ask him some questions, he seemed hopeless.
Zhang Tie then started to look around the room...
Navas' room was neither simple nor luxurious. The furnishings inside the room were nothing special at all. The moment Zhang Tie saw them had he wanted to leave. However, Zhang Tie's eyes were attracted by one object on the table near his bed's head.
That was a copper whistle.
"Whistle?" At the sight of that whistle, Zhang Tie instantly recalled what Navas was doing just now. "It seemed that Navas was making an inspection tour around those rooms with a fluorescent lamp while wearing a whistle over his neck. But what was he doing this for? It's strange. There was nobody else here. Why did he make an inspection tour and serve as a sentry just now?'
"Is he guarding something here for Senel Clan?"
The moment such a whim occurred to Zhang Tie had he become spirited, "At least, it won't be a pile of wastes." As long as it could strike and destroy Senel Clan, it would be meaningful for both Zhang Tie and humans in the holy war.
Zhang Tie then left Navas' room.
This was also a manor. Being different from other manors, everything in this manor looked a bit low-key.
There was a big house dozens of meters away from Navas' room. When Zhang Tie came to the front of the big house, he found the gate of this big house was locked. The former windows had been sealed from inside. Zhang Tie attempted to push the door as he found the door was made of metal. it was very heavy. It was out of Zhang Tie's imagination that this place was defended so strictly.
"F*ck!" Zhang Tie swore inside as he became more curious about the items inside the big house.
If not afraid of making a loud noise, of course Zhang Tie could break it by force. However, as it was deep evening, as long as he made any loud noise, he would attract the attention of others at once. Therefore, he could not break the metal gate by force.
"What should I do?"
A whim occurred to Zhang Tie's mind as he squatted down in a hidden place outside the house. He took out of a pair of dark tore gloves. After putting them on, he injected his battle qi inside the gloves. After that, he inserted it into that stony wall with his fingers like inserting into a piece of bean curd.
After deepening the distance of the wall, his fingers touched a layer of steel plate which was even harder than granite. It was not a common steel plate, but an alloy steel plate which was much harder than a common steel plate.
"There's a layer of high-intensity alloy steel plate inside this wall?" Zhang Tie swore inside as he intensified his strength. He soon tore open a hole on the alloy steel plate. After his entire arm entering it, he suddenly felt no resistance in front of his fingers anymore. Zhang Tie then knew that he had broken through the wall.
After drawing his arm out of that hole, Zhang Tie disappeared. After a few seconds, a rat appeared in the place where he disappeared. After throwing a glance at that hole, it sneaked inside at once...
Chapter 622: A Thorough Cleanup
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
After entering the house, Zhang Tie came out of Castle of Black Iron and started to look around this place. He then faintly frowned. With the help of his dark vision, he could see everything clearly here.
It looked like a huge warehouse. There was no furniture or decoration here. In the closely sealed house, Zhang Tie only saw piles of items. Like piles of straws in the open place of rural area, they were covered with a waterproof cloth.
The waterproof cloths were very new. There was no dust in the sealed house while a carpet was paved on the ground. It seemed that someone lived here before.
Zhang Tie walked to a pile of objects being covered with a piece of waterproof cloth and unveiled it at once.
Before unveiling it, Zhang Tie imagined what might be buried beneath there. He thought they were munitions; however, after opening it, he became stunned.
What in front of him were tidily placed pieces of golden rectangular ingot metal.
Each piece of those ingot metal was about 40 cm in length,10 cm in width and 7 cm in thickness. At the sight of those golden ingot metal, Zhang Tie felt vacant for 0.5 seconds. He could not believe what he saw. After that, he stretched out his hand and took a piece of an ingot metal.
It was so heavy. Weak commoners might not take it at all. Weighing it by hand, Zhang Tie knew it was gold for sure.
The line of letters on the piece of ingot metal also verified his judgment——GOLD, 99.999%, 100 KG.
Watching the gold ingots as high as his chest, Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva. Although he didn't know why Senel Clan would place so many golds here, he didn't want to think about it at this moment. What counted at the present was that he needed to take away all of these golds. Even the God would not allow him to leave so many golds alone here.
"F*ck, if I take away these golds, I will end the capital source of Three-eye Association. I'm contributing to humans in the holy war!" Zhang Tie found a fair reason for himself. After that, he swallowed a mouth of saliva and moved rapidly.
The moment he touched a piece of gold ingot had he teleported it into Castle of Black Iron. It was time to test Zhang Tie's speed. After making one circle around the pile of gold ingots and touching them with hands, he had teleported all of them into Castle of Black Iron.
A pile of gold ingots had 8 layers; each layer contained 25 gold ingots; each gold ingot weighed 100 kg. It meant one pile of gold ingots weighed 20,000 kg, namely 20 tons. Each standard gold coin weighed 25 grams. Each tone of gold ingots could be made into 40,000 standard gold coins. That was to say, a pile of gold ingots were worth 800,000 gold coins.
As Zhang Tie teleported those gold ingots into Castle of Black Iron, he started to calculate the value of each pile of gold ingots rapidly inside.
After glancing at this warehouse, Zhang Tie found at least 20-30 piles of gold ingots here.
Zhang Tie flashed across the entire warehouse as fast as how autumn wind swept leaves away from the ground.
After over 20 minutes, Zhang Tie left that empty warehouse.
The moment he left this warehouse had he heard some braking sounds of some vehicles outside the gate of the courtyard. After that, over 20 people jumped off the vehicles. The metal soles of their battle shoes touched the slate, causing disordered sounds. After a few seconds, someone opened the gate of the courtyard, causing a cracking sound.
Zhang Tie hid in the dark. Over 20 tough soldiers rushed in the courtyard. At the sight of the last person, Zhang Tie's pupils shrunk at once.
That one was Rouben, another son of Koz, the head of Senel Clan. Zhang Tie had seen him twice.
"Navas, that b*stard. What a crap! With such a loud noise, he's still sleeping like a dead pig. Besides flattering Scala, he's a crap for sure! If not he has served Senel Clan for so many years, I have long thrown him into gravetower demon. Even a puppet soldier is useful than him!" Rouben, who was tall and strong complained when Navas didn't come out to greet him. With a cold harrumph, he instructed a person beside him, "Go wake up Navas!"
"Yes, sir!" a subordinate immediately trotted towards Navas' room.
"No need!" Zhang Tie uttered a voice as he walked out of the shadow with a javelin in hand.
"Who's that?" Rouben roared as he turned around, followed by the other soldiers.
"Long time no see!" Zhang Tie greeted Rouben with a smile.
"You..." Rouben's pupils shrunk as he had already identified Zhang Tie. At this moment, although Zhang Tie's hair, eyes and skin had changed colors, he could still be easily identified by those who had seen him before.
Rouben became stunned for a second. He then revealed an ecstasy. After that, he became solemn and suspicious. He didn't launch an attack right away; neither did he allow his subordinates to launch an attack. Instead, he glittered his eyes and looked around. He wondered whether someone was hiding in the dark, "You were saved away last time. I've not imagined that you could surrender yourself. I think you are not brave to come back alone. I admit that you have sharp throwing skills; however, you're just LV 9, you could at most threaten a LV 10 strong fighter. It's not enough for me. Is there anybody in the dark? Whether the one who saved you is also here. Just show yourself!"
Watching Rouben's glittering eyes, Zhang Tie knew that this guy was suspicious and meticulous. Only after a few words, he had exposed a lot of things. Zhang Tie wanted to reply, however, a whim occurred to his mind. Therefore, he changed his mind.
"He, he, of course I dared to come back here alone. Tokei City is not as dangerous as a lion's den. Those who came here along with me would have already shown up if they wanted. Now, they've been destroying your plan. You only need to wait here for a short while, then, you will see them!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.
As Zhang Tie could imagine, the moment he said these had Ruben revealed a bit panic. However, he recovered his composure soon, "You're really well-informed. I've not imagined that you still have time to pay attention to Tokei City when your defense line in Selnes was going to be collapsed by demonized puppets' corps!"
"You know better than me how many lackeys of Three-eye Association were hiding in the alliance command. Do you think that all the human powerhouses would follow the order of the alliance command? Since I left here last time, someone had been gazing at Tokei City and Senel Clan." Zhang Tie sneered as he crossed his arms in a pretentious way. He marked 90 points for his own performance inside.
"Harrumph, so what! Although my father and many powerhouses of Senel Clan are not in Tokei City anymore, you can not destroy our move. Besides me, Senel Clan has just employed an elder for the safety of the airship. He's a knight! The one accompanying you might be a knight at most. Even though he could destroy our airship and prevent us from carrying this wealth away, you could still not take this wealth away!" Speaking of the elder of Senel Clan, Rouben recovered his composure, "If you really want to fight here, there are 500,000 demonized puppets in the city, you will suffer a great loss!"
Cleverness might overreach itself. Because Zhang Tie looked too calm and confident, Rouben preset a premise that Zhang Tie could not come here alone. With a few words, he had exposed a lot of information to Zhang Tie, which made Zhang Tie's heart race.
Humans' defense line in Selnes would collapse soon.
Most of elites and powerhouses of Senel Clan had already left Tokei City, leaving only two powerhouses in Tokei City, Rouben and an elder of Senel Clan.
Tonight, Senel Clan seemed to be ready for carrying some wealth that they plundered in Titanic Duchy to somewhere else.
After thinking for a few seconds, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Thanks for telling me so many information!"
"What do you mean?" Rouben changed his face.
"I mean you can die!"
Soon after saying these words had Zhang Tie thrown out that javelin.
That javelin carried both Zhang Tie's terrifying strength and his iron-blood battle qi. This was a skill that Zhang Tie developed over these months. Zhang Tie found that if he could wrap the javelin with his battle qi, he could not only make the javelin more destructive but also make a lower sound in the flight. Being wrapped by iron-blood battle qi, javelin would not cause sharp sound in the air anymore; instead, it became as tender as a bumble breaking apart in water.
Rouben had been ready to dodge and defend from Zhang Tie's javelin. The moment Zhang Tie moved had he moved too. He instantly changed his positions while being ready to release his battle-qi totem as a warning...
He wanted to lock Zhang Tie's javelin; however, he found that Zhang Tie's javelin could not be sensed at all the moment it left Zhang Tie's hand. After being shocked inside, he knew what did this mean...
"Impossible, I'm already LV 12..." the last whim occurred to Rouben's mind.
Rouben's body exploded into the bloody mist, closely followed by a low sound in the air...
Zhang Tie flashed his movements and launched over 20 punches in a split second, exploding all the soldiers of Senel Clan who followed Rouben in at once.
In a second, with the coordination of javelin and iron-blood fist, Zhang Tie cleared the spot.
At this moment, Zhang Tie realized how powerful he was. Before the bloody mist of Rouben's body completely faded away, Zhang Tie had already darted out of the courtyard and killed the other soldiers in a truck. None of them could send any warning since the beginning.
The entire courtyard recovered to its tranquility. Besides the corpses and blood all over the ground, nobody else had come here.
After making an arrangement, Zhang Tie incarnated into that thunder hawk and rushed into the sky. He headed for a place outside the city in the north. Zhang Tie remembered that there was an airship base over there. There were still 4 large battle airships over there. This was the only place where airships were available across the city.
When Zhang Tie was hovering in the sky, he had already seen this airship base; however, it was out of his imagination that Senel Clan would carry the wealth of Titanic Duchy to somewhere else.
From thousands of meters high, Zhang Tie observed the airships. Only after hovering there a short while, he had already seen a big blazing fire burning in the place in Tokei City where he came from.
In less than 3 minutes, Zhang Tie saw a person flashing towards Tokei City like a meteor.
It was estimated that that person would not come back until 7-8 minutes later. Therefore, Zhang Tie dived downwards like lightning bolt and landed on the empty deck of an airship...
In a blink of an eye, his incarnation returned to Castle of Black Iron while Zhang Tie's real body flashed out. He then darted towards the freight cabin at the bottom of the airship. At this moment, Zhang Tie had already exploded his maximal speed and battle strength. On the way there, he met some small figures. Like a wind blowing by, Zhang Tie casually killed all of them without even seeing them clearly.
Only after dozens of seconds, Zhang Tie had already reached the freight cabin at the bottom of the airship. After breaking the hatch into pieces with one punch, he saw a lot of crates in front of him.
Zhang Tie didn't even check what was inside the crates. With a gust of wind blowing by, he touched all the crates and teleported all of them into Castle of Black Iron. When he did that, he sprayed a large volume of kerosene over there...
It took Zhang Tie less than 1. 5 minutes to plunder this airship. After rushing out of this airship, he darted into the second airship on its side.
All those trying to prevent Zhang Tie were fighters below LV 9. They were too weak in front of Zhang Tie.
After 5 minutes, Zhang Tie directly broke out of a wall of the freight cabin at the bottom of the 4th airship. After that, he flashed around the four airships and set blazing fires on them. After sweeping the 4 airships, Zhang Tie directly burned all the corpses along with his traces...
At this moment, that person who left here just now had already realized that something was wrong here. He accelerated towards here, causing a terrifying sonic boom in the air.
After hearing that wuthering sound and how fast it was heading towards him, Zhang Tie became scared. The sound moving speed was at least 2 or 3 times than that he could imagine. Zhang Tie then realized the power of a knight. He hurriedly rushed towards the woods beside the burning airships.
When the wuthering sound was close to the airship base, many birds were so flurried that they flew off. Zhang Tie also entered Castle of Black Iron and the thunder hawk flew together with those birds...
After Zhang Tie disappeared less than half a minute, a frame with unrivaled killing qi and a terrifying power had flashed by Zhang Tie's feet like a blazing fire. Zhang Tie was so scared that he oozed sweat all over.
After doing this, Zhang Tie did not dare to stay in Tokei City anymore; instead, he directly headed for Selnes Theater of Operations in the south...
Chapter 623: Zhang Tie's Creed
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
When a pinpoint of light appeared in the eastern sky, Zhang Tie had already flown over 3 hours. Tokei City had been lagged far behind by him. Thunder hawk moved so fast that Zhang Tie felt that he had already flown over 1000 mile while numerous mountains, rivers and cities had been lagged behind.
No matter how great the elder of Senel Clan was, he could not catch up with Zhang Tie anymore, even though he changed his direction and flew towards the south. After leaving Tokei City, Zhang Tie didn't just keep flying forward. He even changed his route twice on the way. No matter what, as it was in the sky, his move would not be influenced. Zhang Tie preferred to fly above the high and rugged mountains, and great rivers, where his enemy would not choose to chase after him on the ground.
It was the first time for Zhang Tie to 'fight' knights. After Zhang Tie left Tokei City a long time, that terrifying figure who looked like a blazing fire still made Zhang Tie scared. If he was one minute late or he was not able to use his incarnation, he would be in a big trouble.
The knight moved so fast. Especially when he found that he was cheated and returned from Tokei City to the airship base, his speed was much faster than Zhang Tie's thunder hawk. He was not running on the ground anymore; but flying in the air. Leaning forward, he was flying like a blazing meteor at about 100 m above the ground.
'Was that the ability of a knight?' Although he had witnessed how the Star and Moon Sword Sage used the same ability, at the sight of this ability used by his enemy, Zhang Tie was still shocked too much. He also understood the great gap between him and a knight. Zhang Tie recovered his composure once again although he could easily kill a LV 12 elite of Senel Clan.
'The path ahead is still long. I'm not unrivaled now. Therefore, I should not be puzzled by the current triumph. Life is the most precious, battle strength is the most reliable, freedom counts the most.' Zhang Tie warned himself inside. 'The reason that I succeeded this time is not that I have an overwhelming battle strength; but I'm a free man. In that free state, I could exert my ability to the utmost. Therefore, I could destroy the plan of Senel Clan and do what others could not do.'
'What if this move was arranged by the alliance command?'
'Needless to say, that would be another trap for sure. Even If a knight was dispatched to join the move together with me, that knight might be killed too.' After experiencing the alchemists' bomb attack in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie knew that even a powerful knight would fall into the trap which was delicately designed by others and might lose his life.
'Only when your enemy doesn't know about your next plan would it be the greatest guarantee for your safety. Additionally, the alleged "unrivaled" person could not defeat everyone else. You only need to defeat the one that you're going to face.'
Although Zhang Tie recovered his composure, he didn't look down upon himself; instead, he saw clearly his own advantage and ability. What he did several hours ago might not be matched by any elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, although the battle strength and ability were important, it was more important if you choose the proper means to exert your battle strength and ability to the utmost at a proper time and a proper place.
This time, Zhang Tie saw clearly his advantage and his battle style. Being mysterious; dodge from the opponent's strength and strike their shortcomings; dodge from the powerhouse and strike weak ones; seize all the opportunities to strike the enemy and leave right away; never leave any chance to the opponent's powerhouse to catch; take the priority of the battle at any time.
By contrast, he would never strike the enemy using his small figure in the air, falling into the enemy's trap and almost lose his life like before.
Zhang Tie didn't know that he had gradually established a firm and powerful personal creed after a year of experience in Selnes Theater of Operations. This creed would influence the rest of his life.
Zhang Tie concluded this creed in one sentence at the cost of his fresh blood, even life on the battlefield.
——Without taking the priority, I would never join the battle.
...
After flying 3-4 hours, Zhang Tie finally arrived at the hinterland of Titanic Duchy. This place was over 1000 miles away from Selnes Theater of Operations. Although Zhang Tie didn't feel tired, he didn't intend to fly ahead anymore.
'No matter how the battle situation develops in the frontline of Selnes Theater of Operations, it won't work if I just break in.' Before entering Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie intended to count what he had achieved in Tokei City.
After making a cool plunder, he was busy escaping; therefore, Zhang Tie didn't have time to check what he had gotten from the freight cabins at the bottom of the airships at all. Thinking of those locked crates, anybody would be restless, including Zhang Tie...
'After robbing the human clans of Three-eye Association, of course, I will check what I've gotten.'
It was wild below. After noticing a hidden concave cliff cave in the middle of a steep mountain peak where the thunder hawk could rest in, Zhang Tie spiraled down there.
There were a pine tree and some weeds outside the cliff cave. It was very clean inside the cliff cave as no boa was inside. It was about 2 m deep. Zhang Tie flapped his wings and landed outside the cave. After that, he entered it. Closely after that, he entered Castle of Black Iron.
After the thunder hawk entered Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie's consciousness and senses returned to his own body.
After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie, with his legs crossed, found that thunder hawk was standing beside him as it was rubbing his thigh with its beak in a very intimate way, causing a light, cracking sound.
While using soul-based animal controlling skill, the consciousness and senses of the animal which Zhang Tie incarnated in was like in a deep sleep. The animal didn't know what its body was doing at all. Only after Zhang Tie relieved that state could the animal recovered its consciousness and senses. Because of the special connection between consciousness and Great Wilderness Seals, after the animal woke up, it would be very intimate with the executor like the latter's loyal pet.
Zhang Tie smiled as he touched the thunder hawk's head. He then picked himself up. Seeing Zhang Tie standing up, that thunder hawk also flapped its wings and jumped up. It wanted to stand onto Zhang Tie's hand. Zhang Tie then stretched out his arm and allowed it to stand on. After flapping its wings twice, the thunder hawk found its balance.
At this moment, Aziz and Heller walked over here together. Aziz was even holding that rat which Zhang Tie had incarnated before. At the sight of the thunder hawk on Zhang Tie's hand, the rat was so scared that it quivered and hid into Aziz's sleeve at once. It didn't dare to come out anymore. That thunder hawk flapped its wings to show its power before croaking twice.
Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he flicked the thunder hawk's head slightly with one finger, "You cannot eat it, it saved my life before; additionally, it also made meritorious deed today. If you are hungry, you can go to him, he will give you something to eat!"
The thunder hawk croaked and flapped its wings twice more as if it had understood Zhang Tie's meaning.
Although it couldn't eat the rat, the thunder hawk was eating the flesh of the huge deep-sea monster these days. The flesh was so yummy for the thunder hawk. Additionally, it could increase the thunder hawk's physical strength. Besides, the thunder hawk could enjoy one vial of all-purpose medicament everyday. Such a treatment was already extremely luxurious for a bird.
Aziz raised his arm as he always did that. The thunder hawk then jumped onto Aziz's shoulder from Zhang Tie's hand and stood well there. In Castle of Black Iron, Aziz was qualified as a zoologist. Therefore, he was responsible for taking care of the two pets. Seeing the thunder hawk jumping over here, the rat dared not stay in Aziz's sleeve anymore; it sneaked out of Aziz's sleeve. It planned to go for Zhang Tie; however, after hearing the thunder hawk's unpleasant croak, it hurriedly changed its direction and drilled into the patch of strawberry land which was growing so vigorously. It dared not come out of there any longer.
"These little guys are so cute!"
"Castle Lord, do you want to see what are inside those crates?" Heller asked.
"Heller, you know me so well." Zhang Tie nodded, "Have you seen them, what are they?"
"I know what were they the moment they entered Castle of Black Iron. However, Castle Lord, if you could open them by yourself; you would have a greater sense of achievement!" Heller revealed a smile.
"Fine, I will take a look then..." Zhang Tie replied happily.
Chapter 624: A Great Achievement
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
There was a huge hollow in the middle of that sacred mountain in Castle of Black Iron. According to Heller, he renovated this place into a huge warehouse lest waste in basic energy storage.
Honestly, after Heller accomplished this space and topographical renovation, the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron almost used up. As a result, Zhang Tie had to carry the heavy responsibility to expand the basic energy storage for Castle of Black Iron.
Those items that Zhang Tie plundered from Tokei City were all in the hinterland of the sacred mountain.
The entrance of the hinterland of the mountain was in the north at the top of the mountain. There was a stony gate. After entering the gate, Zhang Tie stepped onto the tidy stages while the path was bright because of the fluorescent belts on both sides of the staircase. He seemed to enter a delicate, fantastic basement. The space and topographic renovation capability of Castle of Black Iron was really marvelous. Who could imagine that all these were natural, especially the natural fluorescent belts on both sides of the aisle? In Zhang Tie's opinion, this was a fabulous, unforgettable setting.
Walking on the tidy stages, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie's mind as he asked Heller, "Heller, can we make a castle on the top of the mountain using the space and topographic renovation ability of Castle of Black Iron? I mean to grow a castle or a palace here?"
"Of course, Castle Lord!" Heller watched the stages as he replied, "With the capability of Castle of Black Iron, we can form the complete main structure of a castle or a palace. Except for the furniture and mobile windows and doors which requires us to manufacture and install with hands, all the fixed parts could be formed by the capability of space and topographic renovation. Additionally, we could choose many kinds of building materials. It's much more convenient than concrete, stones and steel products!"
"That's great!" Zhang Tie exclaimed, "Don't you feel it becoming crowded on the top of the mountain, I'm afraid that very few people could be held here!"
Those buildings on the top of the mountain were portable dwellings that Zhang Tie left when in Castle of Black Iron, which remained unchanged these years.
"Castle Lord, do you want to take some more people in?"
"Hmm, maybe!" Zhang Tie replied briefly. Zhang Tie estimated that he might have babies now.
"Castle Lord, as long as you could provide sufficient energy storage and merit values, you can build castle and palace in a split second. You've gotten enough merit values; however, you lack basic energy storage." Heller replied.
"What are my merit values now?" Zhang Tie asked Heller as he had not paid attention to his merit values for a long time.
"3287790" Heller told him a tremendous figure.
"Ah? How could it be so much?" Zhang Tie became stunned.
"Castle Lord, you saved tens of thousands of human captives from the underground space of Misty Moon Woods to Castle of Black iron lest they were killed. Therefore, you obtained over 1 million merit values. Plus those you've achieved over the past one year by killing demons in Selnes Theater of Operations!"
After being conscious of his merit values, Zhang Tie continued, "How much basic energy storage do we need to accomplish one building?'
"It depends on your demand, my lord. Of course, the more, the better. If you have sufficient basic energy storage, you will have more choices. You can build and form more objects and main structures of buildings!"
Zhang Tie nodded and became silent. He started to imagine what a kind of building to build on the top of the mountain. Curiously, he didn't have such a thought before. However, he became more desirable about this idea now.
Zhang Tie thought that this might because that he was going to be a dad of some babies.
When a man was going to be a father, he would change his ideas greatly. Take Zhang Tie as an instance, previously, he felt it comfortable to live in here alone. Nevertheless, he realized that it was a bit crowded here.
'If some relatives or friends came in, where would they live? It's such a chaotic world. My family members might seek a shelter in Castle of Black Iron at any time. As a man, I should make more preparations for the safety of my family members when their settlement is afflicted by the holy war.' Zhang Tie bore this idea in mind.
'When I escaped from Senel Clan's prison last time, I touched my elder brother. At that time, elder brother and the other family members have already arrived at Yingzhou State, one of the 72 states of Eastern Continent, safe and sound. They have already settled down basically.'
Fiona, Linda and Beverly were good. Because they had been pregnant, they were not suitable to move frequently. Under the suggestion of Zhang Tie's dad and mom, the elder brother was buying real estate in Yingzhou. They prepared to settle in Yingzhou first and got used to the folklore of Taixia Country in the Eastern Continent. They would not consider transferring to proper places until the three babies of Zhang Tie came to this world.
Being different from all the other newborn babies, the moment the 3 babies of Zhang Tie came to this world would they awaken 2 ancestral bloodlines. They had to stay 12 months in their mom's wombs before coming to this world while other babies only needed to stay 10 months. According to Zhang Tie's calculation, the three babies might be delivered these couple of days.
Zhang Tie had already mentioned the peculiarities of the three babies to his elder brother faintly and had his elder brother tell their mom and dad about that. They didn't need to make any precautions when the babies were only 10 months old in their mothers' wombs in case of mistakes.
...
After a few steps, Zhang Tie and Heller came to the hinterland of the mountain. Besides several piles of hill-like gold ingots, there were thousands of crates, big or small.
Those crates didn't have locks; instead, there was a mobile lock catch out of each crate, which could be opened without keys. Zhang Tie came to the front of one crate. After rapidly opening the lock catch of the crate, he opened its lid right away.
The moment he opened the lid had his face been reflected by brilliance under the light of the two circles of fluorescent stone belts in the middle of the hinterland.
'F*ck...' Zhang Tie swore inside.
The crate was filled with resplendent pure blue stones. Zhang Tie put one hand into that pile of stones and scooped out some of them. He found each of them was as large as a pigeon's egg while shining fascinating brilliance. Zhang Tie had them slide off his fingers, causing cracking sounds.
"Is...this blue crystal?" Zhang Tie asked Heller as he swallowed his saliva.
"No, these are high-quality sapphires." Heller replied calmly.
Although the prices of many gemstones were cheaper than that before the Catastrophe due to humans' development to the crustal layer, although Zhang Tie knew that Titanic Duchy was abundant with some gemstones, for commoners, gemstones, especially high-quality jewels were still expensive. Their prices were far higher than that of gold. In the hand of an alchemist, these gemstones would exert greater effects.
Zhang Tie realized that one crate of jewels was worth at least 1 million gold coins.
Zhang Tie became thrilled. He opened all the other crates one after another. There were over 20 crates of sapphires, some crates of rubies, one crate of diamonds which were more expensive, one crate of Alexandrites, one crate of cat's eye gems and one crate of variegated gemstones. Since he was born, Zhang Tie had never seen so many crates of gemstones.
Besides those gemstones, Zhang Tie saw crates of colorful class VI pyramid-sized crystals and the most precious black crystals.
After crystals, he saw hundreds of crates full of well-sealed gold coins. Zhang Tie was shocked by so many gold coins. After being told that the crates were all filled with gold coins, Zhang Tie directly walked over.
After gold coins, he saw crates of colorful jewels and a crate of emeralds.
Behind those jewels were some small crates, each of which was about 1 cubic meters. Zhang Tie opened one of them and found it was filled with silver bars as long as 10 cm. He then became stunned.
"Why do they have silver bars here? These silver bars are valueless. Why do they put them in crates?" Zhang Tie became puzzled.
"Castle Lord, you might know the reason when you take them!" Heller suggested.
Zhang Tie threw a glance at Heller. The moment he took the silver bar had he been shocked. The silver bar was even heavier than the gold of the same volume.
"Ah? But why?"
"This is mithril, a more expensive item which could only be exploited in extreme depth. Castle Lord, you had a rune finger ring made of mithril before. It was your booty from the battlefield. Later on, you sold it in an auction house of Kalur."
After being reminded by Heller, Zhang Tie remembered it, "Mithril is indeed rarer than gold. The small rune finger ring made of mithril brought me a lot of money."
This crate of mithril might be more valuable than the crate of sapphires.
...
After that, Zhang Tie opened another different crate and found it was filled with gold checks of different par values from Golden Roc Bank. The minimal par value was 500 gold coins while the maximal par value was 10,000 gold coins. Watching those gold checks, Zhang Tie became so excited that he widely opened his mouth.
"F*ck, have all the wealth of Titanic Duchy been plundered by Senel Clan?"
Zhang Tie was right.
Almost all the wealth that Titanic Duchy had accumulated for hundreds of years and those properties which could not be removed by rich people in the country after the holy war broke out and commoners' savings had fallen into Senel Clan's hand.
...
"In a conclusion, you got 540 tons of golds, 14.68 million gold coins, gold checks which were worth 47.6 million gold coins, over 600 crates of colorful gemstones, jewels and noble metals. Those golds, gold coins and gold checks were worth 83.88 million gold coins in total while those gemstones, gemstones and mithril which could not be cashed were worth at least 0.13 billion gold coins. As the holy war continued, those items would have a big appreciation space."
Hearing Heller's report, Zhang Tie understood that people would be rich after plundering while the horse would grow fatter after eating grass at night. "Through this plunder, I became a billionaire."
After losing so much wealth suddenly, Senel Clan felt dropping a big piece of bloody flesh. It was a great strike to Senel Clan. Three-eye Association would not develop their forces or harm humans with this wealth. This was also a contribution to humans' side in the holy war. As long as it could weaken the enemy's forces, it would be good to humans.
With such a harvest, Zhang Tie further confirmed his path in the future. Zhang Tie was aware that if he was still following others' order in Selnes Theater of Operations, he would never have made such an achievement.
After returning to the top of the mountain from the hinterland, Zhang Tie obtained two gifts from the small tree: one fruit of brilliance, one fruit of judgment.
The fruit of brilliance contained the spiritual energy of Rouben and the other b*stards whom Zhang Tie had killed. After eating this fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie's spiritual energy boomed.
By contrast, the fruit of judgment didn't gift Zhang Tie any new item; but a promotion of a god's rune skill. After eating that fruit of judgment, Zhang Tie successfully promoted his binding skill to medium level, which indicated a great effect.
Medium binding skill could attack LV 8 enemy instead of LV 7 at most. All the targets being not higher than LV 8 could not escape from medium binding skills.
Besides attacking higher level targets, Zhang Tie's binding chains also increased their maximal storage number from 18 to 27 and their attacking radium from 52 cm to 62 cm. This indicated that the overall battle strength of the skill had promoted to a new height.
...
After eating the two fruits, Zhang Tie understood that as long as he chose the right position, he could give a great blow to those b*stards of Three-eye Association. Even If he could not plunder wealth from them; after killing them, he could also increase his battle strength greatly and obtain merit values and all sorts of fruits...
'Which one first, return to Selnes Theater of Operations or seek for the next opportunity to strike Three-eye Association and Senel Clan in Titanic Duchy?' Zhang Tie thought for a short while before making the final determination——go back to Selnes Theater of Operations to check the situation of Lan Yunxi and those guys of the Idiots...
After staying 4-5 hours in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie flew off the cliff cave in the incarnation of the thunder hawk once again...
Chapter 625: Like a Ghost Region
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Zhang Tie, who had hovered more than half a year above Selnes Theater of Operations by the gliders, was familiar with this region. The mountains and rivers under his feet were the coordinates in Zhang Tie's mind. Even if he didn't use airmap, he could still identify the correct route and direction based on his memory. Therefore, after flying towards the south for 7 hours, during which period he corrected his route twice and inspected the situations of some cities in Titanic Duchy, Zhang Tie finally flew over the entire territory of Titanic Duchy and arrived at the Selnes Theater of Operations that he was familiar with at dusk.
4 months ago, he was familiar with everything over here very much; however, now he felt pretty strange about this region.
Rouben said the humans' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations was going to collapse. When Zhang Tie listened to that, he was even a bit dubious about that. However, when he was really close to Selnes Theater of Operations, he realized that Rouben didn't cheat him.
When Zhang Tie saw those huge pyramid-sized gravetower demons erecting outside the city near the demons' region, he knew that the situation here was even worse than he could imagine.
If the gravetower demons appeared in Selnes Theater of Operations, it meant that human airship troops had completely lost their air supremacy over Selnes Theater of Operations. If not, human airship troops would never allow demons to build their arsenal in the frontline tactically or strategically. Demonized puppets constantly provided by gravetower demons would be the worst nightmare of the human troop.
However, the human airship troop could not stop this anymore.
Zhang Tie remembered the wrecks of human airships outside Tokei City. It seemed that human airship troop had paid a greater price than that he could imagine in that move. Although the gravetower demons outside Tokei City were destroyed, the human airship troop also suffered a great loss. They had not even recovered from that battle till now.
Zhang Tie looked downward and saw a constant demonized puppets camp. The pitch-dark demonized puppets on the ground stimulated goosebumps all over Zhang Tie's body.
When Zhang Tie entered the battlefield of Selnes Theater of Operations, he was shocked once again as the sky was neither covered with human airships nor wing demons, but numerous vultures which ate rotten flesh.
There were also vultures above the battlefield before. However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that there were so many vultures now. The entire sky and ground were covered with vultures. When some vultures flew off the ground, they looked like a sort of dark gray wave while those in a certain air domain looked like clouds.
The only reason for so many vultures to gather here was that there was sufficient food on the ground.
Zhang Tie looked down and found miles of bones and incomplete corpses on the ground, which looked like the hell. The entire Selnes Theater of Operations had become the paradise of scavengers. Packs of wild-dogs and vultures were walking on the battlefield, which was dotted with wrecks of human armored vehicles and tanks. The armored vehicles were covered with blood stains while wrecks of airships could always be seen.
Judging from those corpses, Zhang Tie could not identify whether they were demonized puppets or humans. After remembering that Scala told him that Senel Clan had already turned over 10 million humans into demonized puppets, Zhang Tie looked down and felt icy right away. Although he had not joined the battle, he could also imagine how the army of demonized puppets submerged the Selnes Plain and combated the human troops here.
Zhang Tie then noticed those collapsed battle fortresses.
At the sight of those human battle fortresses, Zhang Tie's scalp felt numb.
There was a slope paved by corpses outside each battle fortress, which leveled with the height of the wall of the battle fortress. Zhang Tie could completely imagine how those battle fortresses were broken through——under the strike of numerous demonized puppets, these steel battle fortresses defended with human fighters inside the battle fortresses as firm as rocks on the Selnes Plain. They shot down those demonized puppets in batches, causing the corpses of demonized puppets pile up from the foot of the wall of the fortress. When those demonized puppets' corpses gradually elevated and reached the height of the wall, the following demonized puppets finally broke into the battle fortress while stepping on the former corpses...
In such a case, no human guard would survive in the battle fortress. However, Zhang Tie, with the sharp vision of thunder hawk, couldn't find one demon's corpse from the piles of corpses at all.
Demons and Three-eye Association broke though humans' defense line at the cost of humans' strength.
Nearby those battle fortresses which had not been broken through, there were still large batches of demonized puppets. Many of them were squatting on the ground and eating those corpses like scavengers on Selnes Plain. In the region where demonized puppets existed, even wild-dogs and vultures would stay away from them.
From north to south, Zhang Tie saw many human battle fortresses and trenches which had been collapsed while human corpses were piling as high as mountains outside the battle fortresses. Even the trenches had been filled with corpses.
Miserable, too miserable...
When it became completely dark, the Selnes Plain was covered with wildfire, making it look like a ghost region.
Zhang Tie finally recovered his composure. He realized that in the strike of about 10 million demonized puppets, the allied human forces' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations was finally torn open.
Zhang Tie didn't know where the allied human forces had been retreated to and whether the southernmost three cities in Selnes Plain were still in the hand of the allied human forces.
Zhang Tie directly flew towards the Crystal Battle Fortress. The closer he was to the south, the more demonized puppets would he see on the ground. Many established demonized puppet troops were converging towards the south.
...
After a short while, Zhang Tie had been close to the Crystal Battle Fortress. It was pith-dark in the evening while being surrounded by the wildfire. At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie's heart raced. He instantly lowered his height to 200-300 m.
Zhang Tie could see that the corpses of demonized puppets outside the Crystal Battle Fortress were piling as high as a mountain from one mile away. The closer he was to the Crystal Battle Fortress, the more corpses of demonized puppets would he see. According to Zhang Tie's estimation, there were at least 300,000 to 400,000 corpses of demonized puppets.
Hovering above the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie could not see any person inside the fortress at all as the entire Crystal Battle Fortress had been occupied by the alive demonized puppets.
Zhang Tie hovered there a while. After seeing no wreck of the airships in the Crystal Battle Fortress, he became relaxed a bit.
Across the Selnes frontline, Crystal Battle Fortress was not only the biggest battle fortress but also the only battle fortress which could hold fury-level airships. Zhang Tie remembered that a few fury-level airships were parking in the Crystal Battle Fortress all the year round for the sake of emergency evacuation like life buoys on ships. If he didn't see the wrecks of those airships, it meant that those airships had already evacuated from here along with most of the fighters in the battle fortress. This was the best news for Zhang Tie.
The Military Exploits List was still erecting over there. After being weathered about one year, the metal rack was still not rusted. The plates with names of elites from the major clans of Jinyun Country and their credits were still on the Military Exploits List. Zhang Tie found that his name still ranked first...
The Military Exploits List seemed to be especially left by people of the battle fortress which was a mock towards demons and represented the meritorious deeds and dignity of Chinese nations in Waii Sub-continent.
When Zhang Tie saw his name once again, his heart was filled with emotions.
Those slow-witted demonized puppets could never understand the Chinese on the plates. Otherwise, they might have long destroyed it.
After leaving the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie flew towards the Glider Base of Hoorn Republic. Like how Zhang Tie had imagined, the glider base which was not far from the Crystal Battle Fortress had already been occupied by demonized puppets.
'I wonder how many fighters in this base have survived.'
The Glider Base of Hoorn Republic was only dozens of miles away from Mocco City. Given that this glider base had been collapsed, Zhang Tie knew it clearly that the allied human forces had already retreated to the last urban bases of Selnes Theater of Operations. If the last human bases were occupied by demonized puppets, the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations would be collapsed completely...
Zhang Tie's guess was correct.
Soon after he left a few miles from the airship base of Hoorn Republic had he seen a battle between a human troop and a troop of demonized puppets. It was more like a chase than a battle...
Hundreds of human fighters were retreating in the wild while being chased by almost 1,000 demonized puppets who were like wild-dogs with bloody eyes. Those human fighters who stayed to stop them were constantly submerged and torn apart by demonized puppets.
At the sight of such a scene, Zhang Tie instantly landed in the weeds which were as high as 1 m...