Chapter 629 - 677 - 686

Chapter 677: Painstaking Exercise

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

After finding Secret Knowledge Pavilion, Zhang Tie slightly adjusted his schedule. He narrowed the period to light the surging point and do exercises under the impulse of water flow from 12 hours to 4 hours and the period to read endless true words of Great Wilderness Sutra from 3 hours to 1 hour. He increased the period to cultivate battle skills and secret knowledge from 4 hours to 14 hours. What remained unchanged was the sleeping time——5 hours.

With such an adjustment, although Zhang Tie would take a few more days to promote to LV 12, he could lay a solid foundation. After all, he could promote to LV 12 only after lighting another 9 surging points. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not anxious.

During these days in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had forgotten about all the troubles outside. He didn't feel it was improper. 'No matter how the war progresses between humans and demons, I'm not even a knight, so it's not my turn to concern about that. This world will continue to run without me. My battle force is my largest dependence. The more powerful I am, the safer it will be for those beside me and myself, and the more influential my words will be to the overall battle situation. Even if a LV 6 soldier survived 100 years in the holy war, he could still not match the meritorious deed that a knight could make in one day on the battlefield. I gained nothing after following Senel Clan for more than 10 days; however, the moment Elder Muray arrived had he solved the problem. What a difference!'

Therefore, Zhang Tie continued his cultivation in Castle of Black Iron with a peaceful mind.

It would definitely be annoying for a person who could hardly make a choice when he discovered a Secret Knowledge Pavilion in the Trouble-reappearance Situation.

It was always a happy thing to find a secret book; however, when there were too many secret books to read, you would feel perplexed.

Thankfully, Zhang Tie had no trouble to make a choice, neither was he over-ambitious. For Zhang Tie, it would be good as long as he could become more powerful. But how? To further develop his strengths so as to enlarge the gap between him and others. When he activated his ancestral bloodlines, he immediately became able to challenge Scala although his level was lower than Scala's.

Therefore, Zhang Tie used the same method when he chose the secret books.

It took Zhang Tie 3 days to skim over the secret books in the Secret Knowledge Pavilion and learn what abilities they could bring to him.

During the 3 days, besides continuing his cultivation, Zhang Tie selected the 1st secret book that could make him more powerful.

As he met the bottleneck in the cultivation of "Meteor Shower Sword", Zhang Tie selected the first secret book "True Swordsmanship" and started to read it carefully. This was a secret book for those below LV 9. Although it didn't contain powerful battle skills or battle qi; it raised Zhang Tie's understanding about the cultivation of battle skills and swordsmanship to a new high.

After studying "True Swordsmanship", Zhang Tie didn't read any more secret books; instead, he started to accomplish the cultivation of his fundamental swordsmanship. It was not only a process to consolidate the foundation of his swordsmanship but also the foundation of Zhang Tie's road towards a real powerhouse.

When in Hidden Dragon Palace, he had to repeat the 8 movements of fundamental swordsmanship 8 million times so as to accomplish the cultivation of his fundamental swordsmanship. This was a painstaking process, which Zhang Tie previously didn't pay too much attention to. In Zhang Tie's opinion, the more powerful the battle skill was, the better it would be. However, after carefully studying "True Swordsmanship", he finally understood that all the great powers were based on the simplest and firmest foundation, without which, the alleged powers were just as illusory as moons in the river and flowers in the mirror. Only with the firmest foundation could one become powerful always.

The foundation of power was featured by a super strong will, forever persistence, strong body, faster speed, best coordination between limbs, consciousness, eyes and movements, 100% precision, great concentration that could turn failure into success and delicate control force like using 500 kg's huge ax to carve floral grains on a bean curd. The only way to reach all the above targets was painstaking exercise——to repeat each simple movement over 1 million times.

Until then did Zhang Tie understand the reason that Hidden Dragon Palace listed fundamental swordsmanship as a compulsory course for all the students. This was not an idea that occurred to someone when he patted his head, but the deepest enlightenment that a real powerhouse could have in the process of cultivation.

Without a firm foundation, the cultivator could never touch the peak of his battle road and battle skills.

Zhang Tie started his painstaking exercise.

At the beginning, with one sword, he could repeat the 8 movements twice in a second, namely reaching out of his sword 16 times...

After 1 week, Zhang Tie held two swords and could repeat 2 rounds of the 8 movements in each second by each hand, namely reaching out of his sword 32 times per second...

This was a tough challenge. In the early days, Zhang Tie's two swords always collided with each other due to different movements. His footsteps would always become disordered when he usually disrupted his own rhythm. Gradually, Zhang Tie adapted to it in an unimaginable way and solved this tricky problem which seemed could never be solved.

Zhang Tie found that as long as he treated the two long swords in his hands as the two abacuses that he imagined in his mind when doing 'mental arithmetic' could he realize the most perfect coordination when making different movements with the two long swords.

This was a great discovery and an outstanding attempt. After realizing its feasibility, Zhang Tie was shocked as he knew what did this mean. Previously, Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could master the method to make two different movements at the same time after reaching that supreme realm of "mental arithmetic". After applying mental arithmetic in battle skills, Zhang Tie could almost increase his battle force by two times. Now that he could use two swords at the same time; he could also use his fist and sword or his shield and sword at the same time. An unprecedented road of cultivation opened in front of Zhang Tie's eyes, which shocked Zhang Tie for quite a while.

After recovering his composure, Zhang Tie started to cultivate his fundamental swordsmanship in Castle of Black Iron instead of being in the trouble-reappearance situation. He told Heller to divert a thick water flow onto his body from the heavens waterfall. Zhang Tie started to cultivate each movement of fundamental swordsmanship under the heavy impulse of the torrent. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn't need any iron puppet anymore. As he had gazed at that puppet for too long, he could imagine about its look even when he closed his eyes.

Zhang Tie used the two heaviest long swords that he could find from Castle of Black Iron, each weighed 280 kg, to attack the illusory steel puppet which existed in his mind.

He was improving his fundamental swordsmanship, his will and his body at the same time. Zhang Tie didn't stop his cultivation until the potential of each of his cells was fully tapped.

When he could not wave the 280 kg long swords, he used smaller ones. Until his fingers trembled when he held the commonest long swords would he replace the long swords with his fingers. Under the impulse of the heavy water flow, Zhang Tie kept repeating the 8 movements of the fundamental swordsmanship using his fingers.

Through such a painstaking exercise, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his attacking times per hand from one round to two rounds. Almost every time he took a fruit, Zhang Tie would feel freer in movements under the impulse of the water flow. However, the dropping speed of the water flow would soon increase, which gradually offset his physical strength.

In this way, Zhang Tie completely forgot about time; neither did he remember how many times had he repeated the 8 movements of fundamental swordsmanship. He could only remember that he had already opened the 4th floor of All-spirits Pagoda and lit the 143rd surging point. After lighting one more surging point would he promote to LV 12 great battle master...

...

This day, when Zhang Tie woke up, he didn't feel different than usual days. However, the moment he picked the two 280 kg's long swords to start his cultivation had he felt an evident agility and affinity from the two long swords. It seemed that they were not long swords but parts of his body. When he closed his eyes, the long swords almost became his eyes and enabled him to sense everything, including the trivial air turbulence. When he raised his long swords which then became his hands and enabled him to touch and tear everything apart. When he poked the long swords into the ground which then became his feet on the ground and could never be moved by others.

A whim occurred to Zhang Tie's mind while his long swords instantly crashed with each other. In a split second, with a sharp thunder-like sonic boom, two terrifying crescent-shaped sword qi flew out of the swords and swept over all the grasses, trees and mountain rocks within 50 m at the foot of the immortal mountain in the form of a cross after flying over all the obstacles in front of them, leaving a huge cross symbol on the mountain ridge...

Zhang Tie was shocked as he felt that he was pretty familiar with "Meteor Shower Sword" immediately.

"Congratulations, my lord, you've awakened another ancestral bloodline and formed the Iron-blood Battle Qi!" Heller's voice drifted from Zhang Tie's back...

Chapter 678: Great Battle Master

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Zhang Tie turned around and saw Heller walking towards him.

"You mean I've awakened a new ancestral bloodline?"

"My lord, you must have sensed the change. You've awakened sword affinity!" Heller smiled.

'How weird it is. When I woke up, I just felt different with the two long swords. I remembered that when I took the fruit of bloodline and activated ancestral bloodlines, I had to use 62 points of bloodline energy to activate sword affinity. I injected the remaining last bit of bloodline energy into the marshmallow of sword affinity; I did not expect this ancestral bloodline to activate at this moment.' Zhang Tie thought.

Zhang Tie thought it might be related to his painstaking training during this period, 'Ahh, how long have I cultivated in Castle of Black Iron?'

Zhang Tie then asked Heller the same question that he was considering.

"According to the date outside, it's already August. Your majesty, you've exceeded the cultivation of fundamental swordsmanship more than that you could expect. As a reward, you've awakened your ancestral bloodline..." Heller answered.

"Exceeded?" Zhang Tie indeed had not thought about this before. Since he started his painstaking cultivation under that torrent, Zhang Tie even forgot how many times he had reached out his swords.

"Yes, my lord. During this period, you could keep reaching out swords 16 times per second per hand. That's to say, you can reach out swords 32 times per second with two hands, namely 115,200 times per hour. Under the torrent, you trained 8 hours, namely, you had reached out your swords 921,600 times a day. Excluding the cultivation that you made in the trouble-reappearance situation, you had stayed 68 days in Castle of Black Iron by yesterday, during which period, you had reached out your swords 62,668,800 times under the torrent. However, the standard of fulfilling the cultivation of fundamental swordsmanship in Hidden Dragon Palace was that the cultivator had to reach out swords 8 million times. Plus the times that you reached out your swords in the trouble-reappearance situation, you have already reached out your swords over 80 million times, 10 more times than regulated. Besides, you were cultivating it by two hands at the same time under very tough environment. Because of this, you awakened your sword affinity!"

Perhaps Zhang Tie was not talented in cultivation; however, his strong will and persistence aroused Heller's appreciation.

"Over 80 million times?" Zhang Tie was stunned after hearing the figure. Zhang Tie didn't know that he had accomplished such a great work——by reaching out his swords over 80 million times in total, he accomplished his cultivation of fundamental swordsmanship and laid a solid foundation for his road towards a real powerhouse.

"My lord, have you found any difference in your current movements than before?"

"Not yet." Zhang Tie replied like an idiot as he indeed had not sensed any change.

Heller then pointed at the place where Zhang Tie stood, "Your majesty, this platform is a very firm granite, which was as high as 1.7 m or so at the beginning; however, look at how high it is now, my lord?"

Zhang Tie lowered his head and checked it carefully. He then realized that this granite was only a bit higher than 0.5 m with a pit in the center which was caused by his own gravity when he was meditating.

"This is the best certificate for your painstaking exercise. The torrent that flushed onto your body and your long swords lowered this granite over 1 m in height. Even the hard rock had changed its look under the impulse of the torrent, how could you not sense the change when you cultivated under the impulse of the torrent, my lord?"

Zhang Tie then scratched his head bashfully before replying, "Erm...I really didn't sense any change!"

"That's because you've already been used to cultivate in such an environment. With your rising battle force and increasing bearing capability, I gradually increased the impulse of the torrent. Therefore, you could not sense any change. There's no water flow now, you can try again with your swords, my lord!"

After hearing Heller's words, Zhang Tie casually moved with double swords. In a split second, the platform was covered with thunder-like sonic booms and dense sword shadows, displaying brilliant, grim and terrifying sword flowers...

The sword flowers faded away while everything else on the platform disappeared in 1 second. What happened just now was like an illusion.

Zhang Tie watched his hands with an unimaginable look. In the past one second, he was just cultivating his fundamental swordsmanship as usual. However, in a split second, he had felt his hands accelerating greatly in a much easier way. Therefore, in a second, he launched his attack 19 rounds by two hands, namely 304 times in total. Because of a super fast speed, the brilliant sword shadows formed sword flowers.

Sword flowers was a high realm of swordsmanship recorded in the secret book "True Swordsmanship". The full description about it was "Even water is forbidden in sword flowers!"

'Now that I could reach out swords 304 times per second, I could also punch 304 times per second.' Zhang Tie thought.

Zhang Tie watched Heller before saying, "Give me a basin of water..."

Heller responded with a smile as he pointed towards the firm water wall on Zhang Tie's side. A water flow instantly flew towards Zhang Tie's head. Compared to the terrifying super high speed of the water wall, this water flow didn't flow so fast. It was equal to the speed of that of a basin of water being poured down from upstairs.

When the water came close to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie felt that it was flowing as slowly as the crawling speed of a tortoise. After that, he reached out his swords and cut the water into numerous pieces and minced it, then he lifted it and pushed it aside in extremely common movements without even releasing his sword qi.

In Heller's eyes, when the water flow almost touched Zhang Tie's head, with sword flashes, the water had turned into mist and been blown away by the sword wind like a magic...

After the mist faded away, Heller saw Zhang Tie standing there with his swords supporting on the ground while Zhang Tie's body was still dry.

At that moment, Zhang Tie finally sensed his great change. He had faintly and easily reached an unimaginable realm on strength, speed, responding ability, judgment and coordination between limbs, consciousness and eyes. Zhang Tie finally felt a faint resonance between his state and his knight's consciousness.

Forming a resonance with the knight's consciousness and feeling more harmonious indicated a great progress and unusual realm.

"Thank you, Heller!" Zhang Tie appreciated sincerely. He knew that he could never make such a remarkable achievement in such a short period without the environment and conditions that Heller created for him.

"My lord, it's my great honor!" Heller bowed to show his sincerity elegantly.

...

3 days later, Zhang Tie sat on the same platform with crossed legs while a powerful torrent poured down from the sky and kept flushing Zhang Tie's body. Zhang Tie didn't notice it; instead, he was fully focusing on the stick of spiritual feather in his Shrine.

Right then, the purple stick of feather radiated strong brilliance with a slight quiver. Closely after that, a golden flame in the shape of a bird came into being and started to fly around the stick of spiritual feather in his Shrine.

At this moment, there were two bird-shaped golden flames in Zhang Tie's Shrine. During this period of cultivation, Zhang Tie found that he had better keep a golden bird-shaped flame in his Shrine surging point all the time if he wanted to find the next surging point of "King Roc Sutra" by constant attempts in the trouble-reappearance situation. In this way, he could increase the efficiency in lighting surging points instead of having to accumulate enough energy to form a golden bird-shaped flame in his Shrine before making attempts to light new surging points. He didn't have to explode hundreds of times in the trouble-reappearance situation hurriedly before lighting a surging point; instead, he could spread the experiences of exploding himself hundreds of times in intervals between cultivation periods.

When the new golden bird-shaped flame came into being, Zhang Tie let the other one fly out of his Shrine towards a surging point on his sacrum to integrate with that surging point.

With a sound "boom", Zhang Tie's mind sea quivered; at the same time, that surging point on the sacrum was finally lit and radiated a golden flame...

After lighting the 144th surging point, Zhang Tie finally became a LV 12 great battle master...

When he lit the surging point, before Zhang Tie celebrated, all the surging points across his body that had been lit quivered at the same time. Right then, the golden bird-shaped flames in all surging points that had been lit radiated great brilliance. Closely after that, a bizarre strength appeared that made Zhang Tie feel like losing his weight. At the same time, every single cell turned into the wind as they became lighter and moved faster. With a slight move, they turned into the light and flashed towards the endless sea of stars...

This was the "reward" from "King Roc Sutra" after Zhang Tie promoted to a higher level. In the former two times, Zhang Tie was rewarded with great strength; however, this time...

...

Zhang Tie finally opened his brilliant eyes and stood up. At the same time, he felt like frying beams as the 144 surging points that he had lit were cracking at the same time while the high-speed torrent that poured down from the sky stopped.

Zhang Tie gradually revealed a brilliant smile when he sensed his light body...

The reward from "King Roc Sutra" for the cultivator who promoted to LV 12 was agility, namely higher speed and faster responsive ability. 'God, I love you...'

Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...

'It's time to leave Castle of Black Iron...'

Chapter 679: The First Victory

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Trouble-reappearance situation, Shadow-Demon Cell...

Abyan's roars had sounded for 2 hours in Shadow-Demon Cell. At this moment, Abyan's two wings had been torn into pieces; its powerful tail had broken while its body was covered with wounds. How miserable it was!

Abyan broke its tail itself. If not, Zhang Tie would clutch its tail and beat it into a meat pie.

Although Abyan's protective battle qi was powerful, it could not bear Zhang Tie's fierce movements by clutching its tail and pounding its body onto the ground one time after another. Some big pits had formed on the ground; each time Zhang Tie pounded its body on the floor would Abyan feel being crushed by a train while spurting out a big mouth of fresh blood; meanwhile, many bones on its body would be broken.

Zhang Tie's strength was too terrifying. What was more was Zhang Tie's high speed, ghost-like footsteps and movements.

This was a bloody battle that had never happened since the birth of the Shadow-Demon Cell between a LV 14 battle demon and Zhang Tie, who had just promoted to LV 12 great battle master.

If a common great battle master fought a battle demon who was two levels higher than him, the common great battle master would lose the battle evidently in half a minute. However, Zhang Tie was not a common battle master. Therefore, this was a fierce battle.

Abyan had powerful battle skills and protective battle qi which could defend and defuse many common protective battle qis. Additionally, it was two levels higher than that of Zhang Tie and had rich battle experiences...

By contrast, Zhang Tie had greater speed; although his battle skill could not match that of Abyan, his battle skills were special; additionally, Zhang Tie had rich battle experiences.

Zhang Tie and Abyan both fought with bare hands.

The Shadow-Demon Cell had been disordered while the floor and walls were covered with huge pits caused by battle qi booms. The bricks and concretes were falling like the rain from the roof. This was also the largest destruction that this trouble-reappearance situation had encountered since it was formed.

Through this battle, Zhang Tie concluded two points. First, in a duel, if a powerful battle qi didn't strike the opponent, it would cause a huge destruction to the environment. Second, Iron-blood Fist and Iron-blood Battle Qi were powerful enough to tear apart a LV 14 battle demon's protective battle qi.

Abyan roared with twisting face. At the same time, he waved his hands and launched off-body battle qi attacks towards Zhang Tie like a lunatic.

Noticing Abyan's movements, Zhang Tie became stunned as he suddenly recalled how he gritted his teeth and tried to survive longer in front of Abyan previously. In previous times, Zhang Tie estimated that he looked as anxious as Abyan at this moment. As a result, Zhang Tie was almost struck by Abyan's off-body battle qi.

When Abyan's strike almost touched Zhang Tie's cloth corner, Zhang Tie straightly disappeared.

In such a small Shadow-Demon Cell, wherever Zhang Tie was, he could appear in any place of this cell with only one step. For Abyan, Zhang Tie was just like a virtual shadow. Everything about Zhang Tie was false, only Abyan's strike was real.

Zhang Tie appeared 20 m behind Abyan. Before Abyan turned around, Zhang Tie's punch had reached its back, causing the thin protective battle qi that Abyan had just formed collapse in a split second. Besides, a lot of scales flew off its body while Abyan spurted out another mouth of fresh blood.

Before Abyan made its counterattack, Zhang Tie had disappeared once again.

Zhang Tie's strike made Abyan fly into a rage.

"Go die..." Abyan roared as it launched its top trump-card battle skill.

9 black bats flew out of Abyan's hands and charged at Zhang Tie at the same time.

Of course, they were not real bats, but bats composed of powerful battle qi.

Battle-qi in shape was a battle skill that a LV 13 battle general could master. With this skill, one's battle qi could play a greater destruction when in a strike. Zhang Tie saw Scala's battle-qi in shape of a destructive wild wolf when he was in Mocco City for the first time.

After fighting with Abyan for so long in Shadow-Demon Cell, it was Zhang Tie's first time to see Abyan's battle-qi in shape.

This was Abyan's 3rd battle-qi in shape within 2 hours.

Not knowing why, Zhang Tie felt that Abyan was changing completely today. Previously, Zhang Tie felt that Abyan was like a tall and terrifying mountain ridge who could tear him off in a split second; however, today, Zhang Tie felt Abyan becoming clumsy as each of its movement lacked something.

The 9 bats charged at Zhang Tie from 4 directions. In the eyes of onlookers, if there was, Zhang Tie had no way to retreat or dodge away. However, in Zhang Tie's eyes, he could still see possibilities in this impossibility. With the combination of his powerful knight's consciousness and his enlightenment of "one step, one scenery", Zhang Tie instantly moved over 100 steps in a limited area by moving forward, backward, leftward, rightward, raising or lowering his head as light as a virtual smoke. After trembling a few times, Zhang Tie got rid of Abyan's trump-card battle-qi in shape for the 3rd time.

Abyan pounced on Zhang Tie. With its mouth widely opened, Abyan exposed its sharp teeth and wanted to bite off a piece of flesh from Zhang Tie's body.

In Zhang Tie's eyes, Abyan was just moving fast.

Zhang Tie knew that he could hardly squeeze anything more out of Abyan, 'It's time to end this battle.'

...

After getting rid of Abyan's strike, Zhang Tie easily passed through Abyan's front claws. When he passed by Abyan's body, Zhang Tie instantly turned around and swept over Abyan's neck as fast as a lightning bolt by using his palm horizontally like a sharp sword...

As a result, Abyan's head was sent flying in the air. While spurting out hot blood, the headless corps continued to rush forward a few more steps before falling on the ground.

With a sound "bang", Abyan's head fell on the ground and rolled a long distance ahead.

Standing in the Shadow-Demon Cell, Zhang Tie watched his hands with a complex look. Just now, he killed Abyan which was once like a nightmare by his own hands.

"I made it, I made it..." Zhang Tie mumbled. Finally, he roared while two lines of tears poured out of his eye sockets, "Angel, Sharapova, Nia, Hirtina, Mia, did you see that? I finally killed Abyan with my own hands today. I can be your guardian knight now, ah..."

The entire Shadow-Demon Cell rocked while numerous stones fell off the roof.

Zhang Tie raised his head with a dumbfounded look, 'What's the matter? My sound is not that destructive...'

"F..."

With a boom, the entire Shadow-Demon Cell collapsed in a split second due to Abyan's last battle-qi in shape. Zhang Tie, appeared in this scene as a winner for the first time had been pressed by millions of tons of stones before tasting the complex moods. He didn't even finish the word "F*ck". Even though Zhang Tie had taken dozens of more trouble-reappearance fruits during this period of cultivation, he still had no strength to resist...

The trouble-reappearance situation was shattered and turned into light spots.

...

Under the small tree, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. He felt cold under his lower eyelids. After touching it, he realized that his original body had been dropping off tears.

Although the accident had passed a long time ago, the death of the girls in Blackhot City were always making Zhang Tie's depressive. Zhang Tie always dreamed about the girls' crying looks. However, he was unable to help them; he could only see them being engulfed by the dark force. After killing the murderer who killed those girls in Blackhot City today, Zhang Tie finally felt reassured.

Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground and walked downstairs that high platform.

Heller was waiting for him downside there. At the sight of Heller, Zhang Tie hurriedly wiped off his tears bashfully and said, "Erm...I've just won a battle...I cried due to the excitement. Have I said something weird just now?"

"No!" Heller shook his head with a solemn look. After that, he moved his eyes from Zhang Tie's face like having not seen Zhang Tie's tears as he suggested, "My lord, we've worked out the latest space and topographic renovation map, do you want to take a look at it?"

"Fine!" Zhang Tie nodded.

Heller waved his hand while a huge three-dimensional vertical image appeared in front of Zhang Tie.

"As many basic energy storages have been accumulated in Castle of Black Iron in these months, the land area in Castle of Black Iron would be expanded to 1,000 sq km or so. Meanwhile, a sea area as wide as about 500 sq km would come into being..." Heller explained to Zhang Tie while pointing at the three-dimensional image...

With Heller's explanation, Zhang Tie recovered his composure and focused on the rotating three-dimensional map...

Chapter 680: New Look (I)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

The rotating three-dimensional image displayed a new look of Castle of Black Iron, whose land area expanded by 10 times. Besides, there was an ocean. The moment Zhang Tie saw that had he felt his heart racing.

'This is my space, this is the land that I accumulated step by step.' Zhang Tie told himself as he felt proud. Additionally, the immortal mountain in Castle of Black Iron, namely where Zhang Tie was standing on increased by over 10,000 m in height immediately which looked more magnificent and mysterious.

Zhang Tie saw some white clouds above the three-dimensional image.

"White clouds? How could we have white clouds here?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.

"With the expansion of the space in Castle of Black Iron, the natural circulation system of this space will gradually show itself. White cloud is just the initial phenomenon. If this space could further expand later on, it would display its more complex, three-dimensional climate types which are adapted to all sorts of living beings."

"Will it rain here?"

"Maybe!" Heller answered faintly.

"Ah? What do you mean?"

"I mean it will rain if you want it in this space; it will not rain if you don't want it. It depends on you, my lord!"

Zhang Tie nodded, 'Although it's a marvelous way to control the weather; it's nothing strange in Castle of Black Iron.'

"How many people could this new land hold?"

"All the new land is very fertile. Main grain crops could be planted in the three seasons of a year. If we made full use of this land, we could hold a population of more than 3 million people!"

"More than 3 million people?" Zhang Tie slightly frowned as he stretched out his hand to work on the three-dimensional image, "The sea area is too large; just cancel it off. We can change it into a land. Additionally, we need some inland freshwater lakes and as more natural river systems as possible so as to irrigate the land on river banks. We should prioritize the benefits of as more people here as possible!"

Under the manipulation of Zhang Tie, the sea area disappeared while the land area expanded by a quarter. Additionally, some more lakes and rivers appeared in the land.

Watching the change that Zhang Tie made, Heller understood Zhang Tie's meaning immediately, "My lord, are you preparing for more people to live in Castle of Black Iron?"

Zhang Tie nodded, 'The holy war has just started a couple of years ago, however, numerous people have lost their homeland. In the future, the holy war will be crueler.' Zhang Tie could not predict the outcome of this holy war; however, he wanted to do more preparations for the possible future. Castle of Black Iron could serve as a sacred shelter and enable more people to survive on. Take Ice and Snow Wilderness for instance, as an isolated overseas land in Blackson Humans Corridor, it could barely stand too long if the entire Blackson Humans Corridor collapsed. If there was one day that Ice and Snow Wilderness was mired in an impasse, he could teleport all his followers from Ice and Snow Wilderness to Castle of Black Iron. Although the method seemed to be a bit irresponsible, Zhang Tie knew that what counted most in the holy war was to save as more humans as possible.

After figuring out Zhang Tie's train of thoughts, Heller started a new change. After a short while, he had completed the adjustment of the entire three-dimensional image. Heller pulled down the image with one hand while the entire land area expanded to over 4,000 sq km once more like spreading a pie on the pan.

"My lord, now that you want to hold as more people as possible here, we don't have to keep the new land so thick. According to the previous plan, the land and rock layer in Castle of Black Iron was as thick as 800 m. After the adjustment, its thickness turns into 200 m. Therefore, we could increase more land area and hold over 10 million population in total inside Castle of Black Iron."

Zhang Tie patted his forehead forcefully, "Right, how could I forget about this?".

"Is there any side effect?"

"No, these people could only live on the land surface. If we just consider their daily lives, 200 m in thickness is enough. If you are not satisfied with land area, 20 m in thickness also works. After all, everything here is carried in this space. As long as there's such a layer of soil on the ground, it will grow plant and grains!"

'20 m in thickness?' Zhang Tie rubbed his face, "It's like rolling a dough on the panel. Although the thickness won't bring any side effect to Castle of Black Iron, it feels weird——one guy might penetrate through the land in a few days using a hoe? It's too thin. As it's humans' settlement, I'd better make it safer. Just set it as 200 m in thickness then. This thickness could help people survive and feel safer. If I have any demand in the future, I will increase the thickness."

"I've got another question."

"Can we produce a mineral vein in Castle of Black Iron this time?" Zhang Tie asked Heller with full of hope.

"It has an advanced ability to produce mineral vein in Castle of Black Iron. In the current stage, it requires a great price. Any small low-end mineral vein will require enormous merit values and aura values as well as some other prerequisites. Therefore, I don't suggest you to use this ability now."

After thinking for a few seconds, Zhang Tie asked Heller, "Which mineral vein could we form in Castle of Black Iron based on the current merit values, aura values and basic energy storage?"

"If all the current resources are put in, due to the bucket effect, you can gain a mini, low-end common iron ore whose gross reserve is less than 80,000 tons after using up all the merit values. The template of the iron ores originates from those low-end wasted iron ores that you brought in Castle of Black Iron to increase its basic energy storage when you joined the survival training in Wildwolf Valley! Meanwhile, after forming this iron ore, due to the exhaustion of merit values and the consumption of the greater part of aura values, Castle of Black Iron would not accomplish this space and topographical renovation although there were still a great amount of basic energy storage left."

After hearing Heller's words, Zhang Tie woke up at once. He then took a deep breath as he had not imagined that it was so difficult for Castle of Black Iron to form a natural mineral vein at such a great cost. However, after thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie understood it, 'If it was very easy to form mineral veins in Castle of Black Iron, I would be the richest man in the world only by casually forming some quality gold ores, gem mines or crystal mines in Castle of Black Iron.'

"You mean it's impossible for me to form some mineral veins in Castle of Black Iron now. Is there any other method?"

"The mineral veins in Castle of Black Iron could be formed in two ways. We've known about the first method, when you could provide sufficient resources, you could form a certain mineral vein. Second, after space and topographical renovation, Castle of Black Iron could form a mineral ore naturally. If Castle of Black Iron could form over 1,000 sq km' ocean or land area whose thickness was over 50 km, namely 50,000 m, it would form the preliminary earth's shell. By then, you might gain one or more natural mineral veins or ore deposits whose locations, species and reserves were optional..."

"That is to say, if I'm able to complete such a space and topographic expansion, I might get one or more optional mineral resources by chance?" Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes as he had not imagined that Castle of Black Iron could have such a marvelous ability.

"Yes. Generally, the wider the expanded land area is, the thicker the earth surface and earth's crust are, the more kinds of mineral ores and reserves will be formed optionally in Castle of Black Iron. This process is almost like that outside of Castle of Black Iron. If you're able to accomplish a space and topographic expansion as wide as that of Blackson Humans Corridor, I promise that you will have no fewer mineral veins and ore deposits in the new land of Castle of Black Iron than that in Blackson Humans Corridor."

Zhang Tie showed the whites of his eyes. Based on his little body and little energy, he could not accumulate sufficient basic energy storage for over 100 years by soaking himself in the ocean so as to accomplish such a wide area of expansion, not to mention that he had to have corresponding merit values and aura values. 'Just forget about it. It's too luxurious to think about mineral veins in Castle of Black Iron, it's not even as economical as buying well-extracted metals from outside and bringing them inside Castle of Black Iron.'

After then, Zhang Tie and Heller continued to adjust the three-dimensional map.

A whim occurred to Zhang Tie as he pointed at a place on the immortal mountain, "I need a training field here with a firm land."

"A training field?" Heller watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look.

"Like that where I cultivated a few days ago. I want to cultivate under the impulse of seawater which is diverted from outside to that place. I feel pretty good cultivating in that state. Additionally, I could have iron-body fruits to take!"

"No problem, my lord, are you going to meditate in seclusion in the ocean?"

"You got me!"

"If so, we'd better build a waterfall on this side of the immortal mountain. It's a very considerable impulse from 10,000 m high. It could provide a better cultivation environment when you had no chance to meditate in seclusion in the ocean..." After saying that, Heller drew his fingers on the three-dimensional map while a waterfall straightly flew off one side of the immortal mountain. With a splashing sound, a river appeared on the ground below...

Chapter 681: New Look (II)

Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost

The water source of the waterfall pouring off the immortal mountain originated from the melting deposits of snow on the top of the mountain. After Heller made a few rapid adjustments, Zhang Tie saw a new change in the shape of the immortal mountain—— There was a new mountain peak over 2000 m in height which was covered with white snow.

At the sight of this, Zhang Tie praised the marvel of the Castle of Black Iron once again. 'I'm afraid that only the real creator could make this.'

When Zhang Tie and Heller were planning and adjusting the three-dimensional map on space and topographical renovation, Agan, Aziz, and Edward had already arrived at their sides and were watching the three-dimensional map with an interested look.

"My lord, can you create a smithing workshop for me this time?" Edward asked with a big smile on Zhang Tie's side.

"You want a smithing workshop?" Zhang Tie glanced at Edward with a dumbfounded look.

"Yup, with a smithing workshop, I will be able to produce all sorts of instruments for you, my lord!"

Zhang Tie threw a glance at Heller, "Can we?"

"Yes, it only requires a bit basic energy storage. We can layout an independent space at the bottom of the immortal mountain which could serve as Edward's smithing workshop while making some high-temperature fires." Heller nodded as he made a slight adjustment on the three-dimensional map. Closely after that, a tidy space appeared inside the immortal mountain, which was further divided into many isolated and inter-linked cells. Besides, there were dozens of fires on the ground in that space.

Watching this, Edward smiled in a satisfied manner.

"My lord, I need a cellar and some wine vats in the hinterland of the immortal mountain. With them, I can brew all sorts of palatable drinkings for you." Aziz opened his mouth.

Zhang The threw another glance at Heller, "We should treat them fairly, just make them for Aziz."

Heller the made another slight adjustment on a position of the immortal mountain. As a result, a mountain-cave sized cellar and hundreds of huge wine vats appeared on the map. Covering an area of over 20 sq km, the cellar was further divided into many layers. Aziz was so happy at the sight of that. Even Zhang Tie was shocked by such an adjustment.

"Erm, do we need such a wide area?"

"Yes, we do, we do!" Aziz interrupted Zhang Tie. "My lord, when you have a great undertaking, you will definitely find this cellar useful."

Agan was so excited that he kept rubbing his hands on one side. "My lord, can you build a stone mountain outside the immortal mountain. It can better provide sufficient architecture stones for me. There're few stones left in Castle of Black Iron now."

Before Zhang Tie uttered, Heller had already pointed on the map while an undulating bald hill appeared.

"There're blue stones, marble stones, granite, China granite and obsidian on this hill, which are available to build some cities."

"Thank you, thank you!" Agan's eyes gleamed as he started to stammer. Zhang Tie also couldn't help but laugh out loud, 'How cute they are!'

After Edward, Aziz and Agan posed their requirements, an important thought crossed Zhang Tie's mind——houses. The cabins were far from meeting his demands at this moment.

"Aww, I need more spacious houses that can hold more people." Zhang Tie looked at the map for a short while before choosing a place covering over 10 sq km of vast plains that were leaning against the snow peak on the hillside of the immortal mountain. "At this place..."

"Do you have other requests on the houses, such as exteriors?"

"At your will." Zhang Tie said casually.

Heller then pointed at the place where Zhang Tie had selected while a tall building that occupied a wide area appeared on the three-dimensional map, the tallest of which was higher than 200 m.

Zhang Tie was dumbfounded by the architectural complexity of the area. Because the tallest building in the three-dimensional map was absolutely a huge tree. Precisely, it was a palace that looked like a huge tree. Many places in that building were unimaginable. Even before the Catastrophe, humans could never build such a delicate tall building.

"This, this is... too exaggerated. Won't it break down?" Zhang Tie asked Heller with a dubious look.

"If it was a concrete building, it would collapse for sure as it didn't correspond to the structure of building mechanics. However, it's not a building precisely, it's a tree!"

"A tree?"

"This is a palace tree. It's made of special silicon-based lifeform. The Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree could produce the seed of a palace tree, which consumes more basic energy storage, merit values, and aura values than are required to build a real palace complex. However, this palace tree has an advantage, it could constantly grow and expand its space and land. After inputting the basic energy storage, merit values, and aura values once in growing it, we don't need to input other resources or build other buildings even as the population of residents increases. Such a palace tree is very suitable to the living of humans!"

It was really out of Zhang Tie's imagination that it was a palace tree. After being shocked for a few seconds, Zhang Tie nodded forcefully. "Well, let's grow this palace tree!"

"My lord, please have the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree produce the seed of a palace tree."

Zhang Tie opened the management panel of Castle of Black Iron when he indeed saw the sub-option "Production of Seed of Palace Tree" under the option "Production of special seed and fruit of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree". At the sight of the resources that it required, Zhang Tie took a deep breath. However, Zhang Tie felt very happy the moment he thought that he could live in such an exotic silicon-based lifeform. Additionally, he only needed to input resources one time. Therefore, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as he pressed the button.

——My lord, Do you want to produce the seed of a palace tree, Yes or No?

——Yes...No...

——Yes!

Soon after pressing the "Yes" button, Zhang Tie felt that the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree on his side was radiating a yellowish luster. Each leaf and twig of the small tree was giving out light. At the same time, the tree leaves were rubbing each other, causing a sound as euphonious as that of an organ.

After a few minutes, the small tree's luster disappeared while a pineapple-sized seed was hanging over the small tree.

Zhang Tie walked to the front of the small tree and picked off the very seed from the small tree. Holding the seed, Zhang Tie felt like holding a heavy stone. After gazing at it for quite a while, Zhang Tie didn't see any relation between this pineapple-sized seed and that palace tree in the three-dimensional map.

With one more partner and citizen, Zhang Tie felt that the small tree was very happy. Zhang Tie came to Heller's side with that seed in hand.

"What do I do now?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.

"Just give it to me, my lord!"

Zhang Tie then handed the seed to Heller.

"Do you have any other requests, my lord?"

Zhang Tie pointed towards the mountain spring, "Whatever, as I've invested so many resources towards this renovation, just upgrade the mountain spring then!"

"My lord, do you want to promote to quality mountain spring to a Class A aura mountain spring?"

"Is there any difference"

"A Class A aura mountain spring is one level higher than a quality mountain spring. In the outside world, there are also a few natural Class A aura mountain springs in the wild."

"Class A aura mountain spring then!"

"Fine!"

...

Ten minutes later, after agreeing on some details, Zhang Tie and Heller then confirmed the plan on space and topographical renovation of Castle of Black Iron completely. In the new plan, the entire immortal mountain and over 100 sq km of neighboring land were surrounded by a huge lake, being linked to which, some rivers nourished and irrigated the surrounding land. The Castle of Black Iron was covered with fertile land and woods which were abundant in water sources.

The Abyss of Chaos, after being expanded by 10 times, was in a canyon being surrounded by the immortal mountain.

"My lord, do you need other adjustments?"

"No need!"

"Let's start it then!"

"Good!"

...

Until 1 second before of the start of the renovations, the high speed-water flow pouring off the sky stopped, the colorful clouds started to pervade in all directions. In a split second, it had covered the Castle of Black Iron.

Watching such a bizarre scene, all the residents in the small own in the distance became perplexed. They just prayed loudly.

Heller then threw that seed of palace tree into the colorful clouds.

"Heller, is there any problem with those residents?" Zhang Tie asked.

"No problem, my lord. Because they were brought in by you, as long as you're okay, they will be okay."

Before Zhang Tie figured out Heller's words, the colorful clouds started to roll. In the misty cloud, Zhang Tie could see nothing near him.

The ground started to rock, the immortal mountain beneath his feet started to rock, the whole world started to rock. At the same time, Zhang Tie heard tumbling sounds coming from all directions.

Zhang Tie felt that he was standing on a car which was running on a bumpy road being paved with fine pellets.

After 3 minutes, the rock stopped while the colorful cloud covering the entire space started to fade away to the marginal region.

In 3 minutes, the Castle of Black Iron had already changed its look greatly. It expanded by dozens of times and became boundless. The entire immortal mountain was as high as 12,000 m like the pillar of the world. The lofty mountain undulated like a Chinese dragon in the middle of the Castle of Black Iron.

Zhang Tie lowered his head as he looked at his own feet. He felt that he had already come to a new world. Even though he was on the hillside, he was still over 6,000 m high.

In the distance, a heaven river was pouring off from the sky. The seed of the palace tree had already grown into a tree-sized palace behind him which was higher than 200 m. Its crown was as splendid and fantastic as that of colorful clouds. In the farther and higher place behind the palace tree, Zhang Tie saw a picturesque mountain peak being circled by white clouds...

...

"Creating the world, our God is creating a new world..."

In the small town, more people responded it at this moment. They were so moved that they even dropped off tears at the sight of their God creating a new world. Everybody then poured towards the only shrine in the small town

From then on, the firm belief became indestructible.

...

After a few hours, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron.

Chapter 682: The Phenomena in a Chaotic World

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

The Kalay Mountain Range was the natural north-south watershed of Blackson Humans Corridor and the loftiest mountain range in the Corridor. This mountain range undulated tens of thousands of miles from east to west. It extended to the endless black or grey wild regions on the map in the west and reached the seaside in the east.

After a few days of heavy rain, more than 1,000 sq miles of the Kalay Mountain Range was covered with a mist. Numerous people who evacuated from the north were gathering in the north of such a natural watershed. At this moment, the north of Kalay Mountain Range was covered with refugee tents. In the most crowded place, the grey refugees' tents lasted over 100 miles in length. Before the earlier refugees left, new ones poured in...

Deaths occurred everyday. Some of them died of natural disasters, some died of human reasons. Starvation, disease, coldness, murder, robbery and rape were raging across the refugee camp...

Two days ago, the garrisons at the Kalur Harbor of Ungava Federation had just suppressed a civilian riot in the westernmost part of the Kalay Mountain Range, causing a casualty of over 50,000 people.

As they had stagnated in the harbor for a long time, being driven by hunger and fear, a great batch of refugees started to pour into Kalur Harbor to grab the steamer tickets two days ago, namely, August 27. Nobody knew when the riot started. When the basic orders collapsed, the refugees started the abduct steamers violently, causing the tragedy.

Policemen who maintained the order were covered by the flooding refugees, causing a severe stampede accident. Some refugees who were scrambling to board the steamer were pushed into the icy seawater. Some boatmen were killed by the refugees with daggers. The chaos in Kalur Harbor finally influenced the entire city. When a 2000-ton passenger liner Golden Pearl capsized after colliding with another steamer anchoring at the harbor under the manipulation of a lot of refugees, the bloody suppression started.

It was not fresh for rulers to maintain their orders violently wherever it was. However, when it happened at this moment, it was more miserable. In front of the threat of the demon army, human troops were suppressing human refugees. The implication was evident——This was a chaotic world, a real chaotic world, when all the orders gave way to the human instinct of seeking for survival and all the axioms were hiding behind punches and blades.

The consecutive heavy rain didn't flush away the blood stains in Kalur Harbor. The corpses of those refugees who were killed in the suppression were straightly thrown into the ocean. Nobody cared about their lives at all as new refugees were pouring into Kalur City...

In Goose Bay, Vedirac Federation, which was over 1,200 miles away from Kalur City, there were also a great number of refugees. There was a "Goose Bay Trail" in Goose Bay through which those refugees who had no traffic tools to climb over the Kalay Mountain Range could penetrate through the Kalay Mountain Range.

"As it is the rainy season, the Goose Bay Trail doesn't work. Due to mountain floods, many parts of the trail has collapsed, causing great casualties. Don't keep moving forward. You're seeking for death. You cannot penetrate through the Kalay Mountain Range in this way..." A military commissioner of Vedirac Federation was standing on a high platform, wet through, in the heavy rain while holding a trumpet made of an iron sheet and shouting exhaustively so as to prevent those refugees from entering the Goose Bay Trail.

Some refugees stopped while more refugees just entered it in a numb and silent way. When they passed by this young military commissioner, they even didn't glance at him.

The young military commissioner just watched the great number of refugees entering the Goose Bay Trail with simplified maps in hand with a grieved look. In such a season, less than 1/10 of these people could finally penetrate through Kalay Mountain Range through Goose Bay Trail.

More refugees were gathering in Upton, the capital city of Free Commercial Federation over 3,000 miles away from Goose Bay.

Upton was the largest and most famous aerotropolis and commercial city in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. This city and Millbay in the south of Kalay Mountain Range were both members of Free Commercial Federation. With Kalay Mountain Range in between, the two cities were connected with each other through airlines, which supported the prosperity of the entire Free Commercial Federation.

Upton City once managed the largest and most prosperous airline that traversed Kalay Mountain Range in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. At this moment, Upton's air traffic volume was over 10 times more prosperous than that before the holy war. Numerous airships were flowing from the south and landing in Upton City so as to carry away refugees from here...

After the tragedy broke out in Kalur Harbor, the population of garrisons being dispatched here to maintain the order of Upton City increased to 300,000. All the airships in Upton City were surrounded with 3-layer barbed wire. In the heavy rain, dense refugees were crowding outside the airship base and watching the airships in the sky. Any airship landing in would arouse their turmoil as numerous people would flood in that airship base.

"Those who have honor certificates could leave first...Those who have honor certificates could leave first..." The garrisons were waving their sticks and ferociously beating those refugees who attempted to rush into the airship base, causing them to bleed. Those refugees who were raising high red honor certificates were selected from the crowd and allowed to enter the airship base first. They were allowed to leave out of here first before the next batch of airships arrived.

"Ah, my honor certificate, my honor certificate, someone grabbed away my honor certificate left by my husband..." A woman who was cradling a 5-6-year-old girl in raincoat cried loudly at the entrance of the airship base while changing her face greatly. In the chaos, when the woman raised her honor certificate, another hand reached out from her side. Before this woman responded, her honor certificate had been grabbed away.

Right then, a bolt was shot out from the embrasure of the bartizan above the entrance of the airship base and killed the man who wanted to sneak into the base with an honor certificate. This shocked everybody else as they all retreated two steps backward.

A first lieutenant military commissioner rapidly walked out of the bartizan and came to the man who was lying dead on the ground with a bolt through his heart. The military commissioner then picked up that red certificate. After that, he pulled out that tearful woman from the crowd and put that honor certificate in her hand. Additionally, he whispered to a soldier on his side to escort the woman and her daughter into that airship base.

"Anyone who dared to grab the honor certificate, would die..." The first lieutenant watched those refugees with a heavy killing qi.

Previously in Free Commercial Federation, when a soldier killed a civilian casually, it would arouse a great turmoil. However, at this moment, nobody cared about that.

Soon after that woman entered the airship base with her little daughter had a medium-sized airship arrived from the north for replenishment.

After a few minutes, that woman received a news that a medium-sized airship would fly off soon while a seat was available for her. The woman then followed a soldier to that medium-sized airship while cradling her daughter after extending her sincere thanks many times.

When the woman boarded on the airship, a person was getting off the airship. A lot of people felt embarrassed to see that person off the airship, including the captain of the airship.

"Mr. Peter, don't you need to think about it? If you wish to protect us to leave out of here, we could pay you 2,000 gold coins as a reward when we arrive at the destination!" A well-dressed fat man watched that person who was getting off the airship. The person named Peter, a 28-year-old youth. With a common long sword on one side of his waist, he looked pretty average.

After hearing this, the woman's heart pounded as she finally knew how she got that vacancy. As someone was going to get off the airship, after negotiating with the personnel in this airship, the military commissioner agreed to let her in. At this moment, although being selfish, she was indeed afraid that Peter would change his mind again.

"As you've already arrived here, you're much safer. The demon corps' power could not reach here. You could traverse the Kalay Mountain Range in less than 2 days. Therefore, it's unnecessary for me to stay in the airship!" Peter refused that man's proposal by waving his hand.

Although everybody else was inviting Peter to stay, they failed to move him.

"Peter, will...I see you in the future?" An 18-year-old blonde girl came to the hatch door as she watched that man who was leaving here with an admirable, unwilling look. The maiden's pure eyes looked as tender as water. The moment Peter saw her had he understood her meaning.

Everybody [who were seeing Peter off] didn't speak. They just watched him silently on one side, including that maiden's father. After staying in the airship for two days, all the passengers, including that maiden's parents, had understood her mind——young women always worshiped heroes and powerful men, especially those who had saved them and could make them feel extremely safe during the crisis.

Chapter 683: Situation in Blackson Humans Corridor (I)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

After throwing a glance at that maiden, the young man called Peter revealed a bright smile as he waved his hand towards her. At the same time, he said, "As long as you're alive, we will see each other one day. Therefore, Mansa, you have to live well!"

Mansa's eyes were swollen with tears at once...

Peter turned around and watched that woman who was cradling her daughter with a smile. After that, he tilted his body, enabling the woman to get on the airship, "Well, go back now. Bon Voyage!"

After saying these words, Peter took out his waterproof canopy and put it above his head. After that, he strode into the curtain of rain.

"Mansa, forget him. You and Peter are not living in the same world. You just met by chance..." The girl's mother, who looked graceful and noble comforted her as she came to the girl's back and put her hand on the girl's shoulder. The girl's father turned around and threw a glance at the girl. Closely after that, he shrugged and let out a sigh helplessly.

Watching Peter's back, the girl threw herself onto her mother's shoulder as she burst out into tears loudly...

After getting aboard with her daughter, the woman couldn't help looking back at the man called Peter. She was confused why someone would not like to leave out of here at this critical moment.

This woman heard Peter's story in the airship one day later...

Of course, the man called Peter was Zhang Tie. At this moment, although Zhang Tie still used his pseudonym, his look and figure had already changed completely. He would not be recognized even if he stood in front of his family members...

The powerful body-changing immortal bloodline was fully displayed on Zhang Tie, making him an utterly different person.

...

After leaving that misty sea, Zhang Tie went to Norman Empire. After 4 months, the overall situation in Blackson Humans Corridor changed once again.

The demonized puppets corps indeed encountered the unprecedented powerful counter-attack from Norman Empire under the leadership of Marshal Lin Changjiang, the governor of the North Border Corps of Norman Empire.

Under the guidance of Marshal Lin Changjiang, the North Border Corps of Norman Empire induced two routes of overwhelming demonized puppets corps into Nein City of Fisk Province nearby the capital city Nordinburg of the North Border of Norman Empire at the price of losing the greater part of territory of the North Border of Norman Empire in July. After that, Marshall Lin Changjiang issued the order to blow up the largest irrigation works across Blackson Humans Corridor——the Imperial Dam, which was once the pride of Norman Empire. The moment the Imperial Dam was ruined, over 80 billion cubic meters of water rushed towards the lower reach in an overwhelming manner. As a result, the Nein City over 600 miles away from the dam was destroyed while Fisk Province and the nearby two provinces were flooded at once...

In front of the power of the mother nature, 10 million demonized puppets were too fragile. Although demonized puppets didn't feel any pain, the puppet worms in their brains couldn't survive without oxygen. Therefore, demonized puppets would also die if they were in hypoxia and stuffy state for too long. As a result, only less than 2 million demonized puppets survived the flood. According to the news, that super demons corps also suffered a great loss. Because after that accident, the super demon corps straightly disappeared for almost 2 months.

This was an overwhelmingly inspiring victory. Even though in Selnes Theater of Operations, the allied human forces had not made such a brilliant achievement. Due to this battle, Marshall Lin Changjiang also became the hero and the most well-known general with the greatest strategic vision across Blackson Humans Corridor. He became ranked among the top generals in an instant.

Marshall Lin Changjiang might not be qualified as a famous general if he just exploded the Imperial Dam in an emergency. What was awe-inspiring was that he had let people bury alchemist's bombs in the major structure of the Imperial Dam over 2 decades ago when he took charge of building the Imperial Dam in the North Border of Norman Empire at the cost of more than 88 million gold coins while mobilizing almost 1 million workers.

If not having made such a preparation, it was impossible for him to destroy the Imperial Dam which was completely linked with the entire mountain by throwing alchemist's bomb from the outside. It was said that nobody else knew this except for Marshall Lin Changjiang and the imperial households of Norman Empire. Actually, one-third of alchemist's bombs reserves in Norman Empire was buried in the Imperial Dam.

In the eyes of the public, especially all the citizens in Norman empire, the Imperial Dam could barely be destroyed. Such a firm belief even wavered in the demons' mind. Therefore, almost 10 million demonized puppets gathered at the foot of Nein City and prepared to take down Nordinburg.

Nobody knew why Lin Changjiang and the imperial households of Norman Empire had made such a preparation over 2 decades ago. Nobody knew whether Lin Changjiang and the imperial household of Norman Empire had long predicted that the demons army would arrive here from the north, and hence prevented the potential danger. What a terrifying setting! Any opponent would be scared by the 2-decades plot. Of course, such a human leader was admirable.

Through this battle, Marshall Lin Changjiang shattered the unrivaled arrogance of demons army and spared almost half a year for the citizens who had not evacuated from Norman Empire and the north region of Blackson Humans Corridor.

After being frustrated at the foot of Nein City, the remaining demonized puppets hurriedly retreated while more demonized puppets flooded towards here from the north. However, it would take at least half a year for the number of entire demonized puppets corps to reach 10 million.

It was said that the super demon corps also suffered a great loss. However, Zhang Tie, who had witnessed the members of the super demon corps didn't think it was highly credible. In front of the destructive power of the mother nature, the super demon corps would definitely suffer a loss; however, it was almost impossible for them to suffer a severe loss. Before the arrival of the flood, the wing demons would have warned the super demon corps about 10 minutes in advance. It was enough for the super demon corps to get rid of the most dangerous dilemma and minimize their loss in that period.

Therefore, the super demon corps didn't suffer a great loss; instead, they hid themselves in a cunning way after losing a flesh shield or a tentacle so as to preserve their remaining power. Maybe they were brewing some plot, a more amazing revenge or an attack.

Chapter 684: Situation in Blackson Humans Corridor (II)

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

When he was in Norman Empire, Zhang Tie traveled to Nordinburg where he easily figured out Hanna's situation.

Hanna's husband was a member of Sines Clan of Nordinburg, who was called Quinnell. Sines Clan was a pine leaf gentry which was a noble clan in Nordinburg. This clan mainly traded grains and drinks. Quinnell was the second son of the head of Sines Clan. In the past two years, Hanna's beer and formula made Sines Clan well-known across Nordinburg and raked a great amount of wealth. Sometimes Hanna's beer couldn't even meet the demand. As a result, Hanna's reputation as the Beer Queen spread across Nordinburg. Everyone admired that Sines Clan married a money-spinner.

Hanna and the main members of Sines Clan had long moved away before the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations collapsed.

Hanna and her husband's clan, as the elites in Norman Empire, mastered the formula of the beer "Iron-blood Lover"; therefore, they became the major resources of Norman Empire and enjoyed the special concern from the country.

Zhang Tie didn't know where was Hanna now; however, he was not worried about Hanna's current situation. As for this woman who once had love affairs with him, Zhang Tie felt reassured as long as he knew that she was living a happy life.

Besides Hanna, Zhang Tie also inquired about the situations of Reinhardt and his former friends in Iron-blood Camp. After receiving the news, Zhang Tie was stunned.

As the military establishment system that Norman Empire had carried out against the attack of demons was completely as same as that Zhang Tie had imagined before. As a large-scale mixed establishment unit, corps was gradually altered. In Nordinburg, Zhang Tie was told that Norman Empire was gradually changing almost half of its corps into three troops: First, a pure city defense troop, which was mainly responsible for city defense based on city-defense weapons. This kind of troop's main force were warriors; Second, cavalry forces, airship forces and armored forces, which were called maneuver troops; the members of these maneuver troops were more professional with higher qualities. They were excelled at maneuverability, assaulting ability and abilities to coordinate with the other two troops. Norman Empire requested its maneuver troop to be able to crack down common demonized puppets corps in an all-round manner and coordinate with the other troops when in need. Additionally, they could form a stress to the super demon corps. The 3rd troop was an iron-blood force fully composed of elites above LV 9, who could wrestle with the super demon corps face to face and had a great ability to survive in the wild.

In Norman Empire, all the elites of a corps could only form one iron-blood force. There were only 5 iron-blood forces in the north border of Norman Empire and less than 500 people in total.

The establishment of the Iron-blood Camp of the former No. 39 Division of Iron-horn corps had been rearranged. Reinhardt, who came back from Selnes Theater of Operations entered the Iron-blood force. Other friends entered city-defense troops and maneuver troops. Based on their experiences in Iron-blood Camp, many of them were promoted to military commissioners.

Only after a few years, the holy war had forced these tough men of Iron-blood Camp of the No. 39 Division of Iron-horn Corps to advance in their own ways. They could barely gather anymore. Except for sighing about that, Zhang Tie had no way to change it.

After the demonized puppets corps were heavily damaged by the flood, the super demon corps disappeared. Zhang Tie stayed in Nordinburg for two days to seek for the traces of that super demon corps.

Zhang Tie didn't seek for that super demon corps for a noble or great purpose. He was just seeking for a chance to kill some squads of iron-armored demons so as to gain an iron-armored demon's fruit of source and further improve his battle force. It would be better if he could relieve some stress for Norman Empire and Blackson Humans Corridor in this process.

After hovering above the wild aimlessly for a few days, Zhang Tie didn't find any trace of the super demon corps; however, he noticed a civil airship which landed in the wild due to a mechanical breakdown. It was surrounded by over 100 demonized puppets. Zhang Tie then descended there and recovered his look as Peter. Closely after that, he solved the problem for the airship.

Those common demonized puppets posed a terrifying, fatal threat to those passengers in the airship. However, they were just like ants in Zhang Tie's eyes. He killed them all in a split second.

After being saved, of course, those passengers appreciated Zhang Tie so much. They all hoped Zhang Tie to stay with them and protect them until they were in a safe place. Now that Zhang Tie had met them, he could not leave them alone to die there along with their family members. Additionally, Zhang Tie knew that the wing demons always traced and attacked lonely human airships. Zhang Tie considered that if he could meet some wing demons, he might find out the super demon corps through them. Therefore, Zhang Tie stayed in the airship and helped the crew to fix the airship. Finally, he escorted the airship all the way towards the south. It took them 3 days to arrive at the north of Kalay Mountain Range after traversing Sun Dynasty and two small countries in the south of Sun Dynasty. They got off the airship in Upton City.

On the way, besides almost being fallen in love once again, Zhang Tie didn't even see any wing demon.

Compared to the situation when humans troops were shouting slogans loudly to march northward two years ago, at this moment, the entire north region of Blackson Humans Corridor had been in a chaos. After demons army broke the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations, all the rest of humans in the north region of Blackson Humans Corridor started to flood towards the south. Previously, humans were evacuating orderly. However, at this moment, all of them became scared as all the orders collapsed due to the collapse of the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations. All the rest humans wanted to escape from the north and stay as far away from demons as possible.

The Cross Commercial Alliance which had some relations with Zhang Tie previously was a hilarious example. This political alliance, which was much bigger than the Andaman Commercial Alliance which Blackhot City once belonged to, declared its collapse on the second day since the human's defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations was broken through. From then on, it didn't shoulder any responsibility as the central nation's alliance while all of its members were struggling to escape.

Although the demons army suffered a great loss in Nein City in the north border of Norman Empire, the refugee tide in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor didn't relieve; instead, more and more people seized this opportunity and tried their best to flood towards the south.

At this moment, the demonized puppets corps were marching into the north region of Blackson Humans Corridor constantly. The demonized puppets disasters that had raged in many regions a couple of years had not been completely cracked down yet. The regular super demon corps' trace was always mystical. Numerous refugees were pouring towards the south and gathering at the northern foot of Kalay Mountain Range. Everything was wavering like the weather...

The misty rain flew into Zhang Tie's raincoat collar icily. Zhang Tie, who was walking in the airship base, tightened his raincoat collar and lowered the brim of his raincoat hat, covering the greater part of his face.

The airship base was almost surrounded by dense refugee tents. Even in the heavy rain, there were still a great number of people crowding at the entrance of the airship base and waiting for any possible chance to leave out of here.

After walking out of the gate of the airship base, Zhang Tie saw a lot of curious and perplexed faces.

"Are you kidding me! Who comes to Upton at this moment?"

"He might have just gotten off that airship!"

"What an idiot..."

"Huh, does he want to die? If he dared stay here at this moment, he must be a powerhouse. He might be a paladin coming from the north!"

"He might be a vicious businessman who just came here for the war profit!"

"Alas, it's such a bad weather today, I wonder when will the next airship arrive..."

Although they thought they were whispering, Zhang Tie, who had knight's consciousness, could still hear their talks clearly.

In the amazing eyes and discussions, Zhang Tie left the airship base.

Zhang Tie targeted Upton City. When he was in the airship, he had already figured out the route. Therefore, soon after he left the airship base had he straightly gone towards the downtown. From there to Upton City, the distance was about 7-8 miles.

When Zhang Tie passed through the refugee camp, 5-6 men in sloppy looks drilled out of the refugee camp, who after exchanging glances with each other, followed Zhang Tie to a distance of dozens of meters.

Zhang Tie slightly frowned as he had not imagined that someone dared to follow him with malicious intentions in the cloudy, rainy day with a low visibility soon after he left the airship base.

Donder said that disasters and dilemmas were a weird mirror. In front of such a mirror, some would look as noble and sunny as an angel while some would turn as ugly and dirty as a hungry ghost. Donder reached a conclusion, "Although everyone was wearing the skin of a human, not everyone was a real human!"

'Is this humanity?' Zhang Tie revealed a sinister smile as if he had not noticed being followed. He just kept walking...

Chapter 685: A Partner Exercise in the Rain

Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost

The attack arrived without any warning. Those followers were like wild wolves hunting their prey in the rain. When Zhang Tie arrived in a remote region about 1 mile away from the airship base, he felt people darting towards him from his back.

The footsteps behind him sounded louder in the rain. At the same time, Zhang Tie heard panting breaths from behind. With neither battle call nor threat, Zhang Tie realized a pitch-dark dagger was drawn from one follower's sleeve and stabbed towards the back of his waist without making any sound.

The dagger didn't hit Zhang Tie. The man who darted towards Zhang Tie with a dagger in hand stopped as he lowered his head and saw that a long sword had penetrated his lower abdomen. He couldn't understand how this guy could have a longsword under his raincoat.

Zhang Tie just watched the man who looked grim and a bit scared with a glassy-eyed look. "As you want to stab me on my waist, I will also stab you with a sword on your lower abdomen. It's a fair deal."

That man let out a miserable shriek.

After hearing their partner's miserable shriek, the other murderers rushed forward and stabbed towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie drew his longsword out of that man's body and started his counter-attack.

Zhang Tie's counter-attack was considerable. If the murderer stabbed towards his neck, he would stab the man's neck with his longsword in advance. If the murderer attempted to stab his heart, he would stab that man's heart with his longsword in advance. If one of the murderers tried to stab his chest, he would stab that man's chest with his longsword ahead of that man. As the old saying went, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Zhang Tie didn't show off his real battle force. As these murderers were at most LV 5, Zhang Tie just performed with strength a bit higher than theirs.

It was a very special cultivation for Zhang Tie. In the process, he could judge his opponents' intention, attacking angles, strength, speed and next move every time instead of simply killing them. Zhang Tie felt it a bit interesting in fighting them in this way as he could learn something from it. If he simply killed them all in a split second by releasing his sword qi, it would become meaningless.

Meanwhile, in this process, Zhang Tie was also setting a trap for his opponents unconsciously while hiding his real battle force. It was a very vicious pit. Evidently, Zhang Tie was able to kill battle demons below 3-star LV 14 battle demons, however, he only performed a bit better than his opponents. If his opponent was LV 5 warrior, Zhang Tie would perform as a bit more powerful than a LV 5 warrior. If his opponent was a LV 6 black spider, he would perform a little bit more powerful than a LV 6 black spider and the like. When he could take the preemptive move on the battlefield, Zhang Tie would always perform as a bit more powerful than his opponents which brought "a bit" of hope to his opponents. It was just like a gap of half level. If his opponents really thought that that was Zhang Tie's total battle force, they would jump into the trap, when they found that it became a bottomless hole.

Zhang Tie hid in the safest place of this bottomless cave and spared the most flexible room for him to exert his utmost effect. Meanwhile, he lowered the possible dangers to the minimal extent.

Even knights might be killed on the battlefield. Zhang Tie had even personally witnessed it happen. He even killed a knight himself. Therefore, even knights weren't guaranteed to be safe on the battlefield. The safest way and what counted most was to control the possible dangers that he might face and the level of his opponents while trying to create the opportunity for him to exert this ability to the fullest. This was what Zhang Tie had realized. Although being low-key, it was also insidious.

Zhang Tie didn't realize that he had changed into a terrifying, insidious and cunning powerhouse from that poor, weak boy in Blackhot City.

Although he could solve the battle in less than 0.1 seconds, Zhang Tie did this exercise with them for over a minute before slaying all of them.

In the heavy rain, some of them were killed, some were heavily wounded while cramping their bodies who were not far from death. At the same time, some blood stains were scattering in the rainwater on the ground. Zhang Tie stepped on the LV 5 warrior's body and pointed his sword tip towards his throat.

That man was glaring at Zhang Tie with a twisted pale face while his dagger had dropped onto his side. He was pressing the vessel on his broken hand in order to stop himself from too much blood.

The raindrops constantly struck the man's face. With bloodshot eyes wide open, he glared at Zhang Tie viciously without blinking. However, for Zhang Tie who dared launch an attack towards an army of millions of demonized puppets from above the city wall of Mocco City, such behavior was extremely hilarious. This guy might not have seen real vicious behavior.

"What do you want to say now? I don't know you nor have I started any conflict with you. You don't even know how much money I have. Why do you want to kill me?" Zhang Tie watched that man while lowering his head.

"You.. you're dead... our boss will never... never let you go... you cannot leave Upton City... if you dare hurt me..." The man still threatened Zhang Tie at this moment.

"What a pity! If you could kill some demonized puppets on the battlefield before death, you might be worth your whole life. Remember to be a good man in your next life!"

"You..."

Zhang Tie just casually drew his sword over that man's neck, stopping the man's words.

After wiping the blood off his sword blade on the clothes of a guy who was lying on the ground half dead, Zhang Tie ignored those guys who were dying, lying on the ground and continued his walk towards Upton City.

'As the super demon corps are hiding, the north situation is so chaotic, Huaiyuan Palace must still be looking for me.' Zhang Tie didn't know what to do next, whether to continue to stay in the north for the iron-armored demon's fruit of source or just return to Ice and Snow Wilderness. 'I haven't received any news from Ice and Snow Wilderness for a long time. Besides the many people to be concerned about, there's also my solemn promise as a man.'

After Zhang Tie left here a few minutes, a shadow flashed over there and checked those corpse before flashing away in the rain.

Chapter 686: Pub

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Upton City was also covered by the misty heavy rain. Only after half an hour of walk, Zhang Tie had already seen this city.

It was a commercial city with no city walls or any other city defense facilities. Due to the prosperous trade between the south and north of Blackson Humans Corridor, this city gradually expanded in the past 200 years. As the capital city and the most important base of the Free Commercial Federation, this city had already expanded into a big city covering more than 100 sq km.

This city was much more prosperous than Blackhot City.

The human tide that surged towards the south made Upton City unprecedented, abnormally prosperous.

Both sides of the urban streets served as a shelter and were covered with portable tents or blankets which gathered numerous refugees. Beside those refugees were the ad signboards of apartments, hotels and inns.

...

"No. 76, Leavins Avenue, apartment of 2 bedrooms, 1 dining hall for rent; water and central heating available; 10 gold coins per month..."

...

"Warm hotel; clean and comfortable; 600 silver coins per day. (Note: breakfast not served!)"

...

"Blackhorse Hotel; suite; 3 gold coins per night..."

...

"Wall Building, 4F stairwell for rent; 10 sq m; 2 gold coins per month..."

In Zhang Tie's eyes, such rents were nothing different than a robbery as they were out of average families' bearing capacity. However, it was normal in Upton City at this moment.

Besides, there were many liars in Upton City. The moment Zhang Tie entered Upton City had he met 3 liars using the same tricks. They had common ground, namely, their clothes were as tidy and high-end as possible; they kept talking; they had the same "business". As long as they were paid, they would help you contact with and "book" the seats of airships leaving Upton City.

"Sir, our Silverboat Airship Corporation is definitely a powerful enterprise. You might have already met liars. However, believe me, we're definitely not like them. We have our own airships; we are running many airlines from Upton City to the south. With 10 silver coins, we can show you our airships. You can decide whether to book a seat or not after looking at the airships..." A 50-year old man followed Zhang Tie with an umbrella in hand as he kept persuading Zhang Tie. In order to make it more reliable, he even took out some photos and materials from his old suitcase with a solemn look.

"Can you get a seat for me?" Zhang Tie stopped as he watched that man.

"Of course, sir. As a personnel of Silverboat Airship Corporation, this is definitely a piece of cake for me!" That guy answered after a pause.

"Hurry up, book a seat for yourself then!"

"Why?"

"If you don't leave Upton City as soon as possible, you might have a danger!"

"Ah? Sir, no kidding, how could I have a danger?" That guy forced a smile.

Zhang Tie didn't say anything; instead, he just raised his jaw towards the distance. That guy looked at the direction along Zhang Tie's eyes and saw some furious men who were pointing at him and striding towards him with water pipe joints and clubs in hand.

When he turned around, he exposed his face to those people.

"Catch him, catch him, catch that damned liar..."

"Pay me back..."

Those men shouted as they rushed towards here. The man changed his face instantly. In the next split second, he dropped the umbrella and escaped away...

Those guys passed by Zhang Tie and chased after that liar. They soon disappeared in the rain curtain.

At the sight of that umbrella on the ground, a 10-year old boy instantly drilled out of a nearby alley and grabbed that umbrella. Closely after that, he turned around and intended to run away.

"Wait for a second!" Zhang Tie stopped that little boy.

"I picked up this umbrella. It belongs to me, not you..." That little boy instantly hid that umbrella behind his back with a vigilant look.

"I know, you picked it up. I just want to ask you something!" Zhang Tie looked kind.

"Sorry, I don't know anything!" That little boy shook his head in an experienced way. Closely after that, he intended to retreat into the alley.

Zhang Tie took out a silver coin, stopping the little boy at once. The little boy hesitated while he watched that silver coin with gleaming eyes.

"You should know something now."

"What do you want to know, sir?"

"Take me to the most informed place in Upton City; then, this silver coin belongs to you!"

The little boy rolled his eyes before saying, "2 silver coins, sir. If you can pay me 2, I will take you there!"

"Fine, let's go!" Zhang Tie nodded.

"Sir, can you pay me this silver coin first as the down payment? I cannot escape from you after all!" The little boy said after rolling his eyes.

'What a capital city of Free Commercial Federation! Even a kid knows how to make money.' Zhang Tie smiled as he tossed that silver coin to that little boy.

After taking that silver coin, the little guy threw a glance at it before quickly putting it in his pocket. Closely after that, he let out a sigh.

"Sir, follow me!"

...

20 minutes later, the rain got lighter. After walking about 2 miles they arrived at the destination.

"Is that here?" Zhang Tie watched a nearby building.

"Yup. This building is the headquarter of the Mercenary Trade Union in Upton, the best partner of Armes, the mercenary empire and Free Commercial Federation. Many mercenaries take tasks here. That pub on the side of the Mercenary Trade Union is the most informed place in Upton. Besides those mercenaries, many people would like to drink here and ask for information at the same time!"

Zhang Tie smiled as he took out a gold coin from his pocket and tossed into that little boy's hand, "Take it and keep the change!"

"Ah, thank you, sir. You're the best person I've ever seen!" The little boy gazed at that gold coin with an unbelievable look. Closely after that, he bowed towards Zhang Tie. Being afraid of Zhang Tie's regret, soon after he finished his words had he disappeared in the street on one side.

Zhang Tie smiled as he walked towards that pub beside the Mercenary Trade Union.

That little guy was right. There were indeed many passers-by here. All of them were taking weapons like sabers and longswords, which felt aggressive. On the opposite of the pub were a weapon store, a protective equipments store and a big grocery store. On the side of the pub was an alluring street for many men.

Soon after the heavy rain stopped, many make-up women had appeared on both sides of the street. They were wearing a coat, exposing a part of white legs below knees with a stick of cigarette or a bag in hand. Zhang Tie had seen such kinds of women in the streets near the railway station of Blackhot City before. They reminded Zhang Tie of Ms. Daina. Therefore, Zhang Tie knew what their job was only with a glance.

When many tough men passed by that street, they would whisper to one of those women for a short while. After that, they would walk into a pub on one side while putting their arms around women's waists.

Mercenaries who licked blood on their blades and Orioles who stood on roadsides were always perfectly matched.

Zhang Tie didn't go to the headquarter of the Mercenary Trade Union of Upton City as only mercenaries who had been officially registered were qualified to enter it. He went straightly to the entrance of the pub.

The name of the pub was called "Gold Coins Pub", which sounded really suitable to mercenaries. It looked nice and magnificent. Zhang Tie thought it might be a nongovernmental foreign exchange window for Mercenary Trade Union. Many messages that were not convenient to be disseminated in the Mercenary Trade Union would be exchanged there.

Besides mercenaries who wore evident emblems of mercenary groups on their chest, many people accessing to the pub had unknown backgrounds. Some looked like pioneers who wore cloaks and used pioneering swords; some looked like paladins who wore feathered hats and used shields; some others looked like free mercenaries who wore white gloves and used crossbows. However, for Zhang Tie, as he could even change his look at his will, he didn't care about the symbols. Therefore, for experienced ones, it was very childish to judge a person's status based on his look.

Zhang Tie looked both like a paladin and a pioneer.

After walking into the pub, Zhang Tie took off his raincoat and hung it on a rack on the left of the pub. Closely after that, he walked inside.

There were so many people in the pub, making it very noisy and fervent. The pub was filled with a special smell of mixed alcohols and smoke. Thankfully, it was not chaotic. A half-naked stripper was twisting her butts while hugging a steel pipe on the stage in the middle of the pub under the pink fluorescent lamplight. Those maids who exposed their thighs and cleavage were walking in the pub with glasses in hand. They would usually tease the customers here now and then.

Zhang Tie looked around and found that all the tables had been occupied, except the loop of chairs around that stage. He then walked over there and took a seat beside the stage...