Chapter 720: A Party in the Old Mansion
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
The guardians outside the gate of the old mansion didn't know Zhang Tie. Seeing Zhang Tie wandering towards them, they stopped him at once. However, that woman and her car were let in.
After the car drove inside, Zhang Tie was still standing outside the gate. The woman then threw an interesting look back at him.
"Nana, how can you stare at a man so rudely. It's Zhang's granny's 70th birthday, you should not be as wild as before. Your Aunt Xue even wants to introduce some young talented men of Zhang Clan to you today." A noble Hua lady at her 40s with an up-do urged, who looked a bit similar to that girl. She looked pretty good. Given the top quality purple beads string over her neck and the jade green bracelets on her wrists which could be family jewels, she was definitely a noblewoman.
"Zhang Clan of Golden Sea City is really prosperous these years. A couple of years ago, Zhang Clan could not match our Wang Clan. However, Zhang Clan's undertakings in Golden Sea City developed so fast. Zhang Clan's Milky Way Shipyard is worth over 10 million gold coins now, which rises to 2nd from 3rd. The old man Zhang Haitian of Zhang Clan is really great!" A 40-50-year-old man with glasses on the woman's side added as he watched the boisterous scene in Zhang's old mansion.
"It's said that Jinwu Business Group has its channel to get all-purpose medicament. They could even share a business with Longwind Business Group. What a great Zhang undertakings!" Speaking of the all-purpose medicament, the noble woman's eyes gleamed at once.
The man slightly frowned as he replied, "It seems that Jinwu Business Group has few business relations with Zhang's old mansion. However, Zhang Yang, the head of Jinwu Business Group is indeed a grandson of Zhang Haitian, the head of Zhang Clan!"
"What's the reason? Doesn't Zhang's old mansion have shares of Jinwu Business Group?" The woman became a bit amazed.
"Hehe, Zhang Haitian the old man has 4 wives, 11 sons and daughters, and dozens of grandchildren. Many of his grandchildren had got married and established their own undertakings. It's normal to have problems in such a huge family. Every family has its own difficulties. Don't we?" The man smiled softly.
The noblewoman then became silent.
The girl in the car made a grimace by stretching out her tongue.
Zhang's old mansion was indeed very boisterous. As there was no vacancy in Zhang's old mansion anymore, some limos even parked on the road 100 m away from Zhang's old mansion. The steward of Zhang's old mansion was guiding servants to help drivers park their cars and lead guests into the old mansion.
After getting off the vehicle, the girl couldn't help but throw a glance back at Zhang Tie, who was still standing outside the gate. At this moment, a guardian hurriedly trotted towards here. When he met a guardian of the old mansion, he whispered to the guardian. The moment the guardian heard this had he stridden towards the gate flurriedly.
...
Zhang Tie patiently waited outside the gate a few minutes, during which period, two more limos drove into Zhang's old mansion. It seemed especially boisterous today in the old mansion. There would never be so many people in usual time.
After a few minutes, Zhang Tie saw a familiar guardian hurriedly walking towards him.
"Ahh, young master Zhang Tie..." At the sight of Zhang Tie, the guardian became startled at once. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie could appear at this moment. He hurriedly had the concierges let Zhang Tie in, "Ahh, as these guardians are newly employed, they haven't seen you before. Please don't blame them, young master..."
As a great taboo, if guardians made their owner's family members uncomfortable, they would definitely be laid off. Even Zhang Haitian would not allow such silly guardians to stay in the old mansion.
After hearing the guardian's explanation, the two concierges hurriedly apologized to Zhang Tie.
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, you're also fulfilling your duties. The old man would feel safe living here as he has concierges like you..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile.
Knowing that Zhang Tie was so kind, the two concierges let out a sigh at the same time, 'I've not imagined that the old man has such a kind grandson. All the other grandsons usually come here by limos in a very dignified way while being favored by many people. However, this one just came here by taxi. It seems that he has a low position in Zhang Clan. Additionally, he just came here in warrior's costumes today. It looks too casual...'
The guardian who knew Zhang Tie directly led Zhang Tie into the old mansion.
"It's so boisterous today." Zhang Tie uttered.
"It's the 70th birthday of the eldest grandma. So many people are coming here to offer birthday congratulations to her!"
"Ahh, is Zhang Su here?" Zhang Tie asked out of amazement.
Although Zhang Su and Zhang Tie both stayed in Hidden Dragon Palace, they just saw each other a few times. Later on, Zhang Su left Hidden Dragon Palace and carried out clan task. After the battle of Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie left Hidden Dragon Palace. They hadn't seen each other for 5 years.
"Young master Zhang Su has come back yesterday..."
Zhang Tie nodded, 'As Zhang Su is the eldest grandma's direct grandson, he should come back on her 70th birthday.'
Watching so many vehicles on the way, Zhang Tie knew that there were many visitors here today.
After coming to the lobby of the old mansion, Zhang Tie entered it himself.
...
The lobby was refurnished today. It looked happy everywhere. Over 200 people were gathering in the lobby, male or female, young or old. They were chatting together. Besides Zhang's family members, there were also many guests. Most of the guests were Zhang's old friends and influential figures in Golden Sea City. Male guests were in tidy clothes; female guests were in shiny jewels. Male and female were communicating with each other in different circles.
The moment Zhang Tie entered the lobby had he caught sight of Zhang Su.
In a small parlor beside the lobby, Zhang Su was chatting with the other young men and women whose age ranged from 16-20 or so. They were all sitting around Zhang Su and listening to him like how stars embraced the moon.
Zhang Su in a set of military uniform ranked Lieutenant Colonel of Jinyun Country looked pretty heroic and handsome. Many girls admired him so much that their eyes were sparkling. Even males were showing venerable looks. When Zhang Su was talking about something, some female teenagers at their 16s couldn't stand to exclaim while covering their mouth with the hand.
Compared to that 5 years ago, Zhang Su looked maturer and more confident.
At the sight of Zhang Su, Zhang Tie knew that he was LV 10. It seemed that Zhang Su made a great progress these years compared to other members of Huaiyuan Palace; however, his progress was still dwarfed by Lan Yunxi, the chosen one. Of course, he could never match Zhang Tie, who always had marvelous experiences. Nobody across Waii Sub-continent could promote to knight at Zhang Tie's age, not to mention Zhang Su.
Even though, a LV 10 fighter at such a young age was qualified as an elite and backbone. The killer of Zhen Clan who was dispatched to Hidden Dragon Island from Heavens Cold City to kill Zhang Tie was also LV 10. However, Zhang Su's military uniform and rank indicated his current position.
Sensing someone on his side, he looked around and caught sight of Zhang Tie.
Zhang Tie revealed a big smile.
Zhang Su became a bit stunned. Closely after that, he sprung up and strode towards Zhang Tie, leaving the others alone.
The onlookers then moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.
Some of them were Zhang Tie's cousins, who saw Zhang Tie in the old mansion a few years ago and still had a blurry memory of Zhang Tie. However, those young guests didn't know Zhang Tie at all.
"Ahh, who's that guy? I've not seen him before!" A young man asked a Zhang's member.
"Hmm, he's Zhang Tie, a cousin!" That person answered faintly.
Besides the troop that Huaiyuan Palace dispatched to Selnes Theater of Operations, few people across Huaiyuan Prefecture knew Zhang Tie's honor "Selnes Eagle". Because Hua people didn't pay much attention to such honors that were popular in Siberians. Later on, after Zhang Tie was captured by Senel Clan, rumors spread across Selnes Theater of Operations; Huayuan Palace then didn't propagate him anymore. The message about Zhang Tie that Zhang's old mansion gasped was still one and half a year ago when Zhang Tie was chased out of Hidden Dragon Palace. The old man Zhang Haitian of Zhang Clan didn't express his opinion about Zhang Tie's performance. As to those peers, some of them felt pitiful about Zhang Tie; some took pleasure in Zhang Tie's misfortune. In a major clan, young ones always compete with each other.
"Cousin!" Zhang Tie called him.
"You're still alive?" Zhang Su looked very excited as his eyes were filled with tears, "I heard about your experience from junior fellow apprentice Liu Xu when I went back to Hidden Dragon Island last time. I thought...I thought..."
Watching Zhang Su's expression, Zhang Tie felt warm, too. When in Hidden Dragon Palace, he knew that this cousin was a bit arrogant; however, generally, he was a sentimental person. Additionally, he was pretty decisive and had a great sense of responsibility.
Zhang Tie just embraced Zhang Su tightly.
Given the bloodline, they were cousins. In Hidden Dragon Palace, they were fellow apprentices. When the holy war broke out, Zhang Tie defended demons in Selnes Theater of Operations while Zhang Su cleared demonized puppets in Qilan Country, namely, they were comrades-in-arms. Plus some common experiences in Hidden Dragon Island, they didn't need to talk too much; instead, they just embraced each other while patting each other's backs forcefully.
Zhang Tie was not eye-catching in Zhang's old mansion. Few people paid attention to him when he entered the old mansion. By contrast, Zhang Su was the pillar of Zhang's young generation who was widely accepted by the family members in Zhang's old mansion. When they embraced so fervently at the gate of the lobby, everybody else moved their eyes on them. After recognizing Zhang Tie, a steward hurriedly went to report to Zhang Haitian the old man of Zhang Clan.
After separating from each other, Zhang Su recovered his composure before drawing in a breath deeply. Closely after that, he guided Zhang Tie into the back drawing room.
"The grandpa is always thinking about you these days. He also knew what you encountered in Selnes Theater of Operations. Over the past year, having not received your message, the old man has been worried about you. He must be very happy to know that you've come today..."
Zhang Tie replied with a smile. Being silent, he just followed Zhang Su towards the back drawing room. Before they entered the back drawing-room, the old man had been already walking towards them. At the sight of Zhang Tie, the grandpa was so happy that he tightly held Zhang Tie's hands.
"Fine, fine, nice to see you back, nice to see you back..."
The one followed after the old man was his eldest wife. The old woman wore a gold-silk purple skirt with a green emerald as large as a chicken's egg on her forehead. Meanwhile, she was holding a brilliant crystal ruyi. She looked pretty dignified and rich. Although it was her 70th birthday, only one-third of her hair had turned pale. She looked like only a bit elder than 50.
"I've just returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture last night. As I didn't know that today was grand madam's 70th birthday, therefore, I didn't prepare any gift for you. Please don't blame me for that!" Zhang Tie explained.
"Su'er also came back with no gift. As you two fought outside for the clan, it's my best gift that you came back safe and sound! Your grandpa has not been so happy for a long time..." Grand madam said happily. No matter whether it was true or not, Zhang Tie indeed felt warm inside.
"Have you registered in the clan when you came back?" The grandpa asked out of concern, which contained deep meaning.
"Hmm, I've already registered. It's okay..."
The old man then became reassured. In his opinion, if Zhang Tie could come back and register himself in the clan after being captured and stand safe and sound in front of him, he's indeed innocent. If there was really some problems with him, Zhang Tie had to undergo a strict interrogation carried out by the clan, even if he could survive back.
"It's okay, young men should experience more. As long as there's a green mountain, we won't fear about having no firewoods to burn!" The old man comforted Zhang Tie. The old man even wanted to ask Zhang Tie about his experiences after being captured; however, seeing so many people circling around here, he became silent.
Zhang Tie revealed a smile without making any explanation. In most people's eyes, he was dismissed by Hidden Dragon Palace; after that, he was captured in Selnes Theater of Operations and his current status was definitely disgraced. As all the news in Yiyang Mountain were forbidden to be revealed to the public, even if those deacons and disciples knew something, they dared not expose the news to the public. Except for only a few people, most of the people across Huaiyuan Prefecture didn't know that he had already promoted to a knight.
Seeing Zhang Haitian and the grand madam walking out of the back drawing-room to see Zhang Tie, many people in the lobby were surprised as many of them gathered here.
"Old man, who's this young man?" A guest asked out of curiosity.
"This is my grandson, who has been fighting in Selnes Theater of Operations with the airship troop of Jinyun Country. He's just come back today!" The old man explained faintly.
At the same time, the old man threw a glance at Zhang Su. Zhang Su instantly got the old man's meaning as he grabbed Zhang Tie's arm and explained to the onlookers with a smile, "Uncles, as my cousin has just come back today, I will introduce some friends to him. Some younger female cousins are waiting for listening to my cousin talking about how humans fought demonized puppets in STO. I have to take him away!"
"Haha...I've not imagined that Zhang Clan could have two talents who could fight demons. Old man, you have good fortune. You have so many talented offsprings of literary and military capacity!" The guest replied while all the other guests laughed out loudly. Zhang Su also took Zhang Tie into the back drawing-room.
Given the performance of the old man and Zhang Su, Zhang Tie could sense that the old man was protecting him. Seeing Zhang Su and Zhang Tie getting along with each other so well, the old man also became relieved. From then on, he always kept a big smile.
Seeing the old man happy, all the people in the old mansion also looked happy, even though some of them were actually unhappy. Therefore, Zhang's old mansion became more boisterous.
Those young men who surrounded Zhang Su just now were indeed interested in Zhang Tie. The moment Zhang Su pulled Zhang Tie over there had a 16-17-year-old girl thrown her curious look onto Zhang Tie. Although Zhang Tie was already over 20 years old, he looked as young as the girl.
Feeling like meeting a peer, the young girl instantly asked Zhang Tie about his job and military rank in Selnes Theater of Operations vigorously.
"I fought demons with the airship troop in Selnes Theater of Operations. I'm a glider driver; sergeant first class!" Zhang Tie answered seriously. As the only air cavalry in Selnes Theater of Operations, he was indeed fighting with the airship troop as a sergeant first class.
Zhang Su turned around and seemed wanting to say something. Zhang Tie then blinked his eyes towards him. After knowing that Zhang Tie didn't want to mention what happened in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Su then became silent; he just listened to Zhang Tie flickering the young girl.
"Ahh..."The young girl obviously looked disappointed. Judging from Zhang Su's and grandpa's attitudes towards him, the young girl even thought Zhang Tie was an influential figure. However, she had not imagined that Zhang Tie was just a newbie who drove gliders. Not only that, even the other young women moved their eyes away from Zhang Tie. In this circle, although being young, many people had known it clearly who were valuable to them. Undoubtedly, a sergeant first class who could only drive glider in Selnes Theater of Operations was not their target.
"What were you doing before serving the army? You're younger than 18. How could you join the army?" The young girl asked the last question out of curiosity.
"I stayed in Hidden Dragon Palace for a few days, but I was expelled. So I'm barely qualified as a fighter!" Zhang Tie explained seriously.
After hearing Zhang Tie's reply, even those men beside Zhang Tie became wordless——just a guy who was expelled from Huaiyuan Palace.
...
Zhang Tie then felt quiet. After revealing a smile towards Zhang Su, he sat in the corner of the drawing-room with a glass of wine in hand and listening to young men chatting.
Zhang Tie had not imagined that it was the grand madam's 70th birthday. Previously, he wanted to leave soon after visiting the old man. It seemed that he had to finish the supper. It would be too merciless if he left now. 'Just wait then.'
Zhang Tie drunk the wine as he listening to their talk. At the same time, he was imagining 4 golden abacuses and carrying out the four different arithmetic operations.
Zhang Tie was already able to do two things adroitly at the same time. After promoting to a knight, with surging spiritual energy, he attempted to do different arithmetic operations on 4 abacuses at the same time.
This attempt was almost as same as that when he just attempted to imagine 2 abacuses in mind at the beginning.
When he did two things at the same time, Zhang Tie actually had already realized the potential value of "mental arithmetic by abacus".
The more abacuses he imagined in mind, the more effective "mental arithmetic by abacus" would be to the improvement of his spiritual energy. When he imagined 2 abacuses at the same time, he could improve his spiritual energy by 2 times; when he imagined 4 abacuses at the same time, he could improve his spiritual energy by 3 times.
The original 'mental arithmetic by abacus" could make a very limited improvement in his spiritual energy; however, after improving the effect by 3 times, Zhang Tie felt that "mental arithmetic by abacus" could almost match the effect of some secret methods on cultivating spiritual energy.
'What if I imagine 8, 16, 32 abacuses at the same time?'
The moment Zhang Tie imagined about the bright future had he faintly become excited inside.
However, this was not the only effect of "mental arithmetic by abacus". The most important effect of "mental arithmetic by abacus" was that he could do many things at the same time...
'What would happen if I could do 2 things, 4 things even 8 things at the same time...'
Zhang Tie faintly felt a terrifying potential value of "mental arithmetic by abacus"...
...
Suddenly, a gust of fragrance arrived. Smelling the familiar fragrance, Zhang Tie sighed, 'The girl comes again?'
"Please stay far away from me. Can we just pretend to not know each other?" Zhang Tie sighed as he stopped cultivation.
"I feel you were just flickering the young girl, right? How could you be that average?" The woman whispered to Zhang Tie.
Raising his eyes, Zhang Tie looked at the woman in a brilliant womanly skirt. The woman's eyes gleamed dangerously like how a naughty kid found something funny.
"So what?" Zhang Tie slightly raised his jaw, "You bit me?"
"How about this? You tell me your life in Selnes Theater of Operations, I promise to not tell others about that!" The woman called Nana revealed a curious look.
Zhang Tie just rolled his eyes and ignored such a naive suggestion.
"Tell me about your requirement. How about racing car once again. If you lost it, you have to follow my order!" The woman rolled her eyes as she said smartly.
"Little girl, your mom is calling you. Hurry, go meet your Mr. Right in the future. If you are rebellious in your puberty, just race cars with other boys. You can drill as many holes as possible on your ears. After all, you don't lack money. Just daub some senior recovery medicament on the holes. Additionally, you can also pretend as a fair lady with earrings on them in such a scene. When you get married, remember to give birth to some more babies for your husband as a contribution to humans. You can take care of your babies, walk dogs or make hairdressing at home everyday. Just be your young mistress of the house. As to battles, many people would die there. You'd better not involve in it. Neither should you be interested in the battle. If you are interested in stories, just go read cavalry novels!"
The woman became stunned. She looked along the direction of Zhang Tie's jaw as she saw her mom and Aunt Xue standing in the far with a 20-year old man in a formal dress. Her mom was watching him with a worrying look and intending to have her back. 'How...how did he know that I daubed senior recovery medicament on my ear holes.'
'Jerk!'
...
However, Zhang Tie made a wrong judgment about this girl's next movement. Under the gaze of the two women and a man, this girl just took a seat on the sofa beside her like a fair lady silently. At the same time, she threw a sweet smile at Zhang Tie while putting her arms on the handrails of the sofa. Closely after that, she leaned against the sofa and watched Zhang Tie obsessively with her hand on her cheek.
What a picturesque scene!
Zhang Tie soon sensed the girl's destructive force. The man who was waiting for her over there threw a jealous look towards him. Closely after that, the other young men transferred their eyes onto Zhang Tie. Even those girls who lost their interests in him also started to look at him with an amazing look once again.
Zhang Su also looked weird as he thought, 'What a cousin! You could have dozens of girlfriends and female friends in Blackhot City silently and could have all of them move to Huaiyuan Prefecture voluntarily. But only after sitting here in an extremely low-key way for a few minutes, you've already fascinated the princess of Wang Clan...'
Chapter 721: Innocent Words
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
The girl finally drew away by her mother from Zhang Tie's side before the banquet. Zhang Su then found a chance to draw Zhang Tie to one side and chatted with him in low voice.
During a few hours, being gazed by that girl, Zhang Tie almost became the public enemy of those unmarried male men in the old mansion. However, Zhang Tie just treated it as the mischief of that girl and ignored that. He maintained a calm look as he didn't think that girl could harm him at all. As for those young men who were jealous of him, Zhang Tie was not obliged to explain it to them. What made Zhang Tie feel a bit funny was that even his male cousins were also jealous of him.
Zhang Tie had an impression in some of his male cousins. While the rest were strange to him. As members of Zhang Clan, who shared the same bloodline, Zhang Tie was really disappointed about them in this scene.
However, Zhang Tie knew that it was inevitable. The grandpa had 11 sons and daughters. Zhang Tie's uncles married more than one wife. Therefore, Zhang Tie had at least 50-60 peers, some of which were as excellent as Zhang Su, some were fickle.
The family members of the two uncles who had a close relationship with Zhang Tie's family had left for Eastern Continent to converge with their parents one month ago. Zhang Tie's elder brother also needed people to help his undertaking in Eastern Continent. None of Zhang Tie's cousins in his two uncles' family came here. Zhang Lin, Zhang Su's father had also gone to the Eastern Continent to prepare for the transfer of Zhang's industry.
Zhang Tie thought that his two uncles might have left Huaiyuan Prefecture earlier on purpose. In that way, they didn't have to attend such a birthday party bashfully. The grand madam was smart; Zhang Tie's biological grandma was the old man's 4th wife. The grand madam and the 4th madam didn't get on well with each other; especially after Zhang Tie's biological grandma passed away, the 4th madam's offsprings were always pushed aside in Zhang Clan. Zhang Tie's two uncles didn't live well at home; therefore, they had been used to be meticulous since they were young. As Zhang Tie's family gradually developed these years, the relationship between the grand madam and the 4th madam's offsprings gradually relieved.
Catching their obviously jealous looks, Zhang Tie understood that the girl had a great family background. Those men's envy didn't simply originate from that woman's beautiful look.
Actually, for those who could come here to offer birthday congratulations, simply beautiful women were just toys and cheap commodities for them. Nobody would care about their looks at all.
"How did you know that princess of Wang Clan?" Zhang Su asked Zhang Tie in a low voice.
"Do you believe if I tell you that I didn't know her surname until now?" Zhang Tie made a bitter smile.
Zhang Su slowly nodded as he watched Zhang Tie, "I believe that; but I'm afraid that others don't believe that!"
"What's her family background?"
"Wang Clan in Fubo City, the largest ores and steel merchant in Huaiyuan Prefecture. They have over 10 mines and more than 1 gold mine in Huaiyuan Prefecture and Jinyun Country."
Zhang Tie was shocked by the beauty's wealth, "What's the relationship between this Wang Clan and the other Wang Clan, one of the 6 major clans in Jinyun Country?"
"Irrelevant, the wife of the city owner of Fubo City is the biological elder sister of Wang's old man. Wang Clan is one of best relatives of our Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace, which has a close relationship with Fubo City. These years, our Zhang Clan's shipyard expanded a lot which meant a great consumption of steel; the business between Zhang Clan and Wang Clan also became frequent. Therefore, Wang Clan dispatched someone here to offer birthday congratulations to my grandma..."
Zhang Tie understood it right away. From the perspective of the clan elder, of course, Zhang Clan would not allow the steel and ores trade in shipbuilding industry of Huaiyuan Prefecture fall in the hand of the other major clan of Jinyun Country. Although the 6 major clans of Jinyun Country made connections through marriages, some bottomlines could never be broken through. Each clan had to consider their own interests. Such a pillar industry for a clan would never be under the control of the other major clan who were on the equal footing with Zhang Clan.
"Do you want to make connections with Wang Clan through marriage?"Zhang Tie smiled.
"The old man doesn't express his opinion. However, some uncles and aunts are very enthusiastic about this. Before you arrived here, an aunt had already introduced some male cousins to Wang's princess!"
"Haha, I think you're the best one who could make connections with Wang Clan through marriage!" Zhang Tie joked in a low voice.
Zhang Su threw a glance at Zhang Tie, "I've already fallen in love with someone. You know that."
Zhang Tie then remembered that Zhang Su truly had a beloved senior sister apprentice when he was in Hidden Dragon Island. Zhang Su even borrowed money from Zhang Tie to open a workshop for that senior sister apprentice. Zhang Su felt bashful to talk about it at that time; later on, Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Su already had a beloved senior sister apprentice surnamed Fang in Breaking Heavens Department.
Zhang Tie patted his head and asked, "Why senior sister apprentice didn't come today?"
"She's not promoted to LV 9 yet. Therefore, she could not leave Hidden Dragon Island!" Zhang Su explained in an embarrassed way.
When he was in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Su's cultivation speed and talent were among the best ones. Therefore, he promoted to LV 10 in 5 years. However, it was already good enough for others to promote to LV 9 before 30 years old.
"Oh, I almost forgot that, what's the girl's name?" Zhang Tie suddenly recalled something.
Zhang Su watched Zhang Tie a few seconds before saying in a helpless way, "Alright, she's Wang Shina!"
Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...
...
The grandest banquet finally started at dusk. Over 200 people gathered in a refurnished banquet hall of Zhang's old mansion, about 20 huge round tables.
Zhang Haitian and grand madam were sitting in the main seats. After the banquet started, all the juniors went to propose a toast and offer birthday congratulations to the grand madam. The old man and the grand madam talked with the juniors graciously. The grand madam then distributed shoe-shaped gold ingots to them.
The shoe-shaped gold ingot was an ancient Hua currency, which had not been circulated in this age. In this age, people mainly used standard gold coins while block trades were mainly settled in gold checks or gold bullions. Each gold bullion was lighter than 1 kg and was worth less than 40 gold coins. This was always seen in major clans. Commoners would feel expensive by spending 10-20 gold coins one time.
It was a major step for juniors to propose toasts to elders in major clans, in which period, what counted most was to show Zhang's large population and wealth.
Even generals would hold parade; similarly, in major clans, elders would also hold a special parade such as proposing a toast to elders.
With the chance of proposing a toast, some were flattering the old man and the grand madam, some were showing their achievement and talent through dialogue and so on and so forth.
Those guests just watched them silently with a smile as they commented the Zhang's juniors inside.
Many major clans across Jinyun Country made connections through marriage since the juniors offered birthday congratulations to the elders.
...
When Zhang Su proposed a toast to the old man and the grand madam, the old man encouraged him to not be proud and fickle and continue to make meritorious deeds for the clan. The grand madam gifted Zhang Su a shoe-shaped gold ingot passionately.
Offering birthday congratulations were ongoing according to seniority in the clan. The grandchildren of the old man and the grand madam were the second batch. It started from the grandchildren of the grand madam, then those of the 2nd madam, the 3rd madam and the 4th madam. Zhang Tie belonged to the grandchildren of the 4th madam and the only representative of that bloodline. Actually, he ranked last.
Actually, Zhang Tie didn't have to attend such a link. However, he encountered it by chance. As he didn't want to make himself too exceptional and look stiff among family members in the public. 'Just let the bygones be bygones. No need to be that narrow-minded.'
When others were proposing a toast or waiting to propose a toast, none of Zhang juniors were picking dish by chopsticks, except Zhang Tie, who was enjoying himself at the table. All the others at the table threw a disdainful look at Zhang Tie except for Zhang Su.
"Since how many days have you not eaten food?" Zhang Su whispered to Zhang Tie.
Zhang Tie showed 4 fingers while his mouth was filled with food.
"4 days?" Zhang Su was shocked.
Zhang Tie nodded...
A few days ago, Zhang Tie was entering meditation in the airship, during which period he didn't eat food at all. When he came to Huaiyuan Palace yesterday, he bargained with the elders overnight. Plus today, it was totally 4 days. Seeing so many delicious foods at the table, Zhang Tie preferred to eat them right away.
Zhang Su thought Zhang Tie was starved all the way back to Huaiyuan Prefecture; therefore, he just threw a sympathetic look at Zhang Tie.
...
When Zhang Tie was eating food, the other 3 people at the table were also peeping at him. However, the two women were interested in him while one man was hateful about him. Besides, the man looked more profound and a bit confused...
At the sight of Zhang Tie's performance, Wang Shina's mom instantly turned around and threw a glare at Wang Shina, which indicated "Dead girl, how do you like such a starved ghost in such a scene? Don't lose face to our Wang Clan..."
"Mom, don't you feel that guy is handsome?" Wang Shina mumbled. Watching her mom stretching out her hand to pinch her, she stretched out her tongue before hurriedly disguising as a fair lady. Given her look, Wang Shina's mom was so angry that she instantly turned around and whispered to a man on her side.
"Look at your daughter."
The man smiled silently.
Women always looked at the surface. If one person stayed calm and unconstrained at this moment, he was either an idiot or a fierce tiger who sniffed the rose in mind.
However, Zhang Tie didn't look like an idiot or someone who didn't understand the rites. Additionally, he was too young and didn't look like being experienced and talented. Therefore, Wang Shina's father looked a bit confused.
...
10 minutes after Zhang Su proposed a toast to the grand madam and the old man, Zhang Su told Zhang Tie it was his turn by throwing a glance at him. Zhang Tie then cleaned his mouth using a facial tissue and walked towards the seats of the old man and the grand madam with a glass of wine in his hand.
The moment Zhang Tie stood up had the onlookers moved their eyes onto him. Those who didn't know Zhang Tie were curious about him.
After coming to the old man and the grand madam, before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, a crispy and innocent voice abruptly sounded from another table on one side.
"Ahh, you, coward of Zhang Clan. You were a captive of demons. How dare you propose a toast to 1st grandma?"
Closely after this voice, the entire banquet hall became quiet while Zhang Haitian changed his face at once..
Chapter 722: One Dragon
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Closely after the kid's exclamation, the entire banquet hall became quiet at once...
Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. He had not imagined that someone could be so blinded by lust for money. How could he use a kid to slander him? When the kid said that, Zhang Tie knew that a pleasant sneer must have flashed by someone's face.
'Don't they know that it will make the old man and the entire Zhang Clan lose their face by doing this? Is it worthwhile only for a potential Wang's woman by doing this? Do they think that they will have a chance to marry the Wang's princess by ruining my reputation?'
That kid was also a member of Zhang Clan. Given the seniority of Zhang Clan, Zhang Tie was even his uncle...
Seeing Zhang's old man shooting his furious look towards the kid, the kid's parents instantly became flurried as the kid's mother also changed his face, "Xiaoyi, no bullsh*t..."
"I'm not talking bullsh*t!" The kid raised his head stubbornly as he pointed at Zhang Tie and said, "This man is as timid as a rabbit. He was captured by demons in Selnes Theater of Operations and barely saved himself..."
"Pah!" The kid's father slapped the kid forcefully as he noticed the old man's popped his eyes and felt goosebumps all over.
"Wah..." The kid instantly burst out into laughter while covering his face in an unbelievable way.
The kid's jarring cry reverberated around the entire quiet banquet hall...
The old man's look had turned completely icy at this moment. He glanced over all the Zhang's offsprings. Besides only a few members of Zhang Clan, few of those at present knew that secret. How could a kid know that? Naturally, he was taken as a gun when Zhang Tie proposed a toast to the grand madam and the old man...
The old man wanted to lose his temper; however, after thinking that Zhang Tie would be more embarrassed if he exposed Zhang Tie's experience to the public, the old man just threw a glance at Zhang Tie before recovering his composure.
After feeling the old man's fury which was going to break out like a volcano, the grand madam looked a bit flurried and surprised. She then threw a strict glance at the other juniors on her side. Those juniors dared not stare at her at all...
Zhang Tie kept all this in mind. In the beginning, he didn't want to care about such a trivial thing because he thought it was unnecessary to explain and prove it to these irrelevant people at all. He felt no shame about what he did at all. However, given the current situation, if he didn't explain or do something, not only his face, even the entire Zhang Clan's face would be lost. Some people with sh*t in their mind could not care about the face of Zhang Clan, however, Zhang Tie himself should care about it, because there were so many members of Zhang Clan at present.
If he was required to make a choice between Zhang Clan's face and those d**chebags' face, Zhang Tie would definitely choose to preserve Zhang Clan's face. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to give an unforgettable lesson to those people. 'If you don't care about Zhang Clan's face, watch out your face then...'
'I don't need to explain as my words are not persuasive at this moment and would only make those d**chebags more pleased. Someone else should explain it to them...' Zhang Tie thought.
Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy. In a split second, he had sent out a message through the finger ring on his hand.
Right then, Zhang Su instantly sprung up as he glanced at all the other peers of Zhang Clan. Zhang Su realized that someone wanted to strike Zhang Tie so as to ruin the potential marriage between Zhang Tie and Wang's princess. Zhang Su roared, "Zhang Tie made a meritorious deed in Selnes Theater of Operations. Since he has returned to the clan, it indicates that he's innocent. Whoever is slandering Zhang Tie, roll out!"
Nobody stood out. However, the Zhang's old man's eyes looked icier. All the guests were stupefied by such an incident as they exchanged glances with each other silently. Nobody had imagined about this incident at the 70th birthday of Zhang's grand madam. When a clan expanded, there would always be tricks for rights and interests. Such an incident was not strange at all. It was just a good play for the public.
"Zhang Tie wishes grandpa and grand madam happy and healthy life forever!"
When everybody became quiet, Zhang Tie uttered as he held the glass of wine by two hands to propose a toast to the grand madam. Closely after that, Zhang Tie bottomed up the glass.
"Good, good, everything is good, everything is good..." The grand madam recovered her composure as she took a glass of sweet water passed by a female servant and drunk it. After that, she passed a shoe-shaped gold ingot to Zhang Tie...
After taking that gold ingot, Zhang Tie frankly sat back. However, the others threw different looks at him. Someone took pleasure in Zhang Tie's misfortune; some were fully sympathetic about him.
"Come on, cousin, don't stand there; take a seat; eat something!" After returning to his seat, Zhang Tie pressed Zhang Su, who still looked furious, onto the chair with a smile. After that, he continued to enjoy so many delicious foods like nothing had happened. He even picked a chicken leg for Zhang Su.
The crying kid was taken out of the banquet hall by his mother. All the guests and Zhang's family members in the banquet hall pretended that nothing had happened as they recovered their bustle at once. After Zhang's juniors proposed toasts to the grand madam and the old man, it was other junior guests' turn. However, the bustle contained a weird sense. Zhang's old man still maintained a bad look.
...
However, 10 minutes later, before the junior guests finished their jobs had constant, dense footsteps drifted from outside the banquet hall. Before those people in the banquet hall responded to it had the gate been pushed open forcefully. Closely after that, an old man with white mustache slowly walked inside with hands on his back. A big team of people in black military uniform poured in and circled around all the tables with solemn looks while putting their hands on their sword handles. At the same time, they gazed at all the people at present with thunder-like looks.
At the sight of that old man, all the influential figures of Zhang Clan, including Zhang Haitian in the banquet hall stood up as they showed their respect to the old man.
"Lord Judge..."
"Lord Yuanshan..."
The old man was also wearing a black robe with 5 flame-like golden lines on the wristbands. This old man who looked as firm as iron and mountain was the lord judge of Golden Sea City. He was responsible for the execution of criminal laws across Golden Sea City, the supervision of local government officials and the elimination of evils. Besides, he was also responsible for maintaining the regulation of Huaiyuan Palace. In Huaiyuan Palace, the title of lord judge was directly appointed by the Criminal Laws Pavilion of the clan, who was under the direct leadership of the clan elder who was the head of the Criminal Laws Pavilion and was only responsible for the Elders Association. When necessary, the lord judge had the right to kill any government official or Zhang offspring below the castellans of Huaiyuan Palace before reporting to the clan elder of Criminal Laws Pavilion. Among all the cities of Huaiyuan Prefecture, the title of lord judge was as noble as castellans. The clan elder who ruled the Criminal Laws Pavilion now was Elder Muray. Elder Muray hated evils so much and was bad-tempered. With Elder Muray on their back, the subordinates of Criminal Laws Pavilion became more decisive and strict in law enforcement.
After recognizing the status of the old man, all the influential figures in the banquet hall couldn't sit there anymore.
Zhang Haitian was also shocked very much. Even the grand madam hurriedly stood up and bowed towards the lord judge.
"Lord Yuanshan, why are you..." Zhang's old man instantly asked.
"I've just received a message. Remnants of demons and Three-eye Association are hiding in this banquet hall and making rumors to confuse Huaiyuan Palace's people, even the humans. Therefore, this old fellow especially came here to see who dares to make troubles here under my eyes in Golden Sea City!"
Closely after the lord judge's words, the entire banquet hall suddenly became frozen while everybody felt a killing qi.
"Lord Yuanshan, is...there...something wrong...with the message? It's my wife's 70th birthday today. Besides Zhang family members, these are all my friends. How could there be moles of demons and Three-eye Association?" Zhang's old man asked with a surprised look.
"When in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie, on behalf of Huaiyuan Palace, guarded the entire human airship fleet alone. He broke the myth that wing demons were unrivaled in the air by killing numerous wing demons alone in the sky. He made meritorious deeds many times for humans and won the honor "Selnes Eagle". He was well-known across the entire Selnes Theater of Operations and greatly raised the morale of all the human soldiers across the theater of Operations. Zhang Tie had made notable exploits. As a result, demons and Three-eye Association were afraid of him very much. After then, demons and Three-eye Association set him up for the reason that he was a mole of demons and Three-eye Association in the Selnes Allied Humans Command. Zhang Tie deepened into the capital of Titanic Duchy alone to execute the task considering that it was related to the life or death of the allied human forces in Selnes Theater of Operations regardless of his personal life or honor. Finally, he fell into the trap set by demons and Three-eye Association and lost his contact with the troop of Jinyun Country..."
"During that period when Zhang Tie was captured, demons and Three-eye Association spread rumors across Selnes Theater of Operations, they fabricated that Zhang Tie, the disciple of our Huaiyuan Palace, had been captured by them and surrendered to demons. As a result, it gave a blow to our army's morale. After then, the demon corps broke through the humans' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations. Zhang Tie, our Huaiyuan Palace's disciple, alone fought over 10,000 miles in the enemy-occupied zone before breaking through their encirclement and joined the battle of Upton with clan elders two weeks ago. In the Upton battle, Zhang Tie killed over 1,000 demons above LV 9. He's qualified as the number one talent in the young generation of the 6 major clans of Jinyun Country and the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace. He had just returned to Huaiyuan Palace last night. I received a message just now. It's said that someone dared to sully our Huaiyuan Palace's talent and confuse the others' minds. Therefore, I came here to the banquet hall to take a look!"
Everybody became stunned. Since it was said by the lord judge of Golden Sea City, they all believed that it was true, especially the comment "the number one talent in the young generation of the 6 major clans of Jinyun Country" and "the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace" which shocked everybody else. Even Lan Yunxi was not qualified as the number one talent in the young generation of the 6 major clans of Jinyun Country; even the lord judge himself dared not say that he was the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace. How many military exploits had Zhang Tie made so as to gain such a comment from the lord judge?
"In order to sully Zhang Tie, our Huaiyuan Palace's disciple, those demons and Three-eye Association even killed their major general mole in the Allied Humans Command. Hundreds of people were killed one after another. I will see how many moles here dare to sully Zhang Tie, the disciple of Huaiyuan Palace in Huaiyuan Prefecture, for the sake of demons and Three-eye Association!" Closely after lord judge's words, some people felt soft all over as they almost slipped under the table.
Hearing these words, Zhang Haitian became dumbfounded. He didn't know what to say. The grand madam's face turned pale right away. In this old mansion, she was the noblest one. However, in front of this lord judge, whom even the castellan of Golden Sea City would bow to, she was almost like a common woman...
The kid who swore Zhang Tie just now and the kid's mother had been taken into the banquet hall by two subordinates of the lord judge. Facing this, the kid and his mother were so scared that they almost burst out into tears...
The lord judge looked at the kid mildly as he asked, "I know you're innocent, it's nothing to do with you. Just tell me who taught you to say this?"
"I...I..." The kid stammered. Actually as a 7-8-year-old boy, he had already understood righteousness; otherwise, he would not swear Zhang Tie in the public. Looking at their poor kid, the parents of the kid were so anxious that they almost cried out. As long as they were judged as serving demons and Three-eye Association, their whole family would fall into the hell...
"Xiaoyi, hurry, tell your grandpa, who taught you to say that. Don't be afraid. After you tell him, you will be safe..." The kid's mom held her tears as she told her son mildly.
The kid then started to search among those people...
...
"Grandpa, save me..." Before that kid pointed at him, a 20-year old young man exclaimed as he instantly rushed out and hugged Zhang Haitian's leg with tears and nasal mucus, "I didn't mean it, it's Junyu and Juntao's opinion..."
"Ahh, grandma, save me..." Another two young men charged towards the grand madam with a pale face. Pitifully, they were too far away from the grand madam. The moment they moved had they been caught by some warriors in black costumes. After taking them to the lord judge, the warriors kicked onto their legs; with a screech, the two people knelt down in the same row with the earlier one.
The lord judge then waved his hand towards the kid's mother, allowing her to take away that kid. After glaring at the three young men, the kid's mother bit her lips as she hurriedly took her kid away. Based on seniority in the clan, the three young men were the kid's uncles, who almost murdered the kid's whole family...
"Ahh, dad, mom, save me..." The young man called Junyu called his parents who were sitting on the other side of the table. Hearing his shriek, his parents' faces turned completely pale as they almost passed out.
The grand madam's lips quivered, whose face had also turned pale. Junyu and Juntao were all the biological grandsons of the grand madam. She threw a glance at Zhang Haitian and found he was closing his eyes silently while his hands were quivering.
Zhang Haitian was both happy and sad at this moment. He was happy about Zhang Tie's achievements; and was sad about what the three young men kneeling in front of him had done. The three young men were Zhang Tie's cousins.
All the guests were watching them silently. What an amazing birthday party! What sharp turns and twists! What a splendid drama...
The lord judge of Golden Sea City watched the 3 young men with a disgusting look, "What else do you want to say? Clarify it as soon as possible, if you have collusion with demons and Three-eye Association, in case of the bitterness of your skin. Otherwise, after you wear the shackles, you will know how strict the criminal penalty is in Criminal Laws Pavilion."
"Ahh, we really don't know anything about demons and Three-eye Association..." The guy called Juntao wailed mournfully as he dropped tears and nasal mucus and kowtowed constantly like pounding garlic in a mortar, "We just found that Wang's princess had a good impression about Zhang Tie; we were jealous of him; therefore, we worked out a plan to make him embarrassed. I heard my grandma saying that Zhang Tie was captured by demons when he was in Selnes Theater of Operations which made my grandpa very worried about him; therefore, we wanted to strike him based on this point..."
"Zhang Tie fought for Huaiyuan Palace and humans in Selnes Theater of Operations at the risk of his life for many times. If you don't appreciate and respect him, you're not beneficent; as cousins, you want to ruin his reputation by spreading rumors, you're not even righteous. You cannot even match a dog or a pig. Shameless!" After saying this, the lord judge waved his sleeves, "Take them away!"
The 3 young men wailed and begged their grandpa and grandma. However, those warriors in black clothes ignored that and directly drew them away by holding their arms...
Based on the comment of the lord judge, the 3 young men might not survive back.
"Wait for a second!" Zhang Tie finally uttered at the critical moment.
Closely after hearing Zhang Tie's sound had the lord judge turned around. The moment he noticed the ring on Zhang Tie's finger had his look turned respectful.
"Lord Judge, now that this event has been clarified, we know it's not related to demons and Three-eye Association, please don't take them away. As Zhang Clan has so many juniors, they have different personalities. Although they are mean and not obedient, please forgive them this time for the sake of the face of Zhang Clan!"
After hearing Zhang Tie's persuasion, everybody was stunned by his eloquence and view, 'As lord judge has made the decision, how could Zhang Tie negotiate with him? The lord judge of Golden Sea City is not that easy-going. Hasn't Zhang Tie seen others' docile look?'
What made everyone more surprised was that lord judge of Golden Sea City started to consider about it carefully after Zhang Tie's persuasion.
After being silent for a few seconds, the lord judge of Golden Sea City replied, "The 3 b*stards are neither beneficent nor righteous. Although they don't deserve death, they have to suffer from criminal penalty. Now that you beg for my forgiveness, I will not take them away; however, Huaiyuan Palace has strict laws and regulations. If such kind of people were not punished severely, it's hard to convince the public!" After saying that, lord judge threw another glance at the 3 young men, "From today on, you 3 could not be government officials in Huaiyuan Palace for the rest of your lives. Besides, all the treatment that Huaiyuan Palace provide for Zhang Clan juniors would be canceled off. From today on, if you dare violate the laws of Huaiyuan Palace, you will suffer 10 times severer punishment according to the Clan laws!"
All the above punishments were severe. With the first punishment, the 3 young men could never assume any clan position later on; as for the second punishment, even if they were poor and starving in the future, they could never get any help from Huaiyuan Palace; the third punishment was more horrendous, if they violated any law of the clan in the future, they had to stand 10 times severer punishment than that bore by others. That was to say, when others who made the same mistake were beaten 2 times, they had to be beaten 20 times; when others who violated the same law were put into jail 10 years, they had to be put behind upon bars 100 years; when others only got bruised, they would have their heads chopped off.
"Thanks for your forgiveness, lord judge!" Zhang Tie made an obeisance by cupping one hand in the other before his chest towards the lord judge.
"You're welcome!" Lord judge instantly moved aside out of politeness.
At the sight of this scene, all the people at present raised their eyebrows once again...
Although nobody welcomed such a big figure when he entered, they dared not stay still at the banquet when he left. All the influential figures saw the lord judge out of the banquet hall.
The moment lord judge left had the 100-200 people in the banquet moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.
Zhang Tie knew that he could not stay in Zhang's old mansion any longer; he also lost his interest in staying here.
Zhang Su watched Zhang Tie as he wanted to say something; however, he finally didn't say it. Zhang Su was also scared by the words of lord judge.
"Cousin, what a disappointing day! I will invite you for a drink in the future!" Zhang Tie smiled.
Feeling Zhang Tie's intention to leave, Zhang Su nodded as he let out a sigh.
Zhang Tie then came to Zhang Haitian and said, "Compared to the faces of those people, Zhang's face is more important!"
The old man also nodded. After being silent for a couple of seconds, he asked, "Is it true what the lord judge said...about you?"
Zhang Tie smiled as he nodded.
Zhang Haitian's eyes turned red at once...
"Take care of yourself, grandpa. I have to go now. I will come back to see you!"
"Where're you going? I'll have someone take you there!" The old man knew that Zhang Tie didn't want to stay there as he turned around and told the steward to prepare a car for Zhang Tie.
"No need!" After saying that, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Wang Shina while widely opening his eyes with a complex smile. Closely after that, he raised his head and stepped into the starlight. With another stride, he had arrived hundreds of meters high. Closely after that, he flashed away like a sparkling meteor in front of the public.
Everybody of Zhang Clan and all the guests were stunned as they raised their heads and watched Zhang Tie flying away with widely opened mouths...
When Zhang Haitian realized what happened, he had been surrounded by guests while all of them were throwing much more passionate and respectful looks towards him...
By then, everybody understood what did the remarks "The number one talent in the young generation of the 6 major clans in Jinyun Country" and "the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace" mean——Knight, only a knight could enjoy such a comment.
Everybody then bowed to the ground towards Zhang Haitian, "Congratulations to the dragon appearance!"
According to Hua tradition, if a person in a clan promoted to a knight, it was called "dragon appearance"——if a dragon appeared in a family, this family would be able to conquer the whole world.
Dragon appearance was the most important and happy event in Hua families.
So was it for Huaiyuan Palace. With one more knight, they had to celebrate it by holding a rotating Chakra ceremony, it was a major clan in Golen Sea City though.
Zhang Su raised his head and watched the direction where Zhang Tie disappeared for quite a while while the congratulations buzzed faintly in his mind like echoes drifting from the skyline.
Zhang Su had been very arrogant about his own cultivation base. If Zhang Tie was LV 11 or LV 12, Zhang Su might be jealous of him; however, Zhang Su was awe-stricken by him at this moment. If not being real cultivators, people would never know about the terror and power of knights. The higher the level of the cultivator was, the deeper he would understand what did it mean by stepping into the void.
'I have a cousin who's a knight?' Zhang Su felt absurd instead of ecstasy when this whim occurred to his mind.
...
After a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie had entered the air territory above deep sea region. Closely after that, he instantly dove into the sea like a meteor. After then, he started to penetrate through the sea water like a light bubble as fast as a lightning bolt towards Ice and Snow Wilderness...
Chapter 723: Revenge in Demon Snake Island
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Zhang Tie broke his limit in seawater once again.
Zhang Tie's driving force in seawater was provided by the reaction caused by the vacuum effect when seawater was sucked into Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, he adjusted it by his spiritual energy.
A few years ago, when Zhang Tie arrived at Ewentra Archipelago by sea for the first time, he penetrated through 10,000 miles in the water in 3 days with the help of Castle of Black Iron and ocean currents. At that time, Zhang Tie's speed was restricted by his bearing capacity about the friction caused by the water flow. Due to the existence of water friction and stress, Zhang Tie could even gain iron-body fruits on the way.
After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie could better control the space suction tunnel of Castle of Black Iron through his knight's heart. His bearing capacity had reached a terrifying level. Additionally, Zhang Tie had a water-proof body, with which, he could do whatever he wanted in the water. Being protected by battle qi, especially with the effect of rapidly moving rune, he moved even faster than his flight speed in the water.
It was the largest speed that Zhang Tie's body could stand in the water when Zhang Tie's protective battle qi and physical bearing capacity encountered an unprecedented challenge and stress that Zhang Tie had never imagined before.
This challenge and stress came from the tiny bubbles that he had not paid attention to before.
When Zhang Tie reached a certain speed in the water, a lot of invisible bubbles came into being on the friction surface between his body and the seawater due to the difference in stress before and after his body. They formed and broke in each split second, bringing a great impact force on Zhang Tie's body.
When those bubbles broke, they would simultaneously cause a great impact force and high-temperature macro-jets, which eroded Zhang Tie's protective battle qi like water arrows and hammers with dense high-frequency noise. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt like flying in the volleys of gunfire.
After such a phenomenon appeared a few times, Zhang Tie realized that the moment he reached a certain speed in the water would he encounter such a strange phenomenon. Therefore, he asked Heller why.
"Heller, what's wrong? Why are there so many destructive bubbles around me when I reach a certain speed?
"It's because of the cavitation phenomenon and cavitation effect caused by the friction between your body and the seawater!" Heller briefly explained it to Zhang Tie.
'Cavitation phenomenon and cavitation effect?' Zhang Tie became more confused.
"Cavitation phenomenon is a physical phenomenon. When the partial pressure inside the liquid decreased to the saturated steam pressure of the liquid, a lot of bubbles would form, expand and break inside the liquid or on the surface between the liquid and the solid. In the process of cavitation, bubbles would form, expand and break rapidly, causing shock waves or high-speed micro-jets, heat release, noise and erosion effect, which is called cavitation effect. Castle lord, you can take a look at the paddles of naval ships. The traces of spotted erosion on old paddles of naval ships were caused by cavitation through the friction between paddles and seawater!"
'Those invisible bubbles' appearance and disappearance could cause sharp shockwaves, micro-jets, high temperature and corrosive effect!' Zhang Tie was shocked, 'Aren't these the effects of the most destructive battle qi? If knight's battle qi could have such an effect, it would be 10 times more destructive.'
As he moved at a high speed in the water, Zhang Tie kept sensing and comprehending how those invisible bubbles came into being with his knight's consciousness.
At this moment, Zhang Tie's moving speed in seawater was almost 3 times that of his navigation speed in air, namely, almost 600 m/s. That was to say, he could move over 2,100 miles per hour in sea water.
Last time, it took Zhang Tie 3 days to arrive at the Ewentra Archipelago from the nearby coastal area of Huaiyuan Prefecture. This time, it only took him about 5 hours.
The vast ocean was an abyss for others; however, it was a highway and super expressway for Zhang Tie that he had ever dreamed for. In the sky, he had to consume battle qi; however, in the ocean, he only needed to open the space suction tunnel of Castle of Black Iron which was both simple and time-saving.
With a "splash", Zhang Tie flew out of the shimmering sea level and reached over 100 m high above the sea level. After that, he took out a compass and confirmed his location against the stars. After recalling the sea area map of Ewentra Archipelago, he flew towards the southeast.
Zhang Tie's first destination was Demon Snake Island.
'It's time to end the animosity between me and Demon Snake Island.'
'When those b*stards in Demon Snake Island dispatched people to kill me, they might not have thought that I could come back for revenge so fast.'
Those people in Demon Snake Island were Zhang Tie's major targets on the way back to Ice and Snow Wilderness. Actually, he was doing good for Ewentra Archipelago by killing those d**chebags. Besides, he could have new fruits as a reward and further improve his battle force. If he was lucky enough, he might transfer the treasury of those guys in the island into Castle of Black Iron. What a rare opportunity!
Zhang Tie flew high. Therefore, people on the sea could barely catch sight of him. In the flight, Zhang Tie changed his look into Peter Hamplester. Of course, this Peter Hamplester should never be as same as that 5 years ago. Although Zhang Tie's own look remained unchanged these 5 years, if Peter Hamplester also remained unchanged in his look, soon after the rotating Chakra ceremony would his real status be exposed. Such two young famous knights, once being compared with each other, would reveal the loopholes, even if they were tens of thousands of miles away from each other.
Thankfully, Peter was white-colored, who looked strong and mature.
"Heller, give me a hand, please show me the look of Peter at the age of 21."
"The period from 16-21 is the most important growth and shaping period of a person. During this period, one's look would be influenced by many aspects such as environment, mentality, living habit, etc.. One's look would change greatly in these 5-6 years. Which look do you want?' Heller said in Zhang Tie's mind.
"Ahh? Is that real?"
"Of course, if a young man masturbated 7 years from 15-21, he would look very obscene even though he looked handsome before. However, if a person with an average look always lived in a happy and healthy environment and compromised to everything, he would also be very handsome. Masturbation would make people ugly while being sunny would make people beautiful. Which look do you want?"
When he heard the word masturbation from Heller, Zhang Tie felt bashful. When he recalled Heller's look which was as handsome as that of Apollo, a whim occurred to his mind, 'After all, nobody wishes himself to be ugly', "Just make me look handsome. Suppose I was living 5 years in the best environment. Not let those familiar ones fail to recognize me!"
"No problem. You will maintain your current charm and face shape. I promise that those familiar ones could still recognize you the moment they see you!" After being silent for a second, Heller added, "I want you to confirm it once again, whether do you want the best change in your look or not?"
"Yes, the best change!" Zhang Tie confirmed.
"Alright, please trigger your body-changing bloodline. I will directly project that mobile module into your body-changing bloodline so that you can change your look automatically. Later on, that module will change towards the best look as the time passes by. No worries..."
"Good!"
Zhang Tie then triggered his spiritual energy and the body-changing bloodline when he felt Heller projecting a module into his body. Closely after that, his looks and body shape gradually changed subtlely.
Zhang Tie didn't know how he looked now; however, he believed that Heller wouldn't cheat him.
Only after a bit longer than 1 hour, Zhang Tie had seen an island on the sea level in the distance.
The island covered more than 200 sq miles. Zhang Tie saw a volcano that radiated a glow and erupted black smoke in the island. The black smoke made the greater part of the sky above the island dusky. Besides, Zhang Tie saw a great amount of magma gushing out of the nearby sea while the vapor turned the neighboring sea level into a steaming sea, which looked like the misty sea where he once cultivated in...
Chapter 724: A Clean-up
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Zhang Tie slowly moved his hand away from a lackey in Demon Snake Island. The moment he loosened his grip had the corpse fell onto the ground in a hidden sentry post.
Zhang Tie had not imagined that such a small Demon Snake Island could be so heavily guarded. There were observation posts in many places across Demon Snake Island. The moment a stranger was discovered would the observation post send the warning.
If Zhang Tie was not a knight, these observation posts might play their roles when they discovered Zhang Tie; however, as a knight, the moment Zhang Tie was close to Demon Snake Island had he discovered the observation posts on the seaside. Zhang Tie then swept all of them like patting flies. Closely after that, he even read those lackeys' memories using the secret method of bloody soul temple.
After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie's "soul capture skill" had already entered the supreme level. He could read people's memory easily in an efficiency that was over 10 times higher than that before. In a split second, he could skim over one person's recent memory.
After taking a round in the Demon Snake Island, Zhang Tie silently cleaned all the hidden observation posts. He then strode towards a place nearby the volcano.
Zhang Tie was a bit shocked by reading those lackey's memories. At this moment, there were only a few people in the Demon Snake Island. Berusken, the boss of Demon Snake Island had silently left Demon Snake Island with a great batch of subordinates two days ago.
Those lackeys left in the island didn't know where had Berusken gone to. There was only one roundtable fighter in their nestle.
Zhang Tie soon found the nestle of those roundtable fighters.
It was in the valley in the middle of Demon Snake Island. There were many grottoes in the valley, where lived those people in Demon Snake Island.
Zhang Tie soon arrived at the entrance of that valley at the speed of 100 m per stride.
Zhang Tie didn't hide himself; instead, he straightly walked inside.
A bolt was shot towards Zhang Tie from a brushwood. Zhang Tie just pointed towards the bolt while a terrifying battle qi flashed out, shattering the bolt into pieces and entering the brushwood in a fiercer way. As a result, the lackey was exploded into the bloody mist.
Zhang Tie just walked all the way into the valley while pointing at everyone he saw, one point for one life.
After Zhang Tie entered the valley for half a minute, the shrill whistle reverberated in the valley.
The whistle originated from a tree which was over 300 m away from Zhang Tie. Closely after the whistle, Zhang Tie had flicked a copper coin towards the lackey with a yellow light. Before the lackey jumped off the tree had his head been exploded.
What was shriller than the whistle was the sonic boom caused by the flying copper coin. After exploding that lackey's head, the copper coin penetrated through the 2 m-diameter trunk, leaving a small hole on it...
As it was dawn, the moment the shrill whistle and the succedent sonic boom sounded had the entire valley been shocked. Many people ran out of their grottoes in only underwears with weapons in their hands.
"Enemy..." The lackeys who were awakened instantly exclaimed in the valley.
With a pile of copper coins in his hand, Zhang Tie just wandered ahead, causing clatters.
'For these b*stards in Demon Snake Island, now that they like money so much, just satisfy their demand; one copper coin for one life. It's a fair trade. If they don't want it, just force them to do it; after all, these b*stards have been used to do that.' Zhang Tie thought.
After mastering the usage of the two hidden weapons, "Heavens Net" and "One Thousand Fingers" and promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie could use any item as a terrifying weapon. The copper coin was almost like his palm bolt.
After coming to a spacious place in the valley, Zhang Tie just waited there patiently while flicking his copper coins...
The crispy sound of the copper coin was like a magic which attracted all those people out of their grottoes.
The clatters of the copper coins should be low; however, in Zhang Tie's hand, it reverberated throughout the valley in a bizarre rhythm. Even those cunning guys who wanted to hide in the grottoes first couldn't stand to rush out of their nestles with weapons in hand.
Only after 2 minutes, Zhang Tie had been surrounded with people within 50 m. After sensing that everyone has arrived, Zhang Tie stopped his secret method of bloody soul temple which had a strong function of mental manipulation.
All the people of Demon Snake Island were glaring at Zhang Tie with ferocious looks. At this moment, even those cunning guys among them had forgotten how they had rushed out.
At this moment, a guy with a prosthetic hand, who lacked an ear, walked out of the crowd.
At the sight of his poor look, Zhang Tie revealed a sneer.
That was Bonnie, a roundtable fighter in Demon Snake Island whose one hand and one ear were chopped off by Zhang Tie in Navy Blue Castle.
Bonnie's eyes turned bloody. Given his smell, he must have just drunken liquor. In the beginning, his eyes were confused while watching Zhang Tie; however, he suddenly popped out his eyes as he exclaimed, "Peter!"
Bonnie would never forget this man right in front of him.
Zhang Tie became reassured, 'Now that this guy recognized me; it means that others could also recognize me. It would be no problem when I return to Ice and Snow Wilderness.'
"Hehe, long time no see!" Zhang Tie greeted Bonnie kindly and passionately just like seeing an old friend, "How do you feel? Have you been used to eat food with one hand these years?"
Bonnie's eye corners twitched as Zhang Tie's words reminded him of the miserable memory like a poisonous needle.
"Call out everybody that you brought from Ice and Snow Wilderness. I've not imagined that Ice and Snow Wilderness could destroy the agreement that they had made with Ewentra Archipelago. Now that the strength of Ice and Snow Wilderness have invaded Ewentra Archipelago, you just wait for the war..." Bonnie said as he glanced over the valley intensely like being afraid of someone suddenly jumping out of somewhere.
After hearing a bandit talking about credibility with him, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "I was usually told that when a person always used his left hand, he would be much smarter. It seems right. Do you think that I need help from Ice and Snow Wilderness?"
"You alone?" Bonnie looked around once again.
"Yup!"
A fleer instantly appeared on Bonnie's face, '5 years ago, this Peter was just a bit sharper than me in Navy Blue Castle. I've long promoted to LV 10 now. Additionally, I have over 300 brothers in Demon Snake Island...'
"Now that you are seeking for death, I will satisfy your demand. Kill him!" Bonnie roared at once.
All the lackeys in Demon Snake Island then rushed towards Zhang Tie with battle calls. Bonnie himself then moved backward.
'Even in Selnes Theater of Operations, I killed so many people easily, not to mention now.'
Zhang Tie shook his head as he threw out the pile of copper coins immediately.
With the sharp sonic explosions, a large net being interwoven with lights formed by those copper coins instantly spread in all directions——Heavens Net!
Zhang Tie's "Heavens Net" contained the special strength in his ancestral bloodline, which was many times more powerful than that recorded in the secret book. Additionally, his "Heavens Net" had many changes. This move was very effective to a mass brawl. As for such lackeys, the highest battle level of which was LV 9, of course, they had to die.
In a split second, all the lackeys that rushed forward had been penetrated through by at least 4 copper coins.
In less than half a second since the battle calls started, it had already recovered to tranquility.
A copper coin penetrated through Bonnie's chest from his back. Bonnie, who was retreating backward, instantly stopped as he knelt down and spurted out blood forcefully. As a strong fighter, he had a greater vitality than that of commoners. Bonnie didn't die instantly. However, he could not think through how he was shot by someone from his back using a hidden weapon. Peter was obviously standing in front of him. Widening his eyes, he saw all the yellow lights returning to Peter's hand after cleaning up everybody else without dropping blood. Peter just rocked them in hand, causing another crispy sound...
It seemed that Peter had just performed a magic as all the battle forces across Demon snake Island had disappeared.
"You...you..kni...knight..." Bonnie realized it; however, it was too late.
Zhang Tie walked over there while pressing his hand onto Bonnie's head. Bonnie then felt that he started to recall what happened before as a strength opened his brains and withdrew his memory so fast that Bonnie felt that his head was going to explode...
The roundtable fighter's eyes were full of fear while he quivered all over.
After a few seconds, Bonnie's head exploded. Zhang Tie then put his hand back with a distant look. He finally knew where Berusken had gone to...
...
In the secret treasury of Demon Snake Island, there were large boxes of gold coins, pearls and gems and some other valuable items. All these were looted by these b*stards in Demon Snake Island these years...
The treasury was delicately hidden in a maze-like karst cave in the valley. It was a natural place. Other strangers might not be able to find it even after wandering in those tunnels for a few days, however, it was no problem for Zhang Tie. He had kept its location in mind when he read Bonnie's memory.
As there were so many precious items in the treasury, Zhang Tie directly moved all of them into Castle of Black Iron without even counting them.
There were also kerosene and gel combustible bombs being used for naval battle in the treasury. After moving the greater part of kerosene and gel combustible bombs into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie burned the nestle of these bandits using the rest kerosene and gel combustible bombs.
In the rising flames, Zhang Tie flew off Demon Snake Island and dived into the ocean. After that, he instantly increased his speed to above 2,000 miles per hour...
Berusken had gone to Stars and Moons Island, which was once the territory of the Stars and Moons Sword Sage who was well-known across the Ewentra Archipelago...
Chapter 725: A Falling Pillar
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Among the hundreds of islands across Ewentra Archipelago, Stars and Moons Island was not the largest one; however, it was the most famous one. Because the only knight across Ewentra Archipelago once came from this island——Samaranth, the Stars and Moons Sword Sage.
Samaranth was the pride of the entire Ewentra Archipelago. As he once lived in there, that island was renamed as Stars and Moons Island. Additionally, the largest swordsmanship school across Ewentra Archipelago came into being on this island——the Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School.
Once upon a time, all the powerhouses across Ewentra Archipelago were proud of using swords. Samaranth founded a swordsmanship school in Stars and Moons Island. In the heyday of the school, Stars and Moons Sword Sage had tens of thousands of disciples, when the entire Stars and Moons Island became the sacred land of craftsmanship across Ewentra Archipelago.
Nevertheless, all the brilliance had come to an end with the death of Samaranth for the sake of the God's Star.
In the beginning, nobody across Ewentra Archipelago believed that Stars and Moons Sword Sage would lose his life as they all thought that it was just a rumor fabricated by someone. However, when there was no message about Samaranth from Ice and Snow Wilderness in 3 years, the rumor gradually became the truth. As a result, the entire Stars and Moons Island slowly withered.
A knight's offsprings were not destined to be knights; neither a knight's disciples were destined to be knights. Without a knight as the pillar, the entire Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School collapsed at once.
Young men who poured into Stars and Moons Island from everywhere in Ewentra Archipelago two years ago also left in large numbers. As a result, Stars and Moons Swordsmanship's heyday went forever.
One year ago, Stars and Moons Swordsmanship broke out an internal conflict and split into parts. Consequently, some of Samaranth's good disciples left Stars and Moons Island and started to found their own swordsmanship schools across Ewentra Archipelago as they proclaimed to get the true knowledge of Stars and Moons Sword Sage.
Since Stars and Moons Swordsmanship broke out an internal conflict and split into parts, only Samaranth's clansmen and a couple of disciples were left maintaining the Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School in Stars and Moons Island. As a result, Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School collapsed completely.
Before the dawn of September 25th, three pitch-dark big ships silently drove into the harbor of Stars and Moons Island in the twilight. Seeing these ships, the customs officer, who had not find pickings for a long time, instantly sprung up from the bed in the harbor's taxation office and rapidly put on his uniformed clothes. After cleaning his face with water casually, he woke up those tax policemen by kicking them. Closely after that, the group of people hurriedly arrived at the harbor and boarded on the ships to check and levy taxes.
"Besides freight houses, pay attention to sailors' berth cabins. Those sailors always hide tobaccos and spices beneath their bedplates. Whatever you get, confiscate them all!"
When he boarded on one ship, the customs officer who had lost his weight by 10 kg over the past 2 years had his halos back. He was thinking about how much pickings could he find this time so that he didn't pay attention that these sailors were different from those before. These sailors' looks were full of banters and cruelty.
Those tax policemen were also rubbing their palms and fists. Soon after they heard the order of the customs officer had they rushed into the cabin.
"Captain, where's your captain? Come out. I will check your logbook..." Standing on the deck, the customs officer ordered while raising his head towards the sky.
However, the captain didn't come out; instead, some round objects rolled out of the cabin and reached the foot of the customs officer. Lowering his head, the customs officer saw the heads of tax policemen whose eyes were widely opened with a great fear.
The customs officer instantly felt cold between his legs because he shat his pants.
Right then, a man in a black eyeshade with full of terrifying qi walked out of the pitch-dark cabin while grabbing the hair of a tax policeman's head, which was still spraying blood. The head's blood sprayed all the way to the customs officer who had been scared too much to move his foot.
"You're the customs officer?"
The customs officer was scared so much that his teeth quivered. He didn't dare utter any voice in front of such a man, who was almost the code word of terror in Ewentra Archipelago.
"What a coincidence! I'm also a customs officer today!" The man revealed a terrifying smile, "But I'm here to level head money!"
Closely after his words, the man swung the head and smashed onto the customs officer's head, blasting two heads at the same time. As a result, brains and blood sprayed over the deck.
The man then threw off the hair which was only connected with a skull before kicking the customs officer's corpse into the ocean. After that, he closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath in an intoxicated way. After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes and watched the mountain in the distance and the castle on top of the mountain as a bloody killing qi flashed across his eyes, "Brothers, go enjoy it. We have a complete day to enjoy such a grand meal in Stars and Moons Island!"
The three big ships that anchored in the harbor then rose the bloody demon-snake skeleton flag, which indicated that they were going to start their loot and massacre. Under the leadership of some roundtable warriors, over 1,000 people with ferocious looks from Demon Snake Island wove their weapons and rushed out of the 3 big ships while wailing and howling...
In a split second, some houses in the harbor and the town were burned down. At the same time, cries and mournful wails reverberated in this town...
Hearing the urgent bell rings from the castle on the top of the mountain in the distance, Berusken revealed a sneer on his thin face. He then rushed towards that Sage Sword Mountain where the castle rested on with the other roundtable fighters and a team of elite killers...
Stars and Moons Island covered less than 100 sq miles. It was actually a bit smaller than Demon Snake Island. Across the whole land, there was only one harbor and one town and some buildings left by the Stars and Moons Swordsmanship on the Sword Sage Mountain. The current total population of inhabitants in the island was only a bit more than 30,000 people. Compared to its heyday, Stars and Moons Island at this moment had withered.
...
At this moment, Zhang Tie broke out of the ocean and flew close to the seawater. The black smoke that rose straight to the sky became Zhang Tie's best coordinates.
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had arrived at the harbor. Watching this town being looted and slaughtered, a killing qi flashed across Zhang Tie's eyes. He instantly flew across the town as he tossed out his copper coins one after another, exploding a great batch of b*stards' heads in a split second within 500 m...
The residents in the town were very sturdy. They didn't just resign themselves to adversity; instead, they chose to fight back. In the square of the town, a batch of young adults was fighting hundreds of bandits from Demon Snake Island with weapons. As being affected by the living environment, all the young adults in Stars and Moons Island knew some swordsmanship. Some youth who learned in Stars and Moons Swordsmanship even had reached LV 9. However, in the encirclement of the bandits led by a LV 10 roundtable fighter and 2 LV 9 roundtable fighters, these people could barely stand it while youths were constantly killed.
"Brothers, kill them, you will have the girls in the town!" A LV 10 roundtable fighter of Demon Snake Island exclaimed while he released an off-body battle qi, causing a LV 9 fighter, which was a few meters away, spurt out blood and fly backward.
All the bandits growled madly...
At the sight of this, Zhang Tie flew over there. When he flew over that square above 30 m from the ground, he released hundreds of sharp battle qi by his ten fingers in the blink of an eye, exploding all the b*stards, common lackeys or LV 9-10 roundtable fighters into sh*t...
Before those youths realized what happened, they saw the heads of all the bandits from Demon Snake Island being exploded. Therefore, they widely opened their mouths...
"Sword Sage, Lord Sword Sage is coming back..." A smart guy exclaimed as he suddenly turned around and saw a faint figure flying towards the Sword Sage Mountain in the far.
'Knight, only a knight could have such a great battle force.' As nobody saw clearly who did it just now, they all thought that was Samaranth. Additionally, who else would come to Stars and Moons Island besides Lord Sword Sage?
The morale of the youths in the town rose immediately as they sensed a strength that they could rely on. Closely after that, they roared and started to clear the rest lackeys of Demon Snake Island in the town...
Watching the battle-qi totems rising from the castle on the top of the mountain in the far, Zhang Tie straightly flew towards there.
...
At this moment, a tragic atmosphere was covering the Sword Sage Mountain. Disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School laid all the way from the foot of the mountain to the Stars and Moons Castle at the top of the mountain. With the powerful battle force of a LV 15 battle spirit, the defensive facilities and high city walls of the internal and external castles of the Stars and Moons Castle were as fragile as decorations. Only after half an hour, all the passes of external and internal castles had been broken through by bandits. As a result, a large number of disciples of Samaranth Clan and Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School fought to the death.
Being covered with others' plasma, Berusken revealed a brutal faint smile as he led a batch of elites from Demon Snake Island and encircled those who were still resisting into a palace of the internal castle of Demon Snake Island...