Chapter 623 - 626 - 632

Chapter 626: What a Massacre!

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

After frequently changing his body, Zhang Tie could use soul-based animal controlling skill much faster and more easily. Almost the moment the thunder hawk landed in the weeds had Zhang Tie's real body reappeared.

It was like that the thunder hawk abruptly turned into a person the moment it landed in the weeds. It was fantastic and shocking. In the eyes of the onlookers, Zhang Tie was almost like a witch or monster who could transform into all kinds of animals in a blink of an eye, which made them awe-stricken.

Zhang Tie reappeared in the look of Peter Hamplester. At this time, Zhang Tie was like a pioneer who was wearing a pair of half-metal battle boots and a suite of leather armors. Zhang Tie carried a special battle equipment on his back, which was a special metal weapon rack which contained a lot of shiny huge double-bladed axes.

He was also holding two huge double-bladed axes in hands. He obtained all of these weapons from Zhen Clan.

Each huge ax weighed about 60 kg. The double blades were as broad as full moons while the handle was very short. This was a super heavy boomerang. Although it was super heavy for others, it was as light as a wooden stick for Zhang Tie.

The moment he came out of Castle of Black Iron had Zhang Tie rushed towards the place over 500 m away as fast as wind with huge axes like two open lowered-wings.

The moonlights sprayed onto the blades like water, reflecting two chilly lights in the shape of crescents.

Zhang Tie ran rapidly. Everywhere he passed by, the weeds as high as his chest would be split open like waves. At the same time, the sharp blades drew over weeds, causing them to fly in all directions. Everywhere Zhang Tie passed by would be like a wave. Watching it from the sky, it was like a bolt shot by Zhang Tie, which flew all the way towards the two parties who were fighting in the distance. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had narrowed the distance to about 200 m.

...

"We can not escape like this. Brothers of Battalion One, stay with me to stop the demonized puppets. The other brothers, go away as fast as possible. If you could return alive, remember to tell my son that his dad walked out of the armored vehicles and combated to death. We armored units are not as timid as rabbits. After leaving armored vehicles, we can still kill those sons of b*tches...!" A tough man who was covered with blood exclaimed as he stopped and rushed back towards those demonized puppets.

"Regimental commander..." those fighters beside this man exclaimed. After hearing this man's order, one-third of those who were escaping stopped at once and rushed back towards those demonized puppets who outnumbered them evidently.

Numerous fighters dropped off tears. Besides fighters of battalion one, more people rushed back towards those demonized puppets resolutely. In the end, nobody continued to escape anymore. All of them rushed backward towards those demonized puppets.

"Asshole, Aars, take away with brothers of battalion two and battalion three..." The regimental commander who turned back first yelled at a commission officer who followed him back.

"Boss, we've been used to assault the enemy together with you. Just let us do it once more..."

After knowing that all the brothers would like to fight demonized puppets together with him, the tough man who turned back first dropped off tears from his fierce eyes. Without saying anything, he instantly rushed ahead of the team and stabbed his short sword into a demonized puppet's eye. After a slight prick, he had cracked its head while a disgusting worm which looked like an octopus fell down the ground and started to creep there. That man stamped it into pieces using his battle boots...

When one party didn't escape, the two teams collided in a split second.

The human fighters were also holding short swords which were longer than 30 cm. Therefore, they were not in the advantageous position with this kind of weapon. Unless they could chop off demonized puppets' heads or stab their short swords into the heads of demonized puppets, common wounds could never affect demonized puppets' movements.

The moment they collided with each other, all the human fighters had already been in a fierce combat.

Glaring at the grim faces of those demonized puppets which were many times more than the population of theirs, all the human fighters thought that they were doomed to die this time.

However, at this moment, two moons flew over...

At the sight of Zhang Tie's flying double axes, they indeed had such an illusion that two moons were flying over. Because the shiny blades became shiny disks due to the fast speed under the moonlight. The path that the disks flew by was like a light band.

When the two moons flew over, they shattered all the weeds in front of them. After that, they flashed into a lot of demonized puppets, shattering the ferocious demonized puppets like shattering weeds. As a result, demonized puppets' fleshes flew in all directions. After crushing out two dozens of meters long bloody paths among the troop of demonized puppets, the two disks made a turn and flew back after drawing a curve. Wherever they passed by, they had left a lane of blood and fleshes composed of the corpses of demonized puppets...

In the blink of an eye, more than 60 demonized puppets had fallen down.

At the sight of this, all the human fighters became dumbfounded.

However, what was more shocking was coming.

When Zhang Tie arrived there, he forcefully patted his back while the huge battle equipment which looked like a metal shell uttered a light "crack". At the same time, 7 shiny huge axes appeared on his back like how peacock flaunted its tail. Zhang Tie put his hands over his shoulders and grasped other huge axes. Closely after that, two more moons rose in the air and flew towards those demonized puppets.

After the two moons flew out, the first two moons returned to Zhang Tie's back like spiritual living beings after crushing out another two bloody paths.

When all the fighters were concerned that Zhang Tie would be injured by the two disks, Zhang Tie just gave a slight push, shooting out the two disks towards another two directions in a more ferocious way, shattering all the demonized puppets' bodies on the way.

All the human fighters could hear the muffled humming sound when Zhang Tie put his hands on the disks. When those human fighters being close to Zhang Tie heard this sound, they felt like vomiting...

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had thrown out 7 huge axes from his back. Plus the first two axes that he threw out, 9 moons were surrounding Zhang Tie while each of them drew an illusory light belt...

Those sharp moons carried terrifying momentum. Everywhere they passed by, they would spray demonized puppets' fresh blood like rain, their heads flew off from their necks and fell down the ground. Any objects in front of those moons would be broken or shattered, demonized puppet's bodies or their weapons...

Those moons were also as agile as dancing butterflies under the moonlight and seeking for brilliant flowers of blood. They were extremely fast and untouchable. They flew everywhere in all directions before coming back to their owner. After obtaining their owner's praise and touch, they flew off out of excitement once again...

After Zhang Tie arrived here, he emancipated all the human fighters from the battle. Everybody just stared at him with widely opened eyes like being obsessed with ghosts. Just now, these human fighters felt that they would almost die. As for them, they had to face too many demonized puppets that they didn't have any chance to win. After Zhang Tie arrived, all the human fighters felt that those demonized puppets were surrounded by this man at once. It sounded unimaginable that a person surrounded by 1,000 demonized puppets. Nevertheless, it was how they felt at this moment. It was more than an art master displaying his top-notch art and innovation in front of them than a battle.

Under the moonlights, Zhang Tie was wandering casually in the weeds which were covered with the fresh blood of demonized puppets like an immortal man walking in the air. 9 moons rose and fell constantly, tearing the dark apart.

After a while, long or short, when the onlookers recovered their composure, they noticed the dark had dissipated.

"Ah, watch out your back..."

When Zhang Tie walked towards those human fighters, the regimental commander suddenly exclaimed as a demonized puppet who had lost one arm and the greater part of one shoulder with most of its innards exposing to the air was standing up behind Zhang Tie's and was going to stab into Zhang Tie's back by its long sword. At the sight of this scene, all the human fighters' heart raced.

However, the fact was everybody's concern was needless.

Before it could stab Zhang Tie's back with its weapon, 2 moons flew towards that demonized puppet from its back, chopping off its head and breaking its waist at once. As a result, its body was split into three parts. Zhang Tie didn't even look back as he stretched out his hands. The two moons then fell back into his hands, showing their original looks.

At the sight of this scene, all the fighters, including that regimental commander forcefully swallowed a mouth of saliva as they felt their throats dry. Until then, there were still some who rubbed their eyes and couldn't believe what they saw. "How could one person exterminate over 1,000 demonized puppets so quickly?"

After staying in Selnes Theater of Operations so long, they had seen many powerhouses; however, it was really their first time to see a powerhouse like Zhang Tie, who could kill so many demonized puppets so easily without even having his hands been polluted with blood.

The double axes in his hands were still as shiny and sharp as new ones. However, there was no blood on them at all. Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside, 'These weapons might be imported from Huaiyuan Palace or the Eastern Continent by Zhen Clan. It should be made of an advanced alloy.'

With a "cracking" sound, Zhang Tie inserted two huge axes back into the equipment on his back. The 9 huge axes on his back really looked like how a peacock flaunted its tail. Such an exaggerating shape might be mocked by people in daily lives; however, at this moment, those human fighters only felt it pretty magnificent and cool.

As Zhang Tie gradually walked towards them, those axes on his back had been put away in the metal shell. Until then did those human fighters who had been pulled back from the hell by Zhang Tie realize what happened. They hurriedly walked towards Zhang Tie and surrounded him while throwing their admiring and appreciative looks towards Zhang Tie.

"Your Excellency, thanks for your help. Otherwise, we might have been dead!" That regimental commander appreciated Zhang Tie after making a solemn salute to him.

Until then did Zhang Tie find the collar badge of this regimental commander was familiar. He remembered that Reinhardt wore the same collar badge. Of course, these people's uniforms were a bit different than that of Reinhardt. They might have belonged to different arms of services.

"You are from Iron Plough Corps, North Border Military Region, Norman Empire?" Zhang Tie asked.

After Zhang Tie identified the designation of their corps, all the human fighters became shocked faintly while that regimental commander raised his chest at once, "Yup, we belong to No. 107 Heavy-armored Unit of Iron Plough Corps, North Border Military Region, Norman Empire!"

After hearing his reply, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, 'I've not imagined that I could meet brothers from Norman Empire. But it's not strange. As Norman Empire had dispatched 3 trump-card ground corps here, which almost occupied 1/4 of the total ground troops in Selnes frontline', "Do you know Reinhardt?"

"Ah? You know Colonel Reinhardt?" The lieutenant colonel revealed a strange look.

"We're good friends!"

Soon after Zhang Tie finished his words had he felt that the surrounding fighters changed their looks. Many of them revealed a big smile like seeing their brothers.

"Great..." that regimental commander revealed a big smile at once.

"Oh, why are you here?"

"It's a long story..."

"Are you going back to Mocco City?"

"Yup!"

"Come on, I'm also going there!"

Chapter 627: An Encounter

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

When he returned to Mocco City once again, Zhang Tie sensed the intense and grim atmosphere which was enshrouding this city. The human defense line and works outside the city were crowded with discomfited human fighters; many broken armored vehicles and tanks were abandoned in the wild. Some turrets and boilers which could still run were buried beneath the earth, only exposing their batteries.

Until then did Zhang Tie realize that Volvo City had collapsed two months ago, the allied human forces only controlled Mocco City and Sladic City while the ground connection between the two cities had been cut off by the demonized puppets corps.

In the recent two months, the allied human forces had been thinking about breaking through the connection between Mocco City and Sladic City. The remnants of the allied armored units then became the main force to combat demonized puppets corps. After losing their fuel and material supply in the latest move, the No. 107 Heavy Armored Regiment of Iron Plough Corps suffered a great loss. As a result, the regimental commander had to lead all the fighters of the entire Armored Regiment to climb out of armored vehicles and evacuated back to Mocco City on foot. Nevertheless, they were caught up by a demonized puppets troop and could almost be completely annihilated.

In such a case, the armored units had two choices: to stay in armored vehicles for rescue; to escape out of there by foot. However, as Selnes was becoming worse while more and more demonized puppets were wandering outside the city. As for an armored regiment being trapped in the wild, they might never see the reinforcements coming. Even though the reinforcements arrived, they had to sacrifice many times more fighters to save the armored units out of there.

In such a case, especially when the armored troop was surrounded by the demonized puppets in the wild after losing power and suffering mechanical obstacles, those armored soldiers preferred to commit a suicide or starve to death than coming out of there to be eaten by the demonized puppets.

This was the most tragic page of Selnes Theater of Operations.

The No. 107 Heavy Armored Regiment of Iron Plough Corps were fortunate. When their armored vehicles broke down, those demonized puppets had not caught up with them; however, when those demonized puppets caught up with them, they were saved by Zhang Tie.

After being framed by Senel Clan, Zhang Tie didn't know whether he was a hero or a traitor in Selnes Theater of Operations. Because his status was sensitive to the public, Zhang Tie didn't inquire too much about Jinyun Country and the Crystal Battle Fortress lest others' suspicion. Through the regimental commander, Zhang Tie knew that Jinyun Country's troop had evacuated due to some reason after Volvo City was collapsed. Additionally, there was no news that the commission officer of the airship troop of Jinyun Country died or had any trouble in the past months. Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured.

After entering Mocco City successfully, Zhang Tie separated from those armored units.

...

"When you see Reinhardt, tell him that the guy who smoked his cigar in Mocco City last time had come back. I will live in the place where he invited me to drink that day. I might stay in Mocco City a couple of days!"

"No problem!" That regimental commander nodded.

Zhang Tie waved his hands towards those fighters of the No. 107 Heavy Armored Regiment before turning back and disappearing in the pitch-dark street...

Zhang Tie didn't tell them his name.

...

In the evening, the Mocco City looked a bit frustrated. As a human city in Selnes Theater of Operations, everything about the allied human forces would be expressed in this city. Any victory in the frontline would make this city brilliant while any failure in the frontline would make this city depressed and grim. When this city became the defense frontline and might be collapsed by demons at any time, it was terrifying all over besides deep depression. Zhang Tie saw many human fighters sitting on the roadsides as drunk as fiddler and watching the sky with a vacant look...

Previously, in such a case, urban gendarmes would at least drag those drunk soldiers away; however, at this moment, the gendarmes might have disappeared or just ignored them.

With his memory, Zhang Tie wandered through the dim streets and alleys. It took him only a bit longer than 20 minutes to come to the Demon Hunters Bar in Mocco City.

Besides hiding the largest illegal market across Selnes Theater of Operations, this Demon Hunters Bar was also the most informed place in this city.

Zhang Tie's strange and powerful qi was familiar to those guards outside the door of the bar. Zhang Tie even smelt bloody, which was even more useful than any certificate. The guards threw a glance at Zhang Tie and sniffed before opening the door for Zhang Tie.

The moment Zhang Tie entered had he felt abnormal inside. A woman in black robe was sitting at the bar counter and drinking alone. She looked narcissistic. She was alone near the counter while the others stayed far away from her and sat at those tables around the bar counter. Although some tables looked evidently crowded, nobody would like to sit at the table, even though some stools were still available at the bar counter.

Under the gaze of everyone else, Zhang Tie came to the side of the bar counter and sat beside the woman as he waved his hand towards the bartender.

"Give me a cup of drink!"

"What do you want to drink?" The bartender walked over and asked him in a low voice.

Zhang Tie found the bartender's face looked a bit pale, which might be because of over panic. His smile even looked embarrassed.

"Whatever!" Zhang Tie glanced at the gradevin behind the bartender and found the kinds of drinks inside the gradevin had decreased a lot. It seemed that this place had started to run out of materials.

"Try this. This is the best beer from Norman Empire. I'm sure that you've not drunk it before. This beer is called Iron-blood Lover!" The bartender faintly recovered his look when he talked about the beer. At the same time, she made a cup of beer from the beer barrel behind the counter rapidly.

'Iron-blood Lover?' Zhang Tie felt like vomiting after hearing this name, 'Why does a beer have such a literary name? Whatever, it's none of my business. I'm here for a drink.' Watching the bartender serving him a big glass of beer, Zhang Tie immediately took it up and had a mouth of drink. He was stunned at once.

"How about it?" The bartender asked Zhang Tie hopefully.

Zhang Tie had numerous feelings about the taste of the beer. After a second, Zhang Tie asked slowly, "You mean this beer comes from Norman Empire?"

"Yup, this beer is exclusively supplied for the trump-card troop of Norman Empire in the frontline. I dare say you can not find a better beer across Blackson Humans Corridor. I was told this beer also had some marvelous effects. With it, the frontline fighters could better maintain their physical strength. If they had some small wounds, they could heal them soon by drinking this beer!"

Zhang Tie replied with a smile as Hanna's face and the absurd and happy plots between him and Hanna flashed across his mind, 'Iron-blood Lover, Iron-blood Camp Lover, doesn't it refer to me? It turns out that even though Hanna has gotten married, she's still authoritative on the side of her original family; otherwise, they would not name the beer in this way.'

"One more Iron-blood Lover!"

After hearing the hoarse and slightly attractive voice of the woman on his side, Zhang Tie turned around as he noticed that the woman was also drinking a big glass of beer; after drinking it up, she pushed the glass towards the bartender.

Judging from her side, she was a top beauty; additionally, she might be a Chinese of mixed parentage. Black hair and clear-cut facial features made her especially charming and impressive.

The woman looked very icy. Even though she knew that Zhang Tie was staring at her, she still didn't throw a glance at Zhang Tie. She looked very arrogant. When Zhang Tie stared at her hands, he found she was wearing a pair of semi-transparent gloves. If not the golden plum blossoms embroidered on the gloves, he almost could not identify that they were female gloves.

After realizing that Zhang Tie was staring at her gloves, that woman threw a glance at Zhang Tie. When she saw the huge shell-sized equipment on Zhang Tie's back, a light flashed across the woman's eyes, which could not be easily observed by others.

The bartender filled the glass meticulously and pushed it back to the woman. The woman took up the glass and started to sip it slowly. As Zhang Tie was thinking about his next step, he didn't feel like accosting her. Therefore, after the woman finished her beer, she dropped some gold coins and left before throwing another glance at Zhang Tie.

Until the woman left did the weird atmosphere in the bar relieve a bit. Some men who were crowding at the tables then dared sit at the bar counter; however, nobody dared sit where the woman had sat before.

"Brother, you're audacious. Well done! You dared even sit beside that woman!" A whiskered tough man sat beside Zhang Tie and thumbed up towards him.

"Ah? Is that strange?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes.

"Do you know who's that woman?"

"Who's her?"

"Tirsiris. Don't you know her? Although she had been here only a few times, many guys who wanted to accost her had been killed out of no reason!"

'Tirsiris——Selnes Snake? The terrifying voodoo pharmacist?' Zhang Tie became faintly shocked as he had not imagined that he could meet that woman here, 'It's nothing strange. I, the Selnes Eagle could be here, then why couldn't she come here?'

Soon after Zhang Tie drunk two glasses of beer had Reinhardt arrived...

Chapter 628: The Critical Situation

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

After entering the bar, with a short glance, Reinhardt had noticed that equipment on Zhang Tie's back; he then walked towards him right away.

Zhang Tie felt that someone was watching him. He then turned around and found Reinhardt was walking towards him in the military uniform of colonel.

Since they met in Mocco City last time, Zhang Tie had not seen Reinhardt for a long time. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie found a 4-cm long new scar on Reinhardt's left face. Reinhardt looked more experienced.

However, Reinhardt almost could not recognize Zhang Tie as Zhang Tie not only changed his look but also changed his qi. Last time, Zhang Tie was only LV 9 when his qi was not oppressive. However, at this moment, Reinhardt felt Zhang Tie's qi was oppressive. The reason was that they both cultivated Iron-blood Battle Qi. People who had not cultivated Iron-blood Battle Qi would not have such a strong sense like Reinhardt.

Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards Reinhardt who sat on his side.

"Dude, one more beer!" Zhang Tie told the bartender.

Reinhardt glance at Zhang Tie carefully, "I almost could not recognize you!"

"Had better do this lest any trouble!"

Although they had not seen each other for a long time, the moment they sat together had they started to chat about what happened these days like friends who were separated for only a couple of days.

Zhang Tie didn't explain how did he change his look; therefore, Reinhardt just owed it to some disguise medicament.

"What happened several months ago?" Reinhardt asked him after finishing up a glass of beer in front of him and making a gesture to the bartender for one more glass.

"That was a trap from the beginning. They'd long been waiting for me to seek for death over there. Fortunately, I escaped out of there after experiencing too many tortures!"

As Reinhardt knew Zhang Tie well, he didn't even ask Zhang Tie whether had he surrendered to demons. Because that was impossible. Anyone who knew Zhang Tie would know that was a conspiracy of demons.

"B*stards!" Reinhardt swore ferociously. He knew that Zhang Tie was telling the truth. However, he could not change the publicity. Because not everyone knew Zhang Tie. Most of the commoners were easily influenced by publicity and propaganda. Therefore, at this moment, many people in Selnes Theater of Operations had treated Zhang Tie as the traitor of humans who had surrendered to demons after being influenced by the propaganda of demons and Three-eye Association. They started to swear and curse Selnes Eagle. The news that Zhang Tie had surrendered to demons was truly a great blow to the morale of frontline troops. Even If many people didn't believe that, they would doubt that. If they doubt that, their will to fight demons would shake. As a result, they would not be able to maintain their morale. If Zhang Tie showed his original look, he would bring troubles for sure.

The bartender pushed another glass of beer to him. Reinhardt finished it up once again and pounded it onto the bar counter, "Have you ordered the room?"

"Not yet, I've not imagined that you could come so fast!"

"I met Lieutenant Colonel Stevenson on the way. He told me about you and here I am!"

"It's a coincidence. On the way back, I saw them being chased by demonized puppets; therefore, I gave them a favor!"

"Let's go to another place. It's a bit noisy here!"

Zhang Tie nodded as he finished up his beer and dropped some gold coins on the bar counter. After that, he picked himself up and followed Reinhardt away from Demon Hunters Bar.

Reinhardt didn't drive over here. Therefore, they walked and chatted. When they left the bar and found no other people on the street, Zhang Tie started to inquire some sensitive topics from Reinhardt.

"Why did Jinyun Country's troop evacuate from Selnes Theater of Operations?'

"Do you know what happened in Volv City?" Reinhardt asked Zhang Tie instead of answering his question.

"Haven't Volv City been collapsed?"

Reinhardt revealed a solemn look, "Common fighters might not understand how Volv City was collapsed. Actually, demonized puppets didn't encounter any resistance before rushing into Volv City. Real combats started from inside the city."

Zhang Tie was really shocked by this news, "What the hell?"

"Before the demonized puppets corps arrived, the alliance command changed two corps which were garrisoning outside the city in the name of the shift. The two corps then both received a new garrison map. On the two maps, there was an overlapped area. On the overlapped area of the map, the other corps was garrisoning in it. Therefore, neither human corps dispatch troops to that overlapped area. However, demonized puppets corps fought all the way to Volv City from that overlapped area. When the demonized puppets rushed to Volv City, the two city gates were opened; the defensive equipment on the city walls didn't work at all!"

"Three-eye Association?" Zhang Tie had not imagined that Volv City was collapsed in this way. When he remembered the assassination that he encountered in the illegal demon hunters market of Volv City, Zhang Tie understood that the power of Three-eye Association in Volv City was actually much greater than that he had imagined.

Reinhardt nodded forcefully, "The allied human forces lost three corps. After Volv City was collapsed, the two human corps of over 1 million soldiers garrisoning outside the city were surrounded by over 4 million demonized puppets. Finally, only less than 100,000 of them broke out of the encirclement. Through investigation, we found that the garrison map was replaced. In the original garrison maps, the forces of the two corps were clearly marked on the maps. In the investigation, a respondent even died in Volv City. However, it was the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the alliance command which made the decision to adjust the deployment of the two human corps. After the event broke out, General Howard, the top chief of staff of alliance command had resigned. His two sons also died in Volv city. However, besides, General Howard, the allied human forces couldn't even find a mole of Three-eye Association. After Volv City was collapsed, Jinyun Country's airship troop left Selnes Theater of Operations!"

After hearing Reinhardt's explanation, Zhang Tie felt chilly inside. In Selnes Theater of Operations, what was really terrifying was not demons from north but power of Three-eye Association in human forces who served demons. Three-eye Association's power was too deep-rooted in Waii Sub-continent that they were as firm as worms in bones. Three-eye Association was excelled at hiding their darkest side in the brightest place. You knew the moles of Three-eye Association were in the alliance command who were scheming the whole thing; however, you couldn't find who was that? That was really terrifying.

Given the joint forces of Huaiyuan Palace and the other major clans of Jinyun Country could not find the hidden force of Three-eye Association in Selnes Theater of Operations, after losing the Crystal Battle Fortress, the Jinyun Country's airship troop directly left Selnes Theater of Operations in case of being screwed up by Three-eye Association once again.

In Zhang Tie's opinion, the evacuation of Jinyun Country's airship troop predicted that the defense line of allied human forces could not stand too long in Selnes Theater of Operations.

"Have the airship troop of Jinyun Country returned?"

"No, although Jinyun Country's airship troop have left Selnes Theater of Operations, they are still fighting for humans. They are helping Norman Empire transfer their population to the south."

"It seems that even Norman Empire have prepared to evacuate. As Jinyun Country's airship troop had over 1000 fury-level battle airships, if they could go full stream ahead, they could transfer over 500,000 population once in total. If the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations really collapsed, the removal of 500,000 population means that demons would reduce one corps' demonized puppets. From a certain perspective, it indirectly exterminated a demonized puppets corps. Perhaps Jinyun Country's airship troop made this choice out of this reason."

"The dozens of demonized puppets corps pouring in from the north awakened all the people in the Selnes frontline. After knowing that demons could produce demonized puppets, humans have to try their best to cut off the source of demonized puppets from then on. Additionally, they have to clear b*stards of Three-eye Association out of the human camp. If humans could not make the above two points, they would be defeated by their own force."

"Where's Lan Yunxi?"

"Before Jinyun Country's airship troop left Selnes, Lan Yunxi had been dispatched back to Huaiyuan Palace. I don't know why. The commander of Jinyun Country's airship troop is Wang Hu!"

Zhang Tie had a bit impression about Wang Hu. After knowing that Lan Yunxi was safe, Zhang Tie became completely relaxed.

"Is there anyone of Jinyun Country still in Selnes Theater of Operations?"

"Only a few. It's said that those left are all elites and powerhouses above strong fighter from the major clans of Jinyun Country. However, all of them took off their military uniforms. They stayed in Selnes Theater of Operations not in the status of soldiers, but paladins. Nobody knew about their traces."

"How about those people of Hoorn Republic? They have a glider base outside Mocco City. Have those people escaped out of there?"

As the Hoorn Republic was a small country. Reinhardt thought a while before replying, "When demonized puppets beset the Crystal Battle Fortress, all the garrisons of airship and glider bases between Crystal Battle Fortress and Mocco City had evacuated. They might have been transferred to the rear bases. Thanks to Crystal Battle Fortress which slowed down the main force of demonized puppets corps, the garrisons in those bases could evacuate rapidly!"

"When I fell in the trap of demons and Three-eye Association last time, major general Ford might have played a negative role or might have cooperated with Three-eye Association. Is that guy still in Mocco City?" Zhang Tie asked as he gritted his teeth out of fury, 'That guy must know the details.'

"Major General Ford had died soon after you were caught by demons!"

"Dead?"

"Yup, dead. Your event had a great influence. Therefore, alliance command dispatched exclusive personnel to make an investigation about that. Due to great stress, Major General Ford committed suicide. Of course, we all know that civilian posts like major general might be easily disguised as committing suicide! After the death of Major General Ford, the alliance command could not figure out anything at all."

After hearing this news, Zhang Tie abandoned his plan. According to his previous plan, Zhang Tie was going back to Mocco City to investigate Major General Ford so as to catch the moles of Three-eye Association out of the alliance command. After this clue was cut off, Zhang Tie didn't have any other methods anymore.

"What about the alliance command? Who's responsible for it?"

"Since Volv City was collapsed, the alliance command had only been an empty title. At this moment, you cannot find anybody in the station of the alliance command except for a plate."

After knowing the current situation of the alliance command, Zhang Tie's heart filled with emotions, "What about the rest troops in Selnes?"

"There are still over 2 million human soldiers in Mocco and Sladic. After the remaining airships and some ground troops evacuated to the rear base, each human troop is occupying a piece of land in the frontline and acting willfully!"

"Ah? Won't it be a mess?"

"Almost like that. The situation in Mocco City is more sophisticated. As many troops are gathering there, it's rather complex to coordinate with their relationships. By contrast, Sladic City is better. There're two trump-card corps of Norman Empire over there. Although they suffered some loss, it was not severe. After Volv City was collapsed, our prince had already taken over Sladic by force. Some troops of other countries had been invited to leave Sladic by our prince!"

Zhang Tie knew that other countries' troops could never be chased away from Sladic City without using force. As Norman Empire's corps outnumbered those of other countries' troops in Sladic City, of course, they could take control of the overall situation of the city by force. However, they also needed to pay for it. Based on the current situation, the troops of different countries in the frontline might have been administered in their own way. If not the army of demons in front of them, they might have been fighting each other.

Although they didn't fight each other, the troops of countries had been suspicious about each other. They even became afraid of each other. Because of the existence of Three-eye Association, each country's troop was afraid that the other human troops were lackeys of Three-eye Association who would combine with demons to attack them at the critical moment. Therefore, each troop's commander became very meticulous lest being framed by others. How could such troops join hands with each other to fight demons sincerely?

After hearing Reinhardt's reply, Zhang Tie had a deeper comprehension about the evacuation of Jinyun Country's troop. The main force dispatched by Jinyun Country was an airship troop which could not fight demons independently without the support of ground troops. Airship troop had to depend on ground troops on many key aspects such as supplies and defense. Given the current situation in Selnes, once there was any problem about the ground coordination, the entire airship troop of Jinyun Country might be destroyed. Jinyun Country's airship troop might be forced to leave the frontline in Selnes because of concerns from all aspects.

After thinking about the problem from the perspective of a higher position, Zhang Tie almost figured out what he had not considered at once. For those decision makers of Jinyun Country, they were committed to dispatch troops to Selnes Theater of Operations out of their responsibilities or for the purpose of drilling newbies. However, they didn't want to have a lot of Chinese disciples lose their lives here which was far away from Jinyun Country. Such a decision might only be made by those extremely ferocious clan elders. As to that airship troop of Jinyun Country which went to help Norman Empire transfer population, there might also be an unknown trade behind it.

"How many airships are available in the Selnes Theater of Operations now? When I escaped out of Titanic Duchy, I saw many gravetower demons in the north of Selnes Plain. They could produce a lot of demonized puppets each day. If not destroy them timely, Mocco City and Sladic would not stand long!"

"Although the gravetower demons outside the Tokei City have been destroyed, the airship troops of allied human forces also suffered a great loss. In the last 2 months, they were raided by the large units of wing demons for a few times and lost a lot of airships. Now, the power of human airship troops has been sharply weakened. As a result, humans also completely lost their air supremacy above Selnes Theater of Operations. There are only over 3000 airships in the theater of operations now. All of these airships have already evacuated to the airship bases within the territory of Symbian Republic. They could barely guarantee the safety of the rear airspace of Mocco City and Sladic City and provide limited air support for the two cities. They could not even surpass the middle line of Selnes Plain at the moment!" Reinhardt couldn't help but sigh.

The holy war had just started. However, the demons and the Three-eye Association had already been overwhelming. This unavoidably made humans a bit pessimistic.

Zhang Tie also became silent. He had not imagined that the Selnes Theater of Operations could develop to such a degree only after a few months. Compared to the demons which were as unified as a piece of iron plate, the power of allied human forces was not only weaker but also dispersed, which could hardly be unified. Even though they were barely unified, they would also face various problems. The nominal existence of the alliance command actually symbolized the failure of the first allied human defense line across Waii Sub-continent in the 3rd holy.

Zhang Tie didn't know how would the rest human countries fight demons. He couldn't work out any effective way either. Zhang Tie also became pessimistic about the battle situation of Selnes Theater of Operations. What he concerned most was that how long could Mocco City and Sladic stand?

Reinhardt directly led Zhang Tie into a high-end garden apartment. After arriving at the top storey of the 4-storey apartment, Reinhardt directly threw a bunch of keys to Zhang Tie, "Some rich people lived in here before. After they escaped away, this house was confiscated. Now, those living in this apartments are all commission officers. Common soldiers dare not find trouble here. Take the keys. When you come to Mocco City later on, just live here. I can also easily find you!"

As it was just a house, which was not important for Zhang Tie and Reinhardt, Zhang Tie didn't say anything; he directly took the keys.

"Are you going to converge with the airship troop of Norman Empire and Jinyun Country? If you want to go there, I can arrange it for you. You can leave Mocco City tomorrow!"

"No, I don't want to leave out of here yet. I feel good being alone. Additionally, I've not gotten back to Senel Clan yet. I've not killed enough b*stards of demons!" When Zhang Tie talked about Senel Clan, a shrew light flashed across his eyes.

Reinhardt burst out into laughter before asking Zhang Tie, "What's your level now?"

"5-star battle master!" Zhang Tie told him honestly.

"Good boy, you've really surpassed me. I'm just LV 10..." Reinhardt burst out laughing hysterically as he patted Zhang Tie's shoulder with one hand while he reached another hand towards Zhang Tie, "Come on, let me try whether you lied to me."

Zhang Tie directly reached out a hand and resisted against Reinhardt's hand in the air. Only after a few seconds, Reinhardt let out a muffled harrumph as he was forced to retreat backward three steps. Meanwhile, his face turned a bit pale. Until over 10 seconds later did he recover a bit composure.

"How much force did you use?" Reinhardt asked Zhang Tie.

"80%!"

"Come on, tell me the truth!" Reinhardt looked solemn as he stared at Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie could only force a bitter smile as he scratched his head, "60%!"

"Ha...ha...ha, that's more like it. It seems that the Iron-blood Camp of our No. 39 division will have a powerhouse for sure!" Reinhardt didn't mind it at all; instead, he burst out into laughter.

"Boss, aren't you jealous?" Zhang Tie called Reinhardt like how all the members of Iron-blood Camp of No. 39 Division called him before.

"F*rt. So many people are sharper than me in the world. How could I be jealous about my brother's talent? Of course, I'm glad about that. I think you might be a knight in the future." Reinhardt touched his thorny mustache as he watched Zhang Tie seriously, "Maybe I will also choose to be struck by a lightning bolt a few days later. I will see whether I could make a great progress in battle strength!"

Both of them then burst out into laughter.

...

After the talk, Zhang Tie saw Reinhardt walking downstairs. Until Reinhardt left the apartment did Zhang Tie see his hands and mumbled, "I'm sorry, boss, actually I just used 30% of my strength just now..."

...

After opening the door of the apartment and entering it, Zhang Tie found everything inside it was well arranged. It seemed that nobody lived in here recently. Besides those furnitures and sofa which looked a bit luxurious, there was no problem.

After taking a bath, Zhang Tie laid on the bed with his hand behind his head. Watching the crystal ceiling lamp which had not been turned on, he started to think about his next plan.

After knowing that those people whom he was concerned about were safe, Zhang Tie had been reassured. He had really not imagined about the current battle situation of Selnes Theater of Operations. However, as he had tried his best to do what he deserved, Zhang Tie didn't have any mental stress. Neither was he an alarmist. Instead, he had a sense of relief. 'Now that the airship troop of Jinyun Country had evacuated from here, I would be free here. No matter how long could the human defense line stand in Selnes Theater of Operations, I only need to consider how to improve my battle strength in Selnes Theater of Operations and find Senel Clan troubles. No matter how worse the battle situation would be, I would be able to escape at the critical moment.'

'Perhaps I could also be a paladin in Selnes Theater of Operations! In this period, I need to find an opportunity to fly to the seaside and increase energy storage for Castle of Black Iron greatly.'

'If I kill some more wing demons, I would have a ripe fruit of source, as long as I find the settlement of wing demons.'

'Additionally, I only have a thunder hawk and a rat to use my soul-based animal controlling skill on. By far, I have not found any side effect of soul-based animal controlling skill on my body. It seems that I can find some more incarnations so as to deal with more situations.

Thinking of incarnation, a weird whim occurred in Zhang Tie's mind. Zhang Tie then instantly became thrilled, 'According to the "Great Wilderness Sutra", all the living beings could be incarnated except for humans, does...it mean that I can also incarnate demons...'

...

Zhang Tie was driven excited by this fantastic whim. Gradually, he fell asleep...

...

Zhang Tie slept like a dead pig overnight. After waking up, Zhang Tie refreshed himself before leaving his residence. He prepared to leave Mocco City. However, he found it was too late to leave as the gates of Mocco City had been closed while the atmosphere both inside and outside the city became much more intense than that of yesterday at once.

Looking in the distance, Zhang Tie saw over one million demonized puppets as he felt his scalp numb.

In a distant and sharp clarino, the demonized puppets started to march towards Mocco City. At the beginning, the demonized puppets just wandered; gradually, they paced up; finally, they started to run like a tide, causing booms...

Chapter 629: The Strength of Steel

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Zhang Tie didn't know whether he was fortunate or not. Only after staying in Mocco City overnight, he had encountered such a large-scale battle situation.

Many people who planned to leave the city were gathering in the northernmost city wall of Mocco City. Watching so many demonized puppets, many people were so scared that their face even turned pale. When something reached its million level, it would be overwhelming in front of you even if they were ants.

At this moment, what was rushing towards Mocco City were not ants but the army of demonized puppets.

At least two demonized puppets corps were rushing towards Mocco City.

At this moment, most of those on the city wall of the north gate along with Zhang Tie were demon hunters. Some of them were paladins. Actually, demon hunters were not greatly different than paladins. Demon hunters were powerhouses with military background while paladins were powerhouses who wished to defend demons in Selnes Theater of Operations voluntarily. The two parties both had rich experiences in fighting demons and demonized puppets. Many demon hunters were commission officers. Because of this, the garrisons allowed Zhang Tie and the others to watch what was happening outside the city in the city tower.

The saplings and newborn weeds were quivering, causing ripples in the pond beside the saplings and newborn weeds. The ground was booming like it was thundering. It was caused by more than one million demonized puppets who were running. Looking away at the distance, the demonized puppets were forming a big, dirty and fierce tide.

Including Zhang Tie, everyone held their breath to wait for the attack.

Right behind the city wall, there was a turret which was higher than 50 m. All the people in the turret were working hard.

On the top of the turret, there was a huge mobile platform which looked like an astronomical observatory. Inside that platform, a huge over 1000-ton mechanical flywheel was swiveling rapidly. Beneath the flywheel were two sets of steam engines. The driving force provided by the steam engines turned into the speed of revolution of the huge flywheel. Above the flywheel, complex steam mechanical devices were automatically loading huge, odd gear-shaped items into the projectile positions of the flywheel.

Because there were two boiler rooms downstairs, steam would be transmitted upwards through pipes. Even in winter, the temperature in the turret would still be higher than 35 degree Celsius, not to mention now. In the turret which was was over 40 degree Celsius, each human fighter was oozing sweat all over. Almost all the fighters here were in the bare upper body, a pair of short pants and a pair of shoes. However, at the critical moment, each person was sticking to their own position while staring at the commander who sent orders. Everybody became intense. However, nobody felt frightful. As a human fighter who garrisoned in the steam centrifugal turret silently, it was time for them to show their value. Many people could only have such a chance one or two times in their whole lives.

A Chinese captain with fortitude look and black eyes was standing in the turret and observing the direction of the demonized puppets corps using telescopic rangefinder before sending orders one after another.

"Direction 2..."

"Projection angle 65..."

"Loading centrifugal gear bombs..."

"Largest load..."

"Maintain the largest revolving speed of the flywheel..."

With the series of orders, the metal platform at the top of the turret which was higher than 50 m slowly moved while the huge gun muzzle opened and raised towards the sky...

"Brothers, are you afraid?" That commissioned officer moved his eyes away from the rangefinder at the critical moment as he threw a glance at those fighters who were garrisoning in the turret.

Those fighters' age ranged from 16 to above 60. Some were constantly spading coal into the boilers by shovel; some were gazing at those pressure gauges and tachometers in front of them; some were covered with tools and observing the running operation of those steam pipes inside the turret. Some operators were sitting before the operating table and manipulating the pile of metal drawbars and dials. In the underground bomb loading room, over 20 tough men were gazing at the bomb belt in front of them and waiting for the orders from above.

"Fear what!"

"Just beat those b*stard!"

"Yes, no matter what, we are common low-end soldiers. On the battlefield, we might be killed before chopping down any demon. However, in here, by manipulating such a big weapon, we will make a comeback with only one launch. To fear what?" Soldiers in the turret replied loudly.

"It's not enough to make a comeback; we need to make at least 1000 times more. If you make less than that, don't tell others you're following my order!" The Chinese captain joked as he turned solemn at once, "Attention, ready..."

The inside of the turret became quiet at once. Only the huge centrifugal flywheel hummed...

In less than 10 seconds, a roar sounded in the turret...

"Launch..."

Closely after the order "Launch", the great centrifugal linear velocity turned into the initial velocity of the ammunition on the flywheel at once. With a shriek outside the turret, a group of centrifugal gear bombs had flown towards the far...

...

This was Zhang Tie's first time to witness a battle facing a city in such a scale.

At this moment, the entire Mocco City had been fortified. There were over 100 centrifugal turrets with the largest range in the city. The moment the demonized puppets surged into the range of the centrifugal turret, over 100 centrifugal turrets opened fire almost at the same time. Zhang Tie raised his head and saw hundreds of black points drawing a distant parabola towards the demonized puppets corps over 4 miles away. After over 10 seconds, they all fell into the camp of demonized puppets.

The moment the huge wheel-sized metal gears fell on the ground, they sprung up once again. Due to their great momentum, they kept rolling forward, crushing demonized puppets dozens of meters ahead. As a result, a lot of demonized puppets' blood and fleshes sprayed in all directions with broken tendons and bones...

Standing on the tower over the city gate, Zhang Tie saw those huge centrifugal gears causing over 100 red bloody traces. In the blink of an eye, those bloody traces disappeared as they were submerged by the following tide. For those terrifying demonized puppets, they didn't know about fear and pain at all.

Zhang Tie felt that powerful steam centrifugal shell was like a kurbash which slashed onto those monsters rushing towards Mocco City crazily, leaving bloody traces on their bodies. However, those monsters didn't stop moving forward.

After 20 seconds, over 100 gears flew off once again and fell towards the distance, leaving 100 more bloody traces, which disappeared in a wink...

Like mad cows, the black tide grew crazier among the constant shrieks.

After launching 10 rounds of shells, the vanguard of the black tide had already been 3 miles away from Mocco City.

Among a wide area of thick rising smokes, Zhang Tie saw over 1,000 armored vehicles and tanks accelerating towards the demonized puppets from outside the Mocco City. At this moment, those who dared rush towards the black tide by armored vehicles were real heroes.

In order to deal with those demonized puppets, the wheels on both sides of those armored vehicles had been installed with blades.

The moment the two parties collided with each other had those demonized puppets been sent flying backwards. Some were crushed; numerous were cut into halves. At the same time, the armored vehicles shot out bolts through steam ballistas. Each time they shot blindly had they at least penetrated through two demonized puppets...

After being heavily cracked by human armored troops, those demonized puppets' tide-like attack was curbed at once; however, it was temporary.

Demonized puppets could barely be killed. Even though they were cut into halves, they would not die in a short time; instead, they could still move. As to the penetrating injuries, unless their fragile head or necks, which contained central nervous system, were penetrated through, those injuries were not fatal to demonized puppets at all.

Gradually, the demonized puppets started to launch a counterattack. Numerous demonized puppets jumped on the armored vehicles and blocked the loopholes and peepholes with their own bodies while others swarmed up the armored vehicles like ants that biting beetles. After their limbs being chopped off, the demonized puppets were struggling and trying their best to insert their weapons into the pedrails of the armored vehicles; some of them even put their own arms or bodies into the pedrails or wheels to break down the armored vehicles.

After being blocked by piles of demonized puppets, armored vehicles could not launch bolts anymore...

When the pedrails were destroyed, the armored vehicles started to turn around in the same place; some could not even move anymore...

Being surrounded by demonized puppets, the drivers in armored vehicles could not see the forward direction; as a result, their armored vehicles collided with other armored vehicles. Some of them even drove into gullies...

While others kept surging forward...

Only after a few minutes, the collision between steel and demonized puppets which were barely killed had entered a climax.

Not all the demonized puppets were blocked by armored vehicles. When a part of demonized puppets surrounded the armored vehicles, the others just ignored them and continued to surge towards Mocco City while uttering weird roars.

At this moment, the firm fortifications made of steel and cement outside Mocco City started to work while the long-distance ballistas on the city wall of Mocco City also started to roar. Facing the dispersed strike which was like raindrops, a large area of demonized puppets fell down; however, they struggled to pick themselves up from the ground. The entire Mocco City boiled like a piece of hot, red steel in a split second...

Chapter 630: Yingzhou State of Taixia Country

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Yingzhou State, Taixia Country, Eastern Continent...

As the most powerful and formidable country and the core region of human civilization in this age, Yingzhou State gathered billions of Chinese population. Every Hua people dreamed for that place. Taixia State represented the top human civilization and power in this age. Each human historian would prioritize Eastern Continent——Taixia Country——Hua people when they talked about the major reason that humans could survive on after the Catastrophe.

Almost every human historian was aware that there would be no Taixia Country or humans would have been exterminated in the former two holy wars without Hua people. Anyone who had a clear recognition about this age would sigh with emotions that Hua people and Taixia Country were the masters of Iron Black Age.

In this age, the continuity of Hua people and the power of Taixia Country bore the largest hope of the survival of all the humans.

If not considering the history and legends that happened in the distant age, humans had almost 6,000 years' recorded history. With the Catastrophe as the original point, there were more than 5,000 years on its left side while only less than 900 years were on its right side. In the recorded human history of 6,000 years, no other countries could match Taixia Country's power and prosperity. Actually, no country or alliance that could match Taixia Country was ever described in the history textbooks of humans. All the alleged brilliant and powerful countries and alliances in the human history textbooks were like fireflies in front of the bright moon compared to Taixia Country today.

Taixia Country was so powerful and prosperous that it was out of ones' imaginations. As a result, those who couldn't imagine its power and prosperity could only strive to move closer to it. When the holy war was coming, they would be more anxious about migrating into Taixia Country. Yingzhou State, as a coastal state of the 72 greater states of Taixia Country had a large number of immigrants after the holy war, especially the coastal cities, which became boisterous as a result.

...

It was not Zhang Yang's first time to come to the harbor of Fuhai City, each time he came here, Zhang Yang would feel shocked, despite he had also seen those prosperous harbors in Huaiyuan Prefecture,

Fuhai Harbor was just one of the 17 harbors in Yingzhou State. It was not the largest one as its scale and freight throughput could only rank middle places. However, Zhang Yang almost got lost when he came here for the first time.

The harbor coastline was longer than 70 miles. It had over 20,000 shipyards and docks, big or small. In the cargo berths, there were so many giant head masts. Walking in such a harbor, he felt like walking in a steel woods composed of ships and huge fleets. Right in here, Zhang Yang saw huge open-sea fleets which weighed over 1 million tons.

There were exclusive railway lines in the harbor which connected the harbor from the south to the north. It took people almost one hour from the southernmost part of the harbor to the northernmost part by commuting train.

Fuhai Harbor was very large, so was Fuhai City. After coming to Taixia Country and gathering a lot of information from all aspects, Zhang Yang was deeply impressed by Taixia Country. It was too "huge".

Zhang Yang didn't know how large was Taixia Country, because the entire Eastern Continent including those black and gray wild regions on map belonged to Taixia Country. In the words of Hua people, the entire Eastern Continent was the inherent territory of Taixia Country.

In the territory of Taixia Country, the 9 immortal states were the most prosperous, followed by 36 upper states, 72 greater states. The wild places, there were many medium-sized and small states and prefectures and people agglomerations.

The basic condition to be a greater state of Taixia Country was that the state had to have at least 108 Class A cities, not to mention other conditions and requirements.

After staying in Taixia Country several months, Zhang Yang had not figured out how cities were classified in Taixia Country. He was told that even Yiyang City in Jinyun Country could barely meet the requirements on the scale of population and size of the economy to be a Class A city in Taixia Country, as to other conditions, it might not even meet.

In Waii Sub-continent, Norman Empire copied Taixia Country from all aspects such as its social systems, urban classifications and national class divisions, etc..

The founder of Norman Empire, which was well-known across Waii Sub-continent became average in Taixia Country. In the eyes of most of the people in Taixia Country who knew Norman Empire, the alleged founder of Norman Empire was just a smart guy who ruled an uncivilized place after traveling Taixia Country and learned something. There were so many similar people in other continents and uncivilized places. Even now, there were still a lot of guys who came to Taixia Country with the same thoughts and dreams. They hoped to find a shortcut on this marvelous land so that they could be rich and privileged when they came back to their homeland.

As a Hua people who lived overseas for a long time, when Zhang Yang came to Taixia Country, he firstly needed to be adapted to the inherent confidence and pride of Hua people. After Taixia Country developed greatly, those Hua people who were extremely stubborn and proud would start to call themselves God's men.

In this age, each Hua people living in Taixia Country was qualified to be proud of that.

Take Yingzhou State as an instance. As a greater state, the distance from south to north and from east to west were both above 20,000 miles. The area of Yingzhou State alone had already surpassed the total territory of all the human countries across Blackson Humans Corridor. Plus the area of all the islands and seas under the affiliation of Yingzhou State, the size of Yingzhou alone had already been several times more than that of Blackson Humans Corridor.

Of course, Yingzhou State was also very prosperous as an upper state.

Yingzhou State was divided into 7 prefectures, which included over 130 class A cities, over 1,000 cities below class A and tens of thousands of towns, large or small. 17 years ago, the state government roughly calculated the total population of Yingzhou State based on the consumption of common salt. According to the investigation, about 6.7 billion Hua people were living in Yingzhou State. Therefore, more Hua people lived here.

But it was just a state. We can imagine how prosperous and powerful was Taixia Country.

After coming to Yingzhou State, Zhang Yang firstly bought a map of the full territory of Taixia Country which was about 4 square meters. It was a mini version. On the map, Zhang Tie recognized that the distance from the southernmost part of Taixia Country to its northernmost part was 380.000 miles, excluding the grey regions.

It meant that it would take a person at least half a year by train straightly from the southernmost part to the northernmost part of Taixia Country at the speed of 100 km/h including using 2 hours to add water and coal each day. Actually, many people had tried it. Zhang Yang was told that it would take a person at least 20 months to finish the complete travel from the southernmost part to the northernmost part of Taixia Country.

However, on the map, Zhang Yang found that the distance between the easternmost part and the westernmost part of Taixia Country was even about 1/3 longer than that from the southernmost part to the northernmost part.

Curiously, after coming to Taixia Country, Zhang Yang had felt reassured. He had never felt that reassured when he was in Blackhot City. When he returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture, he felt a bit reassured; however, he didn't become reassured completely. The moment he stepped on the land of Taixia Country and knew that billions of Hua people with the black hair and eyes were living here had Zhang Yang recovered his composure completely. Meanwhile, all the disordered sounds that had been restless in his heart over 2 decades disappeared along with his concerns about coming to a strange place.

Zhang Yang realized that Taixia Country was the very place for Zhang's posterity to root and sprout and the place for Zhang clan to find and develop its everlasting undertakings.

As Zhang Ping, Zhang Tie's uncle said, this was where they should go.

...

Zhang Yang was waiting nearby the dock "Tiger 08" with some attendants. After receiving the message, Zhang Yang knew that those steamers whose weight ranged from 30,000 to 50,000 tons would finally be anchored at the dock nearby "Tiger 08". In this harbor, different tons of ships would anchor in different docks. Docks were different in water depths and docking facilities. In the dock region named as "Rat", there were super huge steamers which weighed over 1 million tons while those huge steamers which weighed over 500,000 tons would basically anchor in dock region named as "Ox".

It took Zhang family over 2 months from Waii Sub-continent to Yingzhou State of Taixia Country by airship last year. Although the airship was fast and comfortable, it could not hold too many passengers or items in such a long-distance flight. Therefore, Zhang Yang decided to evacuate people in batches last year. The second batch of people would arrive today. They were taking a huge 36,000-ton open-ocean steamer which was bought by Jinwu Corporation from Zhang's Milky Way Shipyard. After bumping 9 months on the seas, the Safety&Tranquility steamer finally sent a message to Zhang Yang last day and told him that they would arrive at Fuhai Harbor of Yingzhou State this morning. Therefore, Zhang Yang waited here with some attendants.

Besides some reliable backbone personnel from all departments of Jinwu Corporation and their relatives, there were some items that Zhang Yang had people bring from Huaiyuan Prefecture, including some key equipment of his dad's airship manufacturer. After all, they were all valuable belongings. Zhang Yang had them packed and transported here.

After waiting for more than 2 hours on the dock, Zhang Yang still didn't see Safety&Tranquility yet. However, other huge steamers docked near the dock "Tiger 08".

The moment those huge steamers docked had the passengers pushed onto the deck and cheered. For them, it was really like getting rid of bitterness and reaching the bank of happiness. Everything here was fresh and nice to those people.

Watching those people, Zhang Yang recalled the scene when he came to Yingzhou State for the first time.

At this critical moment, those who could come to Yingzhou State by steamer were at least not poor. This could be judged from their clothes.

...

"Dad, what's that?" a little girl of about 11 years old in a beautiful skirt raised her head while pointing at that object in the sky when she passed by Zhang Yang.

"Young lady, of course, it's an airship! When we settle down, the master will consider adding the airship as a traffic tool for sure. It's said that Taixia Country is so large. It's very inconvenient for us to travel without an airship!" a fat woman told the little girl, "I've not imagined that young lady could speak Hua language so well only after learning it two years!"

"No, Lisa, that's not an airship. It doesn't have air sacs..." The little girl exclaimed.

"What?"

Some raised their heads out of curiosity and became stunned at once. They then shouted, "How come is it flying in the air without air sacs?"

After hearing their exclamations, more people stopped walking as they all raised their heads and watched the sky, including Zhang Yang.

There was indeed an over 200-m long object hovering in the sky at about 1,000 m in height. That object was different than the airship in shape. Additionally, it didn't have air sacs or wings. Looking from the ground, it was completely a ship. Being different from common boats, it was floating in the sky.

After coming to Yingzhou State many months, it was Zhang Yang's second time to see such an airboat. When he saw it for the first time, he also became dumbfounded; however, at this moment, he had almost been used to it. However, he was still very interested in it as he was deeply shocked by the power of civilization of Taixia Country.

Chapter 631: Airboat of Noble Clans

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Before coming to Taixia Country, Zhang Yang had never believed that there was such an object in the world. Three decades ago, such a marvelous airboat had already appeared when an exotic metal called "air floating metal" was excavated from the underground world. However, such an object could only be seen in Taixia Country. Even in Taixia Country, only very few people could have such an object. In the airspace of Taixia, the airship was still the main air traffic tool. Such an airboat was rarely seen. After coming to Taixia Country the past few months, Zhang Yang had just seen it twice.

It was very crowded when people got off the steamer. One person raised his head and watched the sky as he continued to walk forward. Unfortunately, he was pushed into the sea. He then flapped and exclaimed in the sea as those on his side pulled him out of the sea hurriedly.

"That's an air floating airboat made of the air floating metal..."

A sailor in the dark brown skin explained to those people in Hua language fluently as he was fixing the anchor chain while those passengers were watching that exotic object in the sky.

"Can I buy one? How much?" A middle-aged man with a bulged belly while being pushed by people in all directions looked like "This uncle doesn't lack money" as he asked with glittering eyes.

"Of course you can..." That sailor had seen too many nouveau riches who escaped here in order to dodge from the holy war. He derided, "Across Yingzhou State of Taixia Country, besides the governor of this state, only a few clans like Qin Clan could purchase the air floating airboat. Qin Clan is very well-known here. You will know them soon. If you think you could match Qin Clan on wealth, you might purchase an air floating airboat!"

"How rich is Qin Clan?" The middle-aged man continued as he felt the sailor's ridicule.

"Qin Clan is a noble clan in Yingzhou State. They've multiplied over 40 generations here. They have a nickname, '100-city Qin'!"

"100-city Qin?" That middle-aged man repeated as he felt strange about that word, "What does that mean?"

"It means that Qin Clan has over 100 cities. If you also have many cities, you can also buy an airboat!"

"One clan has...over 100...ci...cities?" That middle-aged man was frightened as he stammered.

"Hmm, almost like that. Although it's a bit exaggerating. I was told Qin Clan at least have 70 cities and dozens of large-scale town. Therefore, Qin Clan was called 100-city Qin!" The Sailor's voice was full of admiration and respect when he talked about so much wealth of Qin Clan, "You'd better be low-key here. In Taixia Country, if you have less than 1 city and levy tax of less than 1 million gold coins from your city each year, you'd better not tell others that you're a rich man; otherwise, you would be ridiculed. They would treat you as a rustic."

After hearing the sailor's words, the man's fury disappeared at once. He even dared not ask the price of the airboat. Watching the airboat disappearing in the sky very soon, the middle-aged man could only take his followers away while lowering his head. Only that little girl was still watching the sky.

After hearing this dialogue, Zhang Yang also smiled. Before coming to Taixia Country, all of these people had excellent lives. Many of them were rich in their former settlement. However, when they came to Taixia Country, they found the standard of being rich was out of commoners' imagination. In Yingzhou State, a lot of clans had cities. In Taixia Country, cities were divided into official cities and private cities. Official cities were managed by Taixia's governments and imperial court while private cities belonged to personnel or clans. Over two-thirds of cities in Taixia Country were private.

100-city Qin was well-known in Yingzhou State. When Zhang Yang came to Yingzhou State at the beginning, he was told that noble clans in Yingzhou State like Qin Clan had very deep root in this state. Qin Clan had been in Yingzhou State for over 700 years. Due to the efforts of generations, Qin Clan had such a great undertaking. If in other places, Qin Clan, with such a great undertaking, would be unrivaled. However, in Taixia Country, Qin Clan was just a local noble clan.

Private property was guaranteed by the laws of Taixia Country. According to the laws of Taixia Country, as long as you built a private city in a place, you will have that private city forever. The owner of the city had the right to levy taxes and formulate taxation policies to gain "tax and interest", you could also recruit army and guards for your private city...

In your private city, you could levy whatever you want as it was protected by the Taixia's laws. Additionally, all the non-slave population in Taixia Country could enjoy free immigration. However, if you didn't have enough conditions to attract people to do business in your private city, your city would be an empty city. You could have as many troops and powerhouses as you want. Rich people were even encouraged to cultivate powerhouses privately according to the laws of Taixia Country. They could do business and expand their own territory by force. Nevertheless, bullying the weak and violating others' legal rights and interests were forbidden and intolerable in accordance with the laws of Taixia Country.

Therefore, all the noble clans and rich people in Taixia Country were wild about building cities and treating it as the best undertaking that they could leave to their posterity.

There was a saying in Taixia Country, "Commoners kept houses, noble clans kept cities; houses existed for about 100 years while the cities existed forever."

After coming to Taixia Country several months later, Zhang Yang's ambition was also gradually aroused. For all the Hua people, Taixia Country was full of hopes. People had enough place to make their dream come true here. 'Others could build cities for the well-being of their posterity and have their bloodlines carried forward, why wouldn't Zhang Tie and I establish an undertaking in Taixia Country?'

...

At almost noon, Zhang Yang finally saw that the Safety&Tranquility steam slowly driving towards the dock under the guidance of the pilot vessel. In Huaiyuan Prefecture, Safety&Tranquility was a huge vessel. However, it was dwarfed here.

The moment the Safety&Tranquility was anchored steadily and the gangway ladder was put down from the vessel, all the passengers who had traveled about 10 months poured out at once.

"Boss..." All the people who got off the vessel were very thrilled at the sight of Zhang Yang. Some even dropped off tears. They finally arrived at Taixia Country and didn't need to be terrified anymore.

"Thankfully, you all arrived safe and sound. After bumping on the sea for so long, you can have a rest for a few days. I've already arranged your residence. After a couple of days, we will discuss the next plan!" Zhang Yang let out a sigh when he saw the backbone personnel of Jinwu Business Group and their family members. 'As long as these people have arrived, I will have good helpers when doing business. As we are new here from Waii Sub-continent, we could only join hands with each other to tide over difficulties. By doing this, these people could be more loyal to me.'

"Boss, we've bumped on the sea for over 300 days, we're almost driven mad. When can we assemble those machines? Once we find some more employers and figure out the purchase channels of raw materials, our Jinwu Airship Manufacturing Corporation could produce airships soon!" An engineer of Zhang Yang's dad suggested enthusiastically as he couldn't wait to show his value.

Zhang Yang threw a glance at that engineer. He knew clearly what that engineer was thinking about. At this moment, those people who came to Taixia were shocked by such a prosperous country. Therefore, they were very afraid of not finding their location in the new place so as to show their value, "Don't worry about our plan, Taixia is a bit different than Huaiyuan Prefecture. I've not figured out many things yet. You only need to believe me that as long as you wish to continue to work for me and serve Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Clan, as long as I have food, I will never make you hungry. Our Jinwu Business Group would never abandon those who would like to stand together with us regardless of any risks and difficulties!"

At this moment, Zhang Yang looked more like a leader. Only with a few words, he had made all the others reassured.

This time, over 100 employers of Zhang Yang came here from Huaiyuan Prefecture. Plus their family members, the Safety&Tranquility held over 1,600 passengers in total. As shipping tickets from Waii Sub-continent to Taixia Country were rare, almost all the employers came here with their relatives and family members. Even some guys came here with their beautiful wives. After asking the reason, Zhang Yang knew that since these guys were allowed to take their family members to Taixia Country, so many people would like to propose a marriage for them. Some girls even wanted to marry them voluntarily. Before going aboard, these guys were still intoxicated in their sweet dreams. Finally, they had to take their wife, and parents-in-law, their wives' younger brothers together to Taixia Country.

As the old saying went, "If one requested others too strictly, one would not have any friend." Zhang Yang didn't feel like figuring out the details. Because numerous people were dreaming to leave Waii Sub-continent, a steamer ticket would even arouse a fight. After remembering his mom's instruction, Zhang Yang just wanted to save as more people as possible.

It would take 180 gold coins a day for the Safety&Tranquility steamer to anchor in the dock of Fuhai Harbor. Although it was not cheap, it was necessary. After handling the procedures on the harbor and arranging some people on the Safety&Tranquility, Zhang Yang took those people away from Fuhai Harbor.

Like how Zhang Yang felt when he came to Fuhai Harbor at the beginning, watching the over 70 mile-long harbor and those huge fleets which weighed over 1 million tons in the docks, everybody else was shocked by the prosperous scene.

...

Zhang Yang ordered a big hotel in a quiet place over 10 miles away from the port area of Fuhai Harbor. He arranged those people to take rest in the hotel for a couple of days and adapt to the situation of Yingzhou State. Although those people were very excited the moment they got off the steamer, after a short time, they had started to feel dizzy as they suffered from symptoms like seasickness. It was a common disease. Like some people would suffer from carsickness, after bumping on the sea for a long time, when they came to the steady land, some people would not adapt to such a change at once. Therefore, they would also feel uncomfortable temporarily. Many sailors had such an experience.

After having a meal with everybody else who had not eaten food on the land for over 10 months, Zhang Yang comforted them faintly and told them to have a good rest. After that, he left the hotel by car.

In that black sedan, on the way back home, Zhang Yang took out of a thick book "Taixia Laws".

If you wanted to understand a place, the most effective way was to learn the local laws. The complete Taixia laws contained 360,000 words in Hua language. The complete "Taixia Laws" were divided into "Great Laws", "Civil Laws", "Commercial Laws" and "Criminal Laws", which regulated the running of the entire huge eastern empire as the supreme code of Taixia Country.

Over 500 years, "Taixia Laws" had just been remedied once, namely, increasing an item in the "Commercial Laws" of "Taixia Laws", which made a clear definition about the shipping priority of maritime businessmen. Due to the authority of "Taixia Laws", Taixia became more and more powerful.

...

Only after half an hour, a manor that covered about 15,000 square meters appeared in front of Zhang Yang's black sedan. At the sight of the sedan, two spirits fighters instantly opened the gate of the manor and had the sedan enter.

The moment Zhang Yang got off the vehicle had he seen some female servants running here and there. They looked very busy. The entire manor also looked a bit intense.

"Aunt Sun, what's happening?" Zhang Yang hurriedly asked a senior who came to Taixia Country together with his family members.

"First young master, thank god, you're back. The three wives of the second young master are going to deliver babies!"

"Now?"

"Yup, the three ladies have already broken their amniotic fluid simultaneously in half an hour just after the noon. What a coincidence..."

After hearing Aunt Sun's words, Zhang Yang hurriedly walked into the inner chamber where the three ladies were.

Chapter 632: The Birth of Immortal Bloodline (I)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

After entering the inner chamber, Zhang Yang found all the members of Zhang Clan were busy serving the three women in the exclusive delivery room.

Zhang Ping was circling outside the room while he looked both intense and pleasant. He kept punching one fist onto the other. Zhang Yang didn't see his mom. Paul, whom Zhang Tie arranged to protect Linda, Beverly and Fiona, was also waiting outside the room. Compared to Zhang Ping's anxious look, Paul kept his eyes closed in a tranquil way all over. He didn't open his eyes until Zhang Yang arrived. He then put his right hand on his left chest as he faintly bowed to Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang also nodded towards him.

"Where're dad and mom?" Zhang Yang asked as he strode forward.

"Your mom is helping inside the room with Huizhen!" Zhang Yang's dad looked a bit reassured after seeing Zhang Yang.

"What's going on inside?"

"It's should be okay!"

"Dad, you don't need to be that nervous. Just take a seat outside. It will be all right after a short while!"

"How can I take a seat at this moment? I've not imagined that Zhang Tie's going to be a papa!" Zhang Ping revealed a faint smile as he was going to have three more grandsons or granddaughters. This brought him a great sense of achievement, "When did you contact Zhang Tie last time, is he okay?"

"Good, he's dynamic!" Zhang Yang didn't tell the truth which was told by Zhang Tie. After all, as long as knowing that Zhang Tie was safe, their parents would not be concerned about him.

"That's good. Remember to tell him to not care about the honor of 'Selnes Eagle'. It would be good as long as he could come back alive. The honor 'Selnes Eagle' is nothing but a f*art in Taixia Country!"

"I know. I will tell him when I contact him next time! The Safety&Tranquility has already arrived at Fuhai Harbor along with those equipments. Dad, what's your next plan?" Zhang Yang inquired Zhang Ping. If Zhang Clan wanted to settle down in Taixia Country, his dad's airship manufacturing plant had to take root here too. Although it was an industry of Jinwu Business Group, the airship manufacturing plant was always run by his dad. It was Zhang Ping's undertaking. Therefore, Zhang Yang had to follow his dad's opinion on the airship manufacturing plant.

"I've investigated the situation of Fuhai City these months. The harbor and transport services here are very developed. The shipbuilding skills here are much more advanced than that in Huaiyuan Prefecture. However, there's a weaker foundation here on airship manufacturing industry. There's almost no airship manufacturing plant here. If we settle down here, we will be greatly limited in all aspects such as talents, techniques and resources. Our airship manufacturing plant will hardly develop. As a small enterprise, if we want to build competitive airships here, we have to do trades and learn from others enterprises in the same industry!" Zhang Ping became excited and professional when he talked about the airships manufacturing.

"Which place do you think is suitable?"

"I was told that some places in the inland of Yingzhou State had an advanced manufacturing industry, which gathered a batch of Class A airship manufacturing enterprises. I've not investigated over there yet. Therefore, I have not made any decision temporarily. What do you think?"

"I will wait until my younger sisters-in-law get better. Then, I want to take a look at Huaiyuan City!" Zhang Yang replied after a few seconds.

Huaiyuan City was a settlement of Huaiyuan Palace in Taixia Country and one of the Class A cities in Yingzhou State. It was over 3,000 miles away from Fuhai City. Since he came to Taixia Country, Zhang Yang had not been there yet.

"Are you prepared to settle down in Fuhai City?" Zhang Yang's dad asked Zhang Yang.

"Not yet..." As a descendant of Huaiyuan Palace, of course, he could be taken care of by Huaiyuan Palace when he came to Huaiyuan City. However, Zhang Yang didn't mean to gain any special care from Huaiyuan City; instead, he wanted to negotiate with Huaiyuan Palace on the business of all-purpose medicament in Taixia Country. At this moment, most of the all-purpose medicament were mainly used in Waii Sub-continent. Only a few of them were sold to Taixia Country. However, the all-purpose medicament would play a greater role everywhere. Compared to the Waii Sub-continent, 1/4 of which had been occupied by demons and covered with battle flames, Taixia Country was a much greater potential market.

Huaiyuan Palace dispatched a 60-year odd powerhouse to protect Zhang Yang's family members on the way back to the Taixia Country. Given this point, Zhang Yang knew that Huaiyuan Palace was aware of the value of all-purpose medicament. Someone also came to Fuhai City for Zhang Yang from Huaiyuan City and mentioned the all-purpose medicament a few days ago. However, as Zhang Yang was not clear about the situation in Taixia Country, he didn't make the decision right away. Additionally, he didn't have enough assistants on his side; therefore, he could not take care of that on many aspects. By contrast, with the arrival of the reliable backbone force of Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Yang's deeper investigation about Taixia Country in all aspects, Zhang Yang realized that it was the right time to talk with Huaiyuan Palace.

"I will support you and Zhang Tie, no matter what decision you make!" Zhang Ping expressed.

Right then, the steward came to Zhang Ping's side, "Master, the household registration officer of Fuhai City has arrived. He's taking a rest in the parlor!''

"Oh, I know, go greet him politely right away. When the babies come out, I will send someone to notice you. You then bring the officer here!"

"Yes, sir!" Before leaving, the steward suddenly remembered something as he asked, "There are two female officers, do we need to prepare for red purses?"

"Prepare two red purses, just 6 silver coins and 6 copper coins in each of them in case of trouble." Zhang Yang replied.

"Yes, sir!" The steward became hesitated for a short while as he felt that the red purses contained too less money. 'Even the servants would gain more than that in usual. How come the first young master became so mean this time?' However, the steward dared not ask about the reason.

Until the steward walked away did Zhang Ping ask Zhang Yang, "Does the red purses contain too fewer coins?"

"They dare not take it if you give them too much. Additionally, they would be angry about that. According to 'Taixia Laws', civil servants are forbidden to take the bribe. As long as the evidence could be provided, even if they take one copper coin illegally, their positions would be relieved. Additionally, they would never be employed again. If they take the bribe of more than one gold coin, they would be punished to do hard labor work for more than a month. If they take the bribe of more than 100 gold coins, they would be disparaged to pariahs. If they take 500 good coins illegally, they would face a capital punishment while three generations of their posterity would be forbidden to be officers."

"Ah?" Zhang Ping became amazed, "Why did you give them the red purses then?"

Zhang Yang smiled, "Local customs are exceptions. In Fuhai City, when household registration officers provide door-to-door registration services, they could accept red purses which indicated a benediction. However, the maximal amount of money in the red purse should not exceed 8 silver coins, namely one day's salary of the lowest officer in Taixia Country; otherwise, the registration household officer would not dare to take it!"

When Zhang Yang explained to Zhang Ping, a loud cry drifted from the delivery room, closely after which were the exclamations of some women...