Chapter 1161: Starting Action
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Although Zhang Tie didn't enter Xuanyuan Hill, with his lotus-flower eyes, he could still see clearly the abnormal phenomenon in the Sincerity Garden of the emperor's imperial city hundreds of miles away. He saw the commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards who was standing outside the Sincerity Garden with a huge saber, which was a silver secret item, in hand; the crowd being evacuated outside the Sincerity Garden, the knights' battle qi smokes rushing into the sky from the Golden water River; the rising ground and the collapsing building in Gold and Power Market and the sudden rising flames due to explosions which were not far from Gold and Power Market.
The entire Xuanyuan Hill was gradually chaotic as the members of Heavens Reaching Church or the faithful lackeys of Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong in Xuanyuan Hill were exerting their utmost efforts to create chaos in Xuanyuan Hill so that they could have a chance to escape out of there.
The night had already fallen while the flames in the city became more eye-attractive. The wuthering ambulance vehicles and collisions between knights could be heard everywhere across Xuanyuan Hill. Additionally, many wails and cries escaping out the fiercest flames and most ferocious battles in Xuanyuan Hill.
At this moment, the wild swans were still 60 miles away from the emperor's imperial city while the entire Xuanyuan Hill had been boiling like a bowl of cold water entering rolling oil.
Zhang Tie knew that he had succeeded.
There would be many casualties in Xuanyuan Hill tonight. Although this was against Zhang Tie's conscience, Zhang Tie wouldn't feel guilty about it. He didn't have moral cleanliness.
The main reason of casualties was the arrangements that Heavens Reaching Church had made in Xuanyuan Hill. It was like a bomb being buried in Xuanyuan Hill; if not detonate it in advance and cause Heavens Reaching Church to move flurriedly, it might cause a much severer outcome if Heavens Reaching Church detonated it when they prepared it well. Those who should be responsible for what happened tonight were the Supreme Court, the Imperial Censorate, the prime minister who governed the national policies of the country, the chief inspector who was responsible for supervising the officials in the imperial court, even Emperor Xuanyuan himself. A remnant of Bloody Soul Temple had lurked under their eyes for so many years; the master of Heavens Reaching Church served as the finance minister of Taixia Country in the hinterland of Taixia Country; those b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church could make so many arrangements in Xuanyuan Hill; shouldn't they be responsible for all this?
After this evening, the overall pattern in the imperial court of Taixia Country would definitely change greatly. The Finance Minister's Mansion would be cleaned up completely for sure. Someone in the imperial court of Taixia Country would be responsible for this event for sure. Although Zhang Tie could imagine all this, it had nothing to do with him. He was only doing what he should do and could do in Xuanyuan Hill at this moment.
Zhang Tie's job tonight was to kill Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong!
So many knights were suspending in the sky outside Xuanyuan Hill as they watched the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill with dumbfounded looks. In less than 1 hour, what happened drastically in Xuanyuan Hill had made everybody dumbfounded.
Zhang Tie watched the wild swans flying towards the emperor's imperial city as he silently made a hand gesture. Closely after that, the army of wild swans disbanded. They had already accomplished their task successfully.
"Ahh, the wild swans are disbanding…" Someone shouted among the surrounding knights.
As those wild swans disbanded, the 12 huge words in the sky above Xuanyuan Hill also gradually disappeared like a drop of ink falling into the pool.
The wild swans returned to their own nestles; however, the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill constantly fermented.
As long as those knights outside Xuanyuan Hill were not idiots, they would know that the contents of the 12 huge words were real. If not, how could Xuanyuan Hill became chaotic at once?
Han Zhengfang the finance minister of Taixia Country was the master of Heavens Reaching Church; Xuanyuan Hill was in great chaos tonight! What a shocking news! Those knights passed this news to all directions through remote-sensing crystals as soon as possible.
Right under Zhang Tie's foot, Zhang Tie saw a lot of elites of Supreme Court rushing out of Xuanyuan Hill along with some knights. The moment those knights exited Xuanyuan Hill, they had flown off towards far…
'These people are chasing after someone; whom are they chasing after?'
Zhang Tie sensed the locations of the two tracing feathers in his mind sea as he sneered. After that, he threw a glance at the emperor's imperial city. Only after thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie had turned around and flown towards Fairy Lake in the far.
'Han Yuanhong is escaping; the battle between Han Zhengfang and Meng Shidao has not come to an end. Given the current situation, I could deal with Han Yuanhong before returning to the sky outside emperor's imperial city for the final result of the battle.'
Zhang Tie then flew towards Fairy Lake. On the way, he encountered many knights.
As it was in the Treasures Meeting, most of the knights were gathering in Xuanyuan Hill over these years. Many knights were watching the fun outside Xuanyuan Hill too. Many knights had just run out of Xuanyuan Hill. As they couldn't fly in Xuanyuan Hill, their battle strength and flexibility would be greatly reduced over there. When Xuanyuan Hill was in great chaos, some smart knights who were close to the periphery of Xuanyuan Hill ran out of Xuanyuan Hill immediately. After jumping out of the swirl, they flew off into the sky outside Xuanyuan Hill and watched the development of the situation inside Xuanyuan Hill.
After leaving Xuanyuan Hill alone or in a group of two or three, these knights started to communicate with each other.
As too many knights were keeping a close watch on the situation inside Xuanyuan Hill in the sky outside Xuanyuan Hill, it was not that eye-catching when Zhang Tie flew over the sky.
However, Zhang Tie still met some familiar ones.
Fang Xinyi and the other knights that Zhang Tie met in the Golden Water River a few days ago along with that pair of "wild mandarin ducks" were also keeping a close watch on the situation inside Xuanyuan Hill. Zhang Tie directly passed them from hundreds of meters away. Zhang Tie didn't greet them or dodge away from them; he just threw a distant glance at them before flying away.
Zhang Tie noticed Fang Xinyi's team; Fang Xinyi's team also caught sight of Zhang Tie; especially Fang Xinyi who immediately widened her eyes when she caught sight of Zhang Tie although they were hundreds of meters away from each other. Closely after that, she revealed a faintly shocked expression; even her body became stiff all of a sudden. As knights, although Fang Xinyi and her partners didn't have lotus-flower eyes, the distance of hundreds of meters was also like 10 m in the eyes of commoners.
Zhang Tie flew as fast as a lightning bolt. In the blink of an eye, he had passed by Fang Xinyi's team from hundreds of meters away and disappeared in front of their eyes.
"Ahh, who's that young knight? He looks even younger than 20 years old. I've met all the younger talents among the top 6 sects. But I've not heard about such a young knight!" A male knight on Fang Xinyi's side said with a faint frown as he looked at the direction where Zhang Tie was heading for, "Does he come from a major clan of Taixia Country? Now that he could promote to a knight at such a young age, he must be something!"
Fang Xinyi and her partners were all young elites among the top 6 sects; of course, they were very familiar with the elites of the top 6 sects.
"Yi, that's strange. Why do I feel this guy looks familiar? I might have already seen him somewhere." The female knight on Fang Xinyi's side called Ge Yuling muttered as she revealed a reminiscent look.
"Don't you feel that the young knight fly too fast?" You Chuzhi asked with a shocked look.
"Is that fast? We could also do it!" Another male knight said in an ill-affected manner.
"We cannot move so fast as easily as him. Given his easy look at such a high speed, he might be…might be…" You Chuzhi didn't say it. 'It's too shocking and unimaginable. A 20-year old earth knight! What a freak! Even the top 6 sects of Taixia Country couldn't culture such a young earth knight.'
"That guy might pretend to be that easy. Some young man who has just promoted to knights would always like to slap their own face until it's swollen in an effort to look imposing. How could a person promote to an earth knight at such a young age?" The male knight who was ill-affected just now argued.
When they were arguing about it out of curiosity, Fang Xinyi who was always silent directly flew off towards Zhang Tie.
Fang Xinyi's partners were shocked by her sudden movement as they all followed after her.
Given the fight on Golden Water River that day, they thought that Fang Xinyi had caught sight of an enemy.
Zhang Tie soon disappeared in their vision. Fang Xinyi had already released her brilliant battle qi as she was speeding up abruptly. All of her partners had to make their utmost efforts to chase after Fang Xinyi like meteors.
After a few minutes, these meteors arrived at the vast and misty Fairy Lake consecutively. It was the shimmering yet endless lake under their foot; however, the young knight had already disappeared in their vision.
"Xinyi, do you know that guy…" Ge Yuling asked Fang Xinyi out of concern which all the others wanted to know too after they hid their brilliant protective battle qis.
Fang Xinyi let out a sigh suddenly as she glanced around all the others, "I'm afraid that the young knight was Zhang Mushen, Zhang Tie!"
After hearing Fang Xinyi's reply, all the other knights were stunned.
'That young man was Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen, the No.1 black iron human knight who became famous around the country after the tragedy of Fuhai City?'
"Ahh, I remember it!" Ge Yuling suddenly shouted, "No wonder I felt that man looked a bit familiar. He was Zhang Tie. I've seen his look on the order for arrest!"
"If he's indeed Zhang Tie, why did he come to Xuanyuan Hill?"
You Chuzhi broke the silence.
"Because I'm too curious about that, I followed him here…" Fang Xinyi stared blankly at the lake under her foot…
Chapter 1162: An Ambush
Translator:WQL
Editor:Aleem
Zhang Tie had noticed Fang Xinyi's shocked look. He had not imagined that this woman could identify him so fast. However, at this critical moment, Zhang Tie didn't want anyone to ruin his good plan. Therefore, after flying away from Fang Xinyi and her partners, Zhang Tie accelerated all of a sudden and disappeared in their vision. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had seen the Fairy Lake as he immediately dove inside.
The moment he entered the lake, Zhang Tie had triggered a hiding rune.
Being commonly affected by the hiding rune and the waterproof body, Zhang Tie became more concealed in water. He just swam towards a location in the center of Fairy Lake which was close to the northwest like a fish at the bottom of the lake.
2 minutes later, Fang Xinyi and her partners flew over the location where Zhang Tie dove into the lake as they failed to find him.
The Fairy Lake was deeper than 100 m. There were various fish in different sizes, waterweeds and riprap which looked like rugged hills in the lake. Additionally, Zhang Tie discovered a skeleton of a mutated beast longer than 40 m in the mud at the bottom of the lake. The skeleton had been soaking there for a few years. Given its size, such a mutated beast could threaten ships and travelers on the lake. When Xuanyuan Hill started to extend its metropolitan area, these mutated beasts hiding near the city would threaten the city and humans nearby. Therefore, they had long been driven away or killed by human powerhouses.
The bottom of Fairy Lake was like the bottom of a copper basin. Besides being deep, it was covered with pits; especially near the center of the lake. Some pits were even as large as a football court and as deep as 100 m. These pits were usually covered with lush aquatic plants such as waterweeds as long as dozens of meters just like bizarre woods at the bottom of the lake.
The bottom of this lake was connected with some subterranean streams. As fresh water constantly flew in this lake from its bottom, this region became the paradise of fish.
Although it was Zhang Tie's first time to come to the bottom of Fairy Lake in reality, he had been very familiar with this place in trouble-reappearance situations.
When he entered Treasure Complex for the first time, Zhang Tie had already discovered that hidden tunnel in Han Yuanhong's study inside the Treasures Complex. Last night, he slid into the hidden tunnel in the incarnation of the little black beetle and left two tracing feathers inside in case of emergency. Zhang Tie felt that Han Yuanhong would probably escape through the hidden tunnel inside the Treasures Complex if he was still there when Zhang Tie aroused the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill. By then, his tracing feathers would help him a lot.
The fact proved that Han Yuanhong indeed chose to escape through that hidden tunnel when the real identity of his father was exposed to the public. However, Han Yuanhong didn't find that his trace had been under Zhang Tie's control since he entered the hidden tunnel.
That secret tunnel was connected with a complex maze-like underground drainage system under Xuanyuan Hill. Actually, that huge underground drainage system was just a camouflage as it contained another secret. If someone escaped away from the hidden tunnel, the hunters must think that the one who escaped wanted to leave Xuanyuan Hill through the exits of that drainage system. However, Heavens Reaching Church or Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong had modified the underground drainage system. After the modification, they could directly escape to the location in the center of Fairy Lake being close to the northwest through a secret subterranean stream below the underground drainage system of Xuanyuan Hill.
Without lotus-flower eyes and his hearty exploration in the trouble-reappearance situation, Zhang Tie couldn't discover that secret at all.
The moving direction of the two tracing feathers told Zhang Tie about Han Yuanhong's route of escape. The most mysterious and unimaginable trick implied that the arrangement that the Supreme Court made to block Han Yuanhong at the exits of the underground drainage system of Xuanyuan Hill was destined to be in vain.
At the bottom of an inconspicuous pit which was deeper than 50 m and covered about 8,000 square meters, there was an entrance of a subterranean stream whose diameter was about 2 m. Water flew out of the subterranean stream from this entrance.
On both sides of the entrance, there were many waterweeds with huge crowns longer than 20 m. This was the hidden exit of that secret tunnel.
When Zhang Tie arrived here, a shoal of semi-transparent small fish as large as one's finger with a small spine in their mouth was scared away. They looked like loaches.
After coming to the top of the entrance of the tunnel, Zhang Tie hid himself well. Meanwhile, he took out a unique gold-eaten dagger being covered with bizarre screw threads as he concealed his qi and waited for the arrival of Han Yuanhong.
When Zhang Tie remained still, his body gradually changed its color and looked as same as the waterweeds and stones in the surroundings as if he had fully integrated with the water, releasing no qi at all.
Sometimes, animals had more sensitive senses than humans. Take that shoal of bizarre small fish as an instance, the moment they discovered Zhang Tie, they had escaped far away. Being small, they could move very flexibly in water.
Watching the shoal of special small fish escaping away from here at their highest speed, Zhang Tie made a special hand gesture by hands. Closely after that, those small fish swam back and moved around the entrance of the tunnel once again.
Zhang Tie closed his eyes as he waited there patiently.
...
Being as flurried as a stray dog and fish that escaped away from a fishing net. Han Yuanhong fit this situation pretty well.
The explosive sound behind him a few minutes ago reminded him that someone had already discovered the secret tunnel and were hunting him. The alchemist's bomb destroyed a 100-m long section of the tunnel. Besides blocking the hunters, this explosion also passed a false news to the hunters——Han Yuanhong was going to escape from one exit of the underground drainage system of Xuanyuan Hill.
However, the narrow success in tactics couldn't cover the sudden collapse of the strategy of Heavens Reaching Church and Han Clan in Xuanyuan Hill.
Han Yuanhong's head was still buzzing until now. He was confused about why it suddenly deteriorated to such a bad situation.
Of course, it was caused by those wild swans; however, he didn't know who was on the back of these wild swans. Neither his father Han Zhengfang knew it. As it was too urgent, when he reported the emergency to Han Zhengfang through the remote-sensing crystal, he only received one word——escape!
This word completely shattered the fluke mind of Han Yuanhong.
As it was told by his father who was in the emperor' imperial city, it meant that his father didn't have any trump card to respond to it anymore. At this critical moment, they could only escape away from Xuanyuan Hill at first. If they couldn't, they would die here for sure. Therefore, his father put it straightforwardly.
Yesterday, Han Yuanhong was dreaming about becoming the human crown prince of Taixia Country and could ascend to the throne of the emperor of Taixia country one day. In the blink of an eye, he had been escaping in the sewer filled with rats and sewage. He only thought about escaping away from Xuanyuan Hill at this moment. As long as he could make it, he would have a chance to reinvigorate his undertakings in Taixia Country!
Han Yuanhong knew that his father and Heavens Reaching Church had some arrangements and subordinates in Xuanyuan Hill; however, at this critical moment, they could only care about themselves. Only when they escaped away from Xuanyuan Hill could they have a bright future.
Of course, it was cool for them to summon wind and call for rain in the enemy's camp in the identities of the bright golden master and master of Gold and Power Law; sometimes, they could even play a great role; however, this cool sense also carried a price. As long as they met such an emergency, everything that they had prepared would become in vain; additionally, they would be mired in great dangers.
The moment Han Zhengfang entered the secret tunnel, he had taken a vial of night viewing medicament. With the effect of the night viewing medicament, he could see clearly in the underground drainage system even if it was pitch-dark inside.
The underground drainage system of Xuanyuan Hill was a magnificent engineering project. The bottom of the main sewer of the underground drainage system was available to two buses shoulder to shoulder easily.
However, there was no bus in the sewer at this moment, but only rats and various disgusting smells.
Han Yuanhong had exerted his full efforts as an earth knight. Although he couldn't fly, he moved very fast. When he passed by, those rats had not even responded to it.
Han Yuanhong knew how the Supreme Court would hunt for him.
When he ran, he took out some vials of special medicament from his portable space-teleportation item and sprayed them behind him. The medicament soon volatilized in the air behind him. The medicament could disrupt the smells of the dogs of Supreme Court and tracing powerhouses who had awakened a special bloodline. As a result, they could not get hang of his trace.
He had even prepared more than one secret tunnels for escaping away from Xuanyuan Hill, it was not strange for him to make some more preventive measures.
In Han Yuanhong's opinion, this was his only loophole through which Supreme Court could get hang of his trace. As long as he eliminated this loophole, nobody could catch him. As long as an earth knight escaped away from Xuanyuan Hill, he would be as free as a dragon returning to the ocean. It would be very difficult to capture him...
Now that the wanted criminals across Taixia Country could make it, Han Yuanhong could make it too.
After making twists and turns in the broad sewers, Han Yuanhong finally arrived at a familiar place. Although this place was filled with sewage which was at least 2 m in height like that in other places, when he arrived here, he didn't hear any sound behind him; therefore, Han Yuanhong finally became reassured.
Closely after that, Han Yuanhong released his protective battle qi to wrap himself before entering the sewage regardless of the stink, causing no spray at all.
As he was escaping instead of attending a ball, he didn't have time to care about the disgusting stink anymore. It was said that some prisoners would choose to escape away from prisons through cesspits. Of course, Han Yuanhong was facing a much better situation. It was just sewage; instead of cesspit; additionally, he had isolated his body from the sewage using his protective battle qi. He only needed to bear it for the time being. Even if it was a cesspit, he would choose to enter it without any hesitation.
Han Yuanhong entered the 2-m deeper sewage.
The visibility in the sewage was very low. However, under the influence of the night viewing medicament, he could still see something; additionally, he constantly fumbled by hand. Therefore, he soon approached the wall at the bottom of the sewer and touched that familiar slate.
The moment he released his battle qi, Han Zhengfang immediately caught the slate which weighed hundreds of kilograms. He opened the slate and exposed the entrance of a tunnel leading upwards. The tunnel was still filled with sewage.
Han Yuanhong lowered his body and entered that tunnel. After that, he turned around and put the slate to its original place so that people could not discover this tunnel easily.
After floating up about 2 m, Han Yuanhong stepped onto the steps. After some steps, he completely left the water when he concealed his protective battle qi.
The stony steps were still extending upwards with an inclination. After ascending to 7-8 m higher, the secret tunnel abruptly turned downwards and reached over 100 m deep underground.
Actually, the elites of Supreme Court might not find him even if he hid here for a couple of months. Because this place was too concealed and was out of people's imagination. Only Han Yuanhong knew this escape passage; even Han Zhengfang didn't know the concret entrance of this escape passage although he knew that Han Yuanhong had such a preparation. It must be very urgent when this escape passage was put in use. Therefore, the fewer people knew this escape passage, the better.
However, Han Yuanhong dared not risk it. If the elites of Supreme Court couldn't find him at the exits of the underground drainage system, they would definitely realize that Han Yuanhong was still in Xuanyuan Hill. With the overall strength of the Supreme Court, they might search over the entire underground drainage system inch by inch although it would cost them some time. Therefore, the longer he stayed here, the possibility of him being exposed would be more. The best method was to escape away from Xuanyuan Hill before the Supreme Court and Xuanyuan Hill completely mobilized their strength to look for him.
The end of the downwards stone steps was a several meters wide subterranean stream leading to Fairy Lake. Han Yuanhong immediately jumped into the subterranean stream.
Han Yuanhong couldn't swim well. Before he promoted to a knight, he was only good enough to not drown.
However, after he promoted to a knight, swimming was not a problem for him anymore. As a knight, he could casually stay in the water for a few hours; additionally, he could swim as flexibly as fish based on the strong controlling ability of his body and sensing capability of his knight's consciousness about water flow.
Being pushed by the water flow of the subterranean stream, it only took Han Yuanhong more than half an hour to see the exit of this subterranean stream in Fairy Lake.
The water here was pretty crystal, which had a very high visibility. If he fully released his protective battle qi, he would suffer a great resistance in water and could not easily access some narrow space and bends. Therefore, Han Yuanhong only released a thin protective battle qi.
When he approached the exit, Han Yuanhong became very meticulous. He didn't rush out of the exit at once; instead, he sensed the situation near the exit using his knight's consciousness. After not finding any abnormal situation, he caught sight of the shoal of tiny glass fish swimming leisurely at the exit.
When he caught sight of the shoal of glassfish, Han Yuanhong became reassured completely. He knew that this fish was a rare fish for an appreciative purpose which only existed in Fairy Lake. This fish liked to live at the bottom of the lake and could not be caught by a fishing net. Additionally, this fish was very timid and sensitive in water. As long as they sensed any abnormal situation in water, they would escape in all directions. Even people who were good at swimming could barely catch them in water. However, as these fish were transparent and looked pretty beautiful under fluorite lamps, some rich men in Xuanyuan Hill would like to raise them in their own fish jars for the appreciative purpose.
Now that these glass fish were swimming leisurely at the exit, it indicated that nobody else was near the exit.
Han Yuanhong became reassured; he then swam towards the exit of the tunnel as he felt like having escaped away from the hunt of the elites of Supreme Court.
Before Han Yuanhong exited the tunnel, he had been discovered by the shoal of glassfish. Closely after that, they swam away flexibly.
'Wait, when the demons army launches a strike, this father will come back!'
Han Yuanhong swore inside.
The moment Han Yuanhong reached the exit and became reassured mentally and physically...the rear of his heart had been pierced through by the golden-eaten dagger silently which carried a terrifying strength. The gold-eaten dagger looked like a venomous snake that drilled out of water or a sickle in the hand of the god of death...
Before Han Yuanhong's thin protective battle qi prevented the dagger for 0.01 second, his body had been drilled through.
Closely after the heart-wrenching pain, Han Yuanhong's neck was silently and tightly reined by an extremely strong arm which was as sturdy as a dragon.
If Han Yuanhong's neck was regarded as a rail, it would be broken into halves by the strength from that strong arm like a noodle. However, as an earth knight, Han Yuanhong's neck should at least be a bit more dignified and stronger than a rail. Even in this situation, Zhang Tie could not kill him immediately only by reining his neck.
Han Yuanhong wanted to scream; however, he couldn't utter a sound. The strength was so terrifying that his eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets. At the same time, he caught sight of a shiny long sword which was giving out cold killing intent. The longsword itself flew towards him and slashed against his body...
'So fast!'
It was the last clear whim that occurred to Han Yuanhong's mind...
Chapter 1163: Arousing a Shock
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
In the evening, a huge bright red battle qi tornado rushed into the sky from the center of Fairy Lake, causing a great shock in the surroundings in a split second…
Battle qi tornado indicated a battle between earth knights; especially in the evening, an earth knight's battle qi tornado could almost be seen within one thousand square miles.
Given the imposing manner of this battle qi tornado, the one who released it should be at least a high-rank earth knight.
Fang Xinyi and her partners followed Zhang Tie here; after losing their target, they flew around Fairy Lake for quite a while in vain. When they were about to leave Fairy Lake, they suddenly saw a huge battle qi tornado rushing into the sky from the center of Fairy Lake.
"Let go take a look over there!" Fang Xinyi flew towards where the battle qi rose up, closely followed by her partners.
Xuanyuan Hill looked like a pot of messy porridge tonight which contained too many secrets. At the beginning, all the wild swans near Xuanyuan Hill became berserk. Closely after that, the 12 huge words composed of wild swans in the sky completely sent Xuanyuan Hill into chaos. Even Zhang Tie flashed by Xuanyuan Hill. As the disciples of the top sects in Taixia Country, now that they had encountered this event, they had to be sensitive about everything that happened in Xuanyuan Hill out of individual curiosity or in order to respond to their masters' questions.
Fang Xinyi and her partners flew towards the center of Fairy Lake at their fastest speeds like meteors. The battle qi tornado that rushed into the sky didn't move and looked pretty eye-catching; only after a few seconds, the battle qi tornado disappeared all of a sudden.
After a few minutes, they had arrived at the location where the battle qi tornado rushed up into the sky. It was close to the northwest in the center of Fairy Lake.
It was normal on the water. Additionally, they didn't see anyone fly away from here just now. After suspending in the sky and exchanging a glance with each other, those youngsters nodded towards each other as they dove into the lake at the same time.
The water of Fairy Lake was very crystal. Being not far away from where they entered the water, a wide area of muddy water was slowly rolling in a deep pit being covered with many waterweeds.
They meticulously approached there and didn't find anybody. There was a broken waterweed in the rolling muddy water. Besides, there was a hole inside while the water of a subterranean stream was flowing out of the hole and gradually diluting the muddy water.
"I could smell blood in the water here. As the blood is mixing with mud, it could be barely identified; but my cultivation method makes me sensitive to fresh blood…" You Chuzhi told all the others at present in a secret way with a solemn look.
"Someone fought here just now!"
"One of them was at least an earth knight!"
These young knights were not idiots. They immediately reached many conclusions. The opponent who could let an earth knight release his battle qi tornado probably be an earth knight on the same level or a knight on a higher or lower level. If the opponent was on a higher level, the earth knight who released his battle qi tornado had already been killed; if the opponent was on a lower level, it indicated that the earth knight had already killed a black iron knight. Each possibility brought Fang Xinyi and her partners a great stress.
"It seems that we could access this subterranean stream, should we enter it?" Someone proposed a suggestion.
"Given the direction of the water flow, this subterranean river might pass by Xuanyuan Hill. As Xuanyuan Hill is in chaos, if we enter Xuanyuan Hill in this way, we might arouse a misunderstanding in the sensitive region…" Fang Xinyi shook her head calmly. As they all came from the top sects in Taixia Country, which were born to be contradictory with the imperial court and imperial households of Taixia Country. If they entered Xuanyuan Hill; especially in some sensitive region of Xuanyuan Hill in such a secret way, they would indeed have big trouble.
There was one point that Fang Xinyi had not pointed out. However, they all knew it, namely, if the knight who appeared here just now was also in the subterranean stream at this moment, they would face a great danger if they entered this narrow and strange place. Curiosity killed the cat, also knights.
"Chuzhi, can you sense the trace of the person who bled in the water? If that person is bleeding, he might leave some clues in water." Ge Yuling asked as the others moved their eyes onto You Chuzhi.
You Chuzhi shook his head as he replied, "I could only sense the existence of fresh blood in this small region. It's diffusing. There's no fresh blood in other places. I guess the one who bled just now have already stopped bleeding, leaving no trace anymore!"
When they talked with each other in a secret way, another 3 knights entered the water. At the sight of these people over here, they instantly swam towards here.
One earth knight and two black iron knights; all of them were wearing uniforms of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country. It seemed that the rising battle qi tornado not only attracted Fang Xinyi and her partners but also some vigilant powerhouses of Supreme Court near Fairy Lake.
"Who are you?" The moment they arrived here, the earth knight had asked about the identities of Fang Xinyi and her partners.
"We're traveling in Xuanyuan Hill. Just now, we were near Fairy Lake. At the sight of the battle qi tornado, we especially came over here to take a look!" A knight on Fang Xinyi's side replied frankly.
After hearing his explanation, the earth knight of Supreme Court nodded silently. Because they had indeed seen some people flying in front of them with their brilliant protective battle qis which looked like meteors, although they were far away from Fang Xinyi and her partners; additionally, the number of members of Fang Xinyi's team corresponded with that of the "meteors".
The earth knight of Supreme Court slowed down his voice. He didn't even waste time inquiring about the concrete identities and names of Fang Xinyi's team members; instead, he put it straightforwardly, "Have you seen the one who released his battle qi tornado just now?"
"When we arrived here, we didn't see anybody but the muddy water. It seems that there was a transient fight here just now; additionally, the blood here has already diffused!"
"Didn't you see anyone leaving here?"
"No!"
"Alright, thanks!" The earth knight glanced around Fang Xinyi and her partners before warning them seriously, "It's a sensitive period in Xuanyuan Hill, as you're just travelers, watch out yourselves; do not be involved in the contradictions!"
After saying that, the earth knight threw a glance at the subterranean stream before drilling inside. Before entering it, he even told the other two black iron knights to look for suspicious places in the surroundings.
Fang Xinyi and her partners could only leave the water.
…
After flying out of Fairy Lake, they suspended in the sky and exchanged glances with each other silently. What happened in Xuanyuan Hill and what they encountered outside Xuanyuan Hill tonight were completely out of the limits of their abilities and knowledge. Previously, they were all proud of themselves as they were all elites of top sects in Taixia Country. However, tonight, they found that they could do nothing but be onlookers when a major event broke out in Xuanyuan Hill. They even lost their target; therefore, Fang Xinyi and her partners, especially those male knights felt frustrated more or less.
"Whether the earth knight of Supreme Court had already guessed our identities and backgrounds? Therefore, he warned us in the end!" A male knight broke the silence.
"Maybe, the powerhouses of the Supreme Court always have sharp eyes!"
"When we chased Zhang Tie all the way to the Fairy Lake, we lost our target; closely after that, a battle qi tornado appeared; whether the battle qi tornado is related to Zhang Tie?" You Chuzhi suddenly asked after being silent for a second.
"It's still too early for us to reach such a conclusion. But the time that Zhang Tie appeared in Xuanyuan Hill was indeed a bit strange. We'd better not expose this secret for the time being. We will report it to our masters at first. The experience and information sources of the elders in our sects could never be matched by us. They will give us an explanation!" Fang Xinyi said calmly.
All the others nodded. When they stayed with Fang Xinyi over these days, they all found that Fang Xinyi was intelligent and could always hit the key points; although being tranquil and elegant, she could always be decisive at critical moments. Gradually, they all thought that Fang Xinyi's words were reasonable.
Closely after that, these young elites left Fairy Lake…
…
When Fang Xinyi's team left Fairy Lake and the two black iron knights of Supreme Court carefully searched over the neighborhoods in water, Zhang Tie was refining the last bit of water elements from the incomplete water chakra of Han Yuanhong.
After being severely wounded, Han Yuanhong finally exhaled his final breath…
Chapter 1164: Second Kill
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Knights had very strong vitality, which commoners might find unimaginable.
Even a common fighter would not die right away after his head was chopped off on the battlefield. Actually, after an ordinary knight's head was chopped off, he would still be clear-minded for dozens of seconds, even a few minutes. Sometimes, he could still blink his eyes while trying to shriek miserably or say something. Even if one fighter suffered from an unimaginable, fatal wound, he might also stick to a few hours in a miraculous way. After experiencing so many battles, whether large or small, Zhang Tie had witnessed and encountered such similar occasions.
Even commoners could display a strong vitality in emergencies, not to mention an earth knight.
When the gold-eaten dagger entered Han Yuanhong's body, it broke Han Yuanhong's heart. Closely after that, Zhang Tie released his battle qi and shattered his heart into pieces. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie manipulated a longsword to open a terrifying wound from Han Yuanhong's chest to his lower abdomen, breaking Han Yuanhong's guts severely.
Although suffering such severe wounds, Han Yuanhong didn't die immediately; instead, his muscles all over shrunk and closed the wounds in a split second. Meanwhile, Han Yuanhong released his battle qi tornado and was going to launch a counter-attack…
Of course, Han Yuanhong would not succeed his counter-attack. If Zhang Tie lost this battle when he had taken the initiative, he deserved the death.
Han Yuanhong exerted his full efforts to hit Zhang Tie's face using the rear of his head; however, Zhang Tie directly crashed his face against Han Yuanhong's rear of head forcefully. This time, Han Yuanhong further tasted Zhang Tie's iron body which was benefited by iron-body fruits. As a result, Zhang Tie was firm; however, sparkles flew before Han Yuanhong's eyes as he spurted out a mouthful of blood.
Almost at the same time, Han Yuanhong thrust his right elbow against Zhang Tie's chest ferociously. Zhang Tie accepted it frankly safe and sound; at the same time, one snake-shaped short dagger suddenly appeared in Han Yuanhong's right hand as it was stabbed against Zhang Tie's back. However, Zhang Tie nipped it between his arm and his body.
Before Han Yuanhong made his 4th counter-attack, Zhang Tie had already thrust onto Han Yuanhong's tailbone forcefully using his knee. In a split second, Han Yuanhong's pelvic bone was shattered. At the same time, the longsword under Zhang Tie's spiritual control stabbed against Han Yuanhong's lower abdomen for hundreds of times, messing up his qi sea.
When two earth knights started a close combat, they would always risk their lives. In only a few seconds, the breathtaking, cruel and bloody close combat had come to an end. Han Yuanhong's final struggles were collapsed by Zhang Tie.
Although Han Yuanhong failed in his counter-attack, since his battle qi tornado rose up a few seconds ago, Zhang Tie had known that this location had been exposed. As there were so many knights outside Xuanyuan Hill, as long as they caught sight of this battle qi tornado, knight-level powerhouses of Supreme Court and the other onlookers would arrive here.
As the water smelt bloody.
Zhang Tie immediately stomped onto the mud at the bottom of the lake, causing a large amount of mud to mix with water. Closely after that, Zhang Tie sped up as he opened the siphon tunnel connecting Castle of Black Iron. Together with Han Yuanhong in his hand, Zhang Tie flashed far away in water at a speed faster than knight's flight speed in the sky.
When Zhang Tie flashed far away in water, he triggered his purgatory samsara method. Before Han Yuanhong died, Zhang Tie started to refine Han Yuanhong's water chakra.
When Fang Xinyi and her partners arrived at the spot, as was predicted by Zhang Tie, they were attracted by the muddy water immediately. However, at that time, Zhang Tie had already arrived at 60 miles away and stopped in a riprap at the bottom of the lake. Nobody could imagine that anyone could move so fast in water.
…
Han Yuanhong was the most powerful earth knight that Zhang Tie had ever seen.
Zhang Tie estimated that Han Yuanhong's battle strength was even higher than that of Old Monster Qi, that demon knight who had been sacrificed in the bloody sacrifice furnace and Mountain Lifting Hermit.
Pitifully, Han Yuanhong met Zhang Tie. An ambush plus the strike of a divine dominator, Han Yuanhong actually faced the attack of more than two Zhang Tie. Any earth knight would be killed facing such a powerful raid.
What was more pessimistic was that Han Yuanhong didn't know who killed him until death. He always wanted to turn around to see Zhang Tie's face; however, before Zhang Tie's face reflected in Han Yuanhong's eyes, his eyes had completely lost brilliance as he widely opened his eyes unwillingly.
Before death, Han Yuanhong felt too depressed and confused. He couldn't think through how he was ambushed at the exit of the escape passage although he behaved so mysteriously; additionally, the one who ambushed him was too terrifying. There was one moment that Han Yuanhong even thought that he was ambushed by a shadow knight. Because shadow knights who had formed water chakra could have a powerful battle strength in water; additionally, shadow knights excelled at concealing themselves in water. All these features fit the situation.
Han Yuanhong could only see the excessively young arm over his neck. Given the skin on the arm, it should belong to a teenager. Although it didn't look as sturdy as that of Hercules, the strength of this arm made him despaired. The pure physical strength from that arm made Han Yuanhong think that it was not muscles in the arm, but some underground dragons who were drawing a capstan. What was more despairing was that the one who ambushed him was not a shadow knight, but an earth knight who was refining his water chakra with a powerful external strength in a secret method in which the alchemist demon ranked first on the wanted list of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country and was unrivaled among humans and demons ——Purgatory Samsara Method.
Han Yuanhong was pushed into the hell by Purgatory Samsara Method.
'Everything in Xuanyuan Hill today is related to alchemist demon. It must be alchemist demon's disciple or subordinate who ambushes me. As alchemist demon is already a heavenly knight, he would not absorb water-element crystals anymore. Only earth knight would absorb water elements in Purgatory Samsara Method. I must have seen this person. I've been trapped by this guy's secret method unconsciously. This person's secret method might be similar to the soul-chasing spiritual butterfly. Therefore, he could get hang of my trace; additionally, this person also knows the secret identity of my father.' Han Yuanhong suddenly became clear-minded at the end of his life while his face turned brilliant once again. He had figured out many questions in a split second. If possible, he would send a message to his father using remote-sensing crystal at this moment; pitifully, all of his remote-sensing crystals had been taken away since he lost his ability to launch a counter-attack. Besides ambushing him, that person was also very meticulous and spared no chance for Han Yuanhong to reverse the result of the battle.
At the end of his life, Han Yuanhong exerted his full strength as he uttered, "Who…are…you?"
"Guess…"
After being silent for a second, the one on his back replied which sounded pretty young. At this moment, the two words sounded a bit humorous more or less.
Han Yuanhong couldn't guess it; neither could he laugh out; he just widely opened his eyes until death.
…
Being in water, Zhang Tie just watched Han Yuanhong as if he was looking at a dead fish. When he found Han Yuanhong's eyes faded brilliance and the faint shocked expression and anguished twist on Han Yuanhong's face, Zhang Tie felt calm as if nothing had happened.
"Hoho, how about that? I killed you. Forgot to tell you, I also killed your young brother. As you father wants to kill me and all of my family members, I could only kill you." Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile as he said, "You're the second kill that I prepared for your family; there's only one left!"
If it was a kittie or a puppy that had just been flattened to death by a car on the road, Zhang Tie might feel a bit sympathetic or a bit sad; however, since he witnessed how demons and Three-eye Association turned hundreds of millions of alive people into demonized puppets in Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Tie's heart had turned extremely cold towards demons and all the lackeys of demons. He would never pity any of those sons of btches. As for Zhang Tie, even though these bstards were alive, they were just dried, spiritless firewoods. He would not have any mood swings even if he split these b*stards into pieces and burned them like burning firewoods.
If it were in another place, Zhang Tie could have more time to deal with Han Yuanhong without arousing the attention of anyone else. If so, Han Yuanhong might still be alive at this moment. After refining his water chakra in Purgatory Samsara Method, Zhang Tie would really throw this b*stard into bloody sacrifice furnace and burn it like burning firewood. He would only regard it as recycling wastes. However, at the critical moment, he had to kill the powerful earth knight in the shortest period in terms of ambush. He was not allowed to have any fluke mind when in the fight. He had to end the battle as fast as possible in the most ferocious way. To capture an earth knight alive was not as difficult as killing an earth knight. When he shattered Han Yuanhong's heart into pieces, Han Yuanhong had been destined to die; it was just a matter of time.
The short period that Han Yuanhong could stand based on his tenacious vitality was also required by Zhang Tie as he could refine Han Yuanhong's water chakra Purgatory Samsara Method during this period.
It was out of Zhang Tie's imagination that he could refine Han Yuanhong's water chakra completely in such a short period. At such a critical moment, Zhang Tie thought that he was lucky enough if he could refine half of Han Yuanhong's water chakra.
'He must have taken too many rare tonics. What a strong vitality! Hahaha…' Zhang Tie laughed out.
If he knew this result, Han Yuanhong might be regretful that he didn't choose to commit suicide at the beginning.
Chapter 1165: Entering the Emperor's Imperial City
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
After throwing the last glance at Han Yuanhong's corpse, Zhang Tie directly teleported his corpse into Castle of Black Iron without even searching over his body.
As the bright golden master of Gold and Power Law, the host of Gold and Power Market and the young master of Heavens Reaching Church, Han Yuanhong must have a lot of rare items. However, Zhang Tie didn't have time to search over his corpse at this moment. Heller could easily complete that for him.
At this moment, Zhang Tie didn't expect too much from Han Yuanhong's belongings. Whatever, he could get at least a space-teleportation item.
"He's yours, Heller, thanks!"
"Castle Lord, don't worry. I will give your surprise when you return to Castle of Black Iron next time!" Heller's voice sounded a bit strange; however, Zhang Tie didn't think too much about it because it was not the right time for him to review his booties.
After doing that, Zhang Tie thought for a few seconds before taking out a full-body battle armor from Castle of Black Iron.
This set of full-body battle armor was specially made by Edward for Zhang Tie. It had stayed too long in Castle of Black Iron. Because Zhang Tie didn't join frontline battlefield lately, he didn't wear it.
Being black all over, the full-body battle armor was full of killing intent. As a rune weapons master, Edward's battle armor always had a soul and theme. The inspiration of this battle armor originated from the pool of chaos in Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, it was also named Chaos.
It could turn all the strikes into chaos. The entire armor had a super strong protective force. Additionally, it bred a terrifying killing intent invisibly. The pointed horn on the helmet, the war spikes on the shoulders, the sharp crescent-shaped sabers on the arms and the teeth on the pair of caligas carried a terrifying killing intent. In order to adapt to Zhang Tie's ability, there were even some special tricks on the back of the battle armor. The entire battle armor could attack and defend the enemy at the same time in a commanding way.
The Chaos was made of abyss magical iron in Earth-elements Realm and mithril alloy in Waii Subcontinent. Additionally, the battle armor was attached to a LV 4 firmness rune effect, a LV 4 sharpness rune effect and an 18% rune recovery effect which broke through the bottleneck of knight's black iron effect.
The entire Chaos was composed of 39 parts and weighed over 600 kg. It might take commoners about 3-5 minutes to put it on without the help of others; however, it was too simple for Zhang Tie to put it on.
After being taken out of Castle of Black Iron, the whole set of battle armor floated in front of Zhang Tie with crossed arms in an anthropomorphous shape. Both Zhang Tie and the whole set of battle armor were in the space isolated by his protective battle qi in water.
Zhang Tie looked at the structure of the battle armor for a short while. After that, he triggered his ability as a divine dominator to separate the whole set of battle armor in a split second using his spirit. Closely after that, the 39 parts of the battle armor flew towards his body parts respectively. With click-clacks caused by the occlusions between metal parts, Zhang Tie had put on the whole set of battle armor in less than 2 seconds. Being wrapped by the Chaos, Zhang Tie changed his look utterly.
Nobody else among humans might put on the whole set of battle armor at such a fast speed, even if he was also a divine dominator. Because Zhang Tie also had multi-tasking ability besides being a divine dominator. Benefited from the two abilities, Zhang Tie could realize such a high efficiency.
In a split second, Zhang Tie recalled the hero in a manga that he read when he was young. That hero also wore a whole set of marvelous battle armor. As long as the hero summoned, the marvelous battle armor would appear out of the void in parts; meanwhile, the parts of the battle armor would fly towards the hero automatically, granting a super strong ability to the hero. Everything in front of Zhang Tie's eyes was extremely similar to that in the manga.
Zhang Tie's entire face was covered by the helmet, except for two triangular one-way visible dark crystals near his eyes through which he could see outside; however, the others couldn't even see his eyes.
The Chaos was designed delicately in each detail. The breathing holes were below ears like shark's gills. In this way, the most fragile face could be well protected; additionally, when he flew rapidly, he would not feel uncomfortable facing the wind.
'Unconsciously, I've already been able to be the hero that I worshiped when I was young whenever I want.'
After putting on the Chaos, the hiding rune also took effect on the Chaos, causing the black battle armor looming in water.
Inside the battle armor, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Closely after that, he shot out of the water like a bat out of the hell and entered the sky…
He was already over 60 miles away from the center of Fairy Lake and was close to the bank of Fairy Lake. The closest knights were over 60 miles away from him; additionally, Zhang Tie had triggered his hiding rune effect. Of course, he didn't need to worry about being discovered by others.
Since he put on the battle armor, Zhang Tie had been ready for flying using the ability of divine dominator. As for Zhang Tie, it was much easier for him to manipulate his battle armor to fly using the ability of divine dominator.
When he exited the water, he maintained his flight speed at about 300 m per second. He kept ascending. In less than 2 minutes, Zhang Tie had broken through the troposphere which was closest to the earth and entered the stratosphere. In the stratosphere, there were fewer people. Zhang Tie became reassured as he accelerated and reached 3 times that of the speed of sound in a split second, causing a sonic boom. When he reached the top of the stratosphere, which was about 60 miles away from the earth, he turned and flew towards Xuanyuan Hill.
Under his lotus-flower eyes, although Zhang Tie was far away from the center of emperor's imperial city in Xuanyuan Hill, he could still see clearly the visional Far-ancient Moral Stele floating above Sincerity Garden in the emperor's imperial city.
Now that the visional Far-ancient Moral Stele was still above Sincerity Garden, it indicated that the battle in Sincerity Garden had not come to an end. As was imagined by Zhang Tie, the battle between high-level knights would not come to an end in a short period. Although he had already ambushed and killed Han Yuanhong, the battle in Sincerity Garden had not come to an end yet.
At the speed of about 1,000 m per second, soon after leaving the rim of Xuanyuan Hill, he had already approached the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill at a higher place in the sky.
The no-fly zone of Lion Fortress was a pot cover, knights could fly as long as they were out of this pot cover. By contrast, Xuanyuan Hill was a deep conical well. Starting from the earth, the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill included the atmosphere even space above Xuanyuan Hill. Take the Xuanyuan Hill on the earth as the bottom of this conical well, the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill was like a huge cone. The higher it was, the larger the space of the no-fly zone would be and the more difficult it would be for knights to approach Xuanyuan Hill.
Such a no-fly zone was very powerful. It was actually borderless. However, it could also protect knights indirectly. Because if knights fell off when they entered the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill from a high place, they would probably get out of the fly-no zone and recover their flying ability in case of death.
Powerhouses were always brave. After grasping the flying skill under the control of divine dominator, Zhang Tie immediately entered the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill which was regarded as an impasse by all the knights below sage-level. Closely after that, he started to overlook the entire Xuanyuan Hill using his lotus-flower eyes.
It was less than 1 hour since Zhang Tie left here, during which period, Xuanyuan Hill seemed to become more chaotic.
The battle qi smoke on the bank of Golden Water River just now had already disappeared; however, many more places caught big fires. The army that was stationed outside Xuanyuan Hill had already entered Xuanyuan Hill in batches. No more battles between knights could be seen on the ground outside the emperor's imperial city. Zhang Tie wondered whether those knight-level powerhouses of Heavens Reaching Church in Xuanyuan Hill had been caught or were hiding their identities to escape; however, he saw thousands of people making terrors and chaos in Xuanyuan Hill by killing people and setting fires in all directions like carrying out a guerrilla. The army and the elites of Supreme Court were encircling and annihilating these b*stards.
Needless to say, these people were dare-to-die fighters that Heavens Reaching Church had arranged in Xuanyuan Hill with the ability of Gold and Power Law or the Finance Minister's Mansion or under the control of demonized puppet worms. These people ranked between LV 9 and LV 15, who were easily dealt with by knights; however, given their great population, they could cause great chaos in Xuanyuan Hill; especially in the evening.
When he entered the emperor's imperial city of Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie immediately reduced his speed to below the speed of sound and flew silently. Being affected by his master-level hiding rune effect, he could not be discovered in the black sky at all. Closely after that, he lowered his height to about dozens of miles away from the earth.
The imperial palace in the emperor's imperial city looked nothing special. Watching it from over 20 miles high, Zhang Tie found the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill on the earth was just a huge cubic complex like a city of the city. Besides being magnificent, it was nothing special. However, Zhang Tie could feel a heart-wrenching qi from the imperial palace. When he recalled that Heller told him that there might be a rarity which could match Castle of Black Iron inside the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill and there might be super powerhouses on the back of imperial palace, Zhang Tie became vigilant; he didn't fly over the top of the imperial palace; instead, he detoured the imperial palace from afar and directly came to the top of Sincerity Garden…
The moment Zhang Tie arrived at the top of Sincerity Garden, the dense grey mist above the Sincerity Garden instantly changed greatly…
Chapter 1166: The Fierce Fight
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Within the semi-sage realm, the bloody sea surged heavily; an immortal beast which looked like both tortoise and dragon looked up and roared, causing extremely high surging billows. Meng Shidao was lifting the Far-ancient Moral Stele by one hand with swaying hair and sparkling eyes as if he could suppress everything…
As Meng Shidao constantly recited sutras, the resonance of sutras filled the entire semi-sage realm. Golden inscriptions constantly appeared on the pitch dark Far-ancient Moral Stele. Closely after that, those golden inscriptions directly jumped out of the stele like spiritual living beings. As those inscriptions fell off, the strikes from earth element, water element, wind element and fire element in the semi-sage realm became irresistible.
The moment the inscriptions that mercy was the heart of universal laws like the earth which could carry everything fell off, all the earth element in the elements realm became berserk. Within the semi-sage realm, numerous spikes rushed as high as 1,000 m from the earth, causing the immortal beast to badly mutate; at the same time, the earth under the bloody sea also fluctuated like a see-saw. When the bloody water arrived, Meng Shidao covered them with earth and engulfed the greater half of the berserk bloody billows at once…
The moment the inscriptions that virtue was the body of universal laws and the greatest virtue was like water which would lubricate the lower reach in a tender way fell off, all the water element in the elements realm resonated and became berserk at the same time. Within the semi-sage realm, resplendent water fell off the sky. The moment they touched the earth, they had cut through everything like ice blades. Even the rolling bloody sea was frozen. Additionally, the immortal beast was covered with white frost…
The moment the inscriptions that etiquette was the tool of universal laws fell off and the greatest etiquette was as genial and warm as wind fell off, all the wind element in the elements realm resonated and became berserk. Within the semi-sage realm, the breeze came into being. Being blown by the breeze, the rolling bloody sea became calm and crystal in a split second. Being affected by the breeze, the berserk immortal beast's shell and muscles started to degenerate and collapse in large areas like rocks that have been weathered for tens of thousands of years.
The moment the inscriptions that righteousness was the driving force of universal laws like flames that lit up the darkness, all the fire element in the elements realm resonated and became berserk. Within the semi-sage realm, the bloody sea caught fire and disappeared through evaporation like being in a furnace that was used to refine steel. Additionally, the roaring immortal beast's skin and flesh cracked while the rim of its body started to be carbonized…
Before such a deadly kill action which could match the anger of the natural disaster, any ordinary knights in this semi-sage realm would be burned into scums in the blink of an eye. However, the immortal beast incarnated by Han Zhengfang was still as tenacious as before. The shell on the back of the immortal beast was like a huge shield which blocked the greater part of the fatal strikes.
However, this semi-sage realm belonged to Meng Shidao, which contained the universal laws that Meng Shidao had comprehended and was sticking to and the terrifying killing intent that Meng Shidao had integrated with the heavens. In this semi-sage realm, Meng Shidao was almost like a deity. That was the terror of the personal realm.
Meng Shidao had not reached sage level yet; even being a semi-sage, he was also irresistible for Han Zhengfang who was just a heavenly knight.
Han Zhengfang knew that he didn't have too much time left. In the past 1 hour, Meng Shidao's semi-sage realm had shattered all the fluke minds of Han Zhengfang. Meng Shidao was not a new semi-sage knight; instead, he had already completely consolidated his rank as a semi-sage knight. Additionally, his semi-sage realm had already started to display the power of the 4 changing elements.
'I could not resist the semi-sage realm of Meng Shidao based on my current battle strength.' Han Zhengfang was clear about his current situation based on his rich experience. Even gecko could break its tail at the critical moment, Han Zhengfang determined his mind almost soon after he abandoned all of his fluke minds.
A scorching bloody sun immediately rose up from the back of the immortal beast while giving out shiny brilliance, causing Meng Shidao's semi-sage realm to be as red as sunglow.
Soon after Zhang Tie arrived above Sincerity Garden, he had caught sight of such an abnormal phenomenon——The grey mist covering Sincerity Garden immediately turned red as if it was burning inside. Zhang Tie saw through it using his lotus-flower eyes at once.
Under his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie saw the semi-sage realm of Meng Shidao in a bizarre visual angle. On the back of the grey mist, there seemed to be a window that led to another world, which covered about 30,000 square miles. In that virtual world, Meng Shidao was floating in the sky while lifting the Far-ancient Moral Stele. A bloody hot sun was rising up from the shell of the immortal beast while giving out resplendent light, causing Zhang Tie giddy.
Zhang Tie didn't know this grey mist was semi-sage realm. In reality, it was like a wholly new grey misty space in the Sincerity Garden. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie had to change his conception about time, space, size, false or real out of shock. He had not imagined that a fight between a heavenly knight and a semi-sage knight could be so massive. They could fight using their virtual immortal beasts; additionally, the battle could cover 30,000 square miles. Such a scene brought Zhang Tie an unprecedented shock.
Zhang Tie knew that this was a fight between top knights in this age. It was really a worthy travel here as he could witness such a ferocious fight as an earth knight, not to mention others.
Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes in case that he missed any details of the fight.
When the bloody hot sun rose up in the semi-sage realm, the entire semi-sage realm was filled with berserk fire element in the blink of an eye. These berserk fire element even disrupted the balance between 4 elements in the semi-sage realm, causing the elements in this realm to be disordered. As a result, Meng Shidao's striking rhythm was broken at once.
Meng Shidao suddenly stopped as he looked extremely solemn.
The bloody sun grew increasingly larger with an extremely strong energy wave that could even match that of sage-level knights. During the process, all the strikes against Han Zhengfang in the semi-sage realm would be completely devoured by this bloody sun and could not hurt Han Zhengfang at all.
Meng Shidao had experienced such a scene when he just formed his fire chakra and promoted to a semi-sage knight. When commoners promoted to knights, they could be regarded as becoming Hua dragons; when knights promoted to semi-sage knights, they could be regarded as phoenixes that gained their new birth in the fire. After promoting to a semi-sage knight, one would be utterly different than heavenly knights and all the other knights below heavenly knights as he had entered the threshold of sage level.
This pass was called nirvana in holy fire, which was the ultimate target of many knights. The nirvana in holy fire indicated that one had completely formed his fire chakra, the last chakra of the 4 elements chakras. After forming his own fire chakra, one would be able to control all the 4 elements in the world freely. He could directly explore and get hang of the ultimate secret in the universal laws, which was the strength of realm, time and space. The knight who dominated the strength of realm was a semi-sage knight.
In the process of nirvana in holy fire, the holy fire that carried the strength of universal laws could eliminate all the strikes and harms invisibly. This was the most powerful moment of a knight, when he would still be safe and sound even facing the strikes of a sage knight.
Meng Shidao knew that Han Zhengfang didn't promote to semi-sage level from a heavenly knight all of a sudden; because fire chakra could not be formed in a short period. If Han Zhengfang was able to do that, he would never promote to a semi-sage knight at this critical moment. Han Zhengfang was definitely promoting his cultivation base to a higher realm using a secret method like how low-level fighters grew berserk after taking something. The real nirvana in the holy fire would never be such berserk, which meant that Han Zhengfang's fire chakra was in an extremely volatile and fragile state.
The nirvana in holy fire diffused in the semi-sage realm in terms of a fiery sun. Closely after that, Han Zhengfang's battle qi grew two times more berserk than before as if he was wrapped by immaterial flames that appeared out of the void. Standing still in the sky, he gave out an unrivaled qi, which was even greater than that of Meng Shidao.
"What a secret method of Bloody Soul Temple! It could promote a heavenly knight to a semi-sage knight in an emergency. I've not seen that. I think such a secret method should come from the Bloody Soul Sutra in your temple…" Meng Shidao still looked as calm as before although he was fighting Han Zhengfang at the risk of his life. He still sincerely praised Han Zhengfang's secret method.
Han Zhengfang firmly gazed at Meng Shidao with his bloody eyes as his qi grew increasingly berserk and more dangerous as if a burning powder keg. He replied, "This is the unique secret method of Bloody Soul Sutra…"
"It's a bit pitiful for you to cause troubles to humans rather than resisting demons with this secret method…" Meng Shidao shook his head.
"That's the right place!" Han Zhengfang roared as his qi reached its climax. Closely after that, he flashed away. In a split second, he had already arrived at Meng Shidao's side as he punched towards Meng Shidao.
This punch was as powerful as that of a semi-sage knight. Closely after this punch, Meng Shidao's semi-sage realm had started to quiver like waves while a burning bloody qi filled the entire semi-sage space…
…
After the grey mist over Sincerity Garden turned bloody for less than 10 minutes, a loud boom drifted from that mist. At the same time, that grey mist was torn apart into pieces while a curl of after wind spurted out of the mist and lay flat hundreds of buildings and courtyards within 1,000 m. The Sincerity Garden which once contained the truth of universal laws disappeared in a split second in terms of shadowy powders through evaporation, leaving no trace at all.
Almost at the same time, a bloody figure rushed out of the broken grey mist…
Chapter 1167: Chasing After the Target
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
The commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards had long been waiting outside the Sincerity Garden for the possible fight with a fiery killing intent. At the sight of the bloody figure breaking out of the grey mist, he immediately sprung up as he slashed his huge saber towards that figure in an overwhelming manner, causing a crescent in the air.
The huge saber was a silver secret item which carried a special ability. It could not be matched by ordinary swords and sabers. Before that crescent arrived at that bloody figure, it had split in two. As a result, its force of attack grew by two times in a split second…
"Go die…" The commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards roared which could be heard dozens of miles away like a muffled thunder as his eyes sparkled like stars.
That bloody figure was Han Zhengfang. A few days ago, the commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards was drinking and discussing with him about political affairs; however, at this moment, they had already become enemies instead of friends. Therefore, the commander-in-chief just launched an attack mercilessly.
Han Zhengfang threw a glance at the commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards with his bloody eyes as he punched the latter, ignoring the strike of the huge saber.
The double crescent saber qi hit Han Zhengfang, splitting him into 9 bloody humanoid mist. The 9 bloody humanoid mist darted towards 9 directions like sharp arrows as fast as lightning bolts. They had reached over 1,000 m away in a second. By contrast, the commander-in-chief of imperial guards spurted out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying a few miles away by Han Zhengfang's punch like a meteor. Not until he damaged many buildings did he finally stop.
With bloody stains at his mouth corners, Meng Shidao strode out of the diffusing grey mist by one step with a solemn look. After glancing around those bloody humanoid mist that was darting in 9 directions, he immediately punched towards a bloody humanoid mist which had reached 3,000 m away. The bloody humanoid mist jumped once; however, it still failed to dodge away from the terrifying power of the purple impact wave of Meng Shidao's punch. In a split second, the bloody humanoid mist twisted and exploded, spraying blood over the sky.
One of the 9 bloody humanoid mist was solved by Meng Shidao in a split second. All the other 8 bloody humanoid mist accelerated once again and reached another 2,000 m away in the blink of an eye. Meng Shidao threw a glance at them before chasing after a bloody humanoid mist in the northeast direction.
Even Meng Shidao could not move much faster than those bloody humanoid mist. Therefore, he could only choose one target.
Suddenly an azure sword qi rushed into the sky from 10,000 away from Sincerity Garden, involving a bloody humanoid mist into the sword qi…
Half an hour later, that sword qi being over 10,000 m away from Sincerity Garden shattered that bloody humanoid mist. Closely after that, being wrapped by the sword light, a woman darted towards the ruined Sincerity Garden at a super high speed.
This woman had a plump figure with a longsword in hand. Given her look, she was about 40-50 years old. Her delicate oval face looked still enchanting. With a fan-shaped bun, she looked pretty imposing. The class I uniform of foreign minister fit the woman's imposing manner pretty well.
This woman was one of top 9 ministers in Taixia Country.
Nothing was left in the former Sincerity Garden, even a grass. It was covered with pits while the earth had become semi-ceramic after being baked in high temperature like the surface of the moon…
'Is this the power of realm?'
Watching this miserable scene in the Sincerity Garden, the foreign minister thought inside.
At this moment, she heard a sonic boom while Meng Shidao had appeared outside the former Sincerity Garden.
Watching the ruins, Meng Shidao let out a long sigh.
"Master of Crown Prince!" The foreign minister of Taixia Country lowered her head towards Meng Shidao as she put away her longsword.
"Minister An…" Meng Shidao nodded politely too. Meng Shidao was not amazed by the appearance of this woman at this place. The entire emperor's imperial city was in great chaos tonight; the 9 ministers had been called into the imperial palace for the sake of the hinterland of Taixia Country. Only the foreign minister who was responsible for diplomacy shouldered responsibility tonight and could be assigned by the crown prince to investigate the situation here or assist the Supreme Court to arrest Han Zhengfang. "How about your wounds?"
"Severe wounds; but I could still survive. What about Han Zhengfang…"
After hearing foreign minister's question, Meng Shidao looked up at the sky above Sincerity Garden while a bizarre light flashed by his eyes. After being silent for a couple of seconds, he told the foreign minister, "There are too many doubts about what happened tonight. Han Zhengfang has long promoted to a heavenly knight; however, he was always hiding his battle strength; his secret method of Bloody Soul Temple was too weird and unpredictable. I failed to prevent him from leaving; however, he should have been severely injured. Let's talk about it in the imperial palace in front of the crown prince…"
The chaos in Xuanyuan Hill had not been appeased; however, it was almost under control; additionally, the elites of the top 4 armies would soon arrive at Xuanyuan Hill. The remaining fish of Heavens Reaching Church couldn't make great trouble anymore. The chaos outside Xuanyuan Hill was just a piece of cake in Meng Shidao's eyes. Therefore, he just ignored it. Even though the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill could be easily appeased, the entire Taixia Country would never be in peace from tonight on.
The master of Heavens Reaching Church became the finance minister of Taixia Country. How many arrangements had Han Zhengfang made in the position of a finance minister over these years? This question made people feel cold.
'The chaos in Xuanyuan Hill tonight was preset. Who directed all this using those swans? How could I be involved in it? Is that someone on the back of the top 6 sects joking Xuanyuan Hill or it's demon's plot after they made full use of Han Zhengfang, or…'
Meng Shidao looked terrifyingly gloomy while being sad and thoughtful on the way towards the imperial palace…
The image of a big cat suddenly flashed by Meng Shidao's mind as he finally stopped thinking about that…
…
At this moment, Zhang Tie was flying at 4 times the speed of sound.
The marvelous changes in Sincerity Garden made Zhang Tie yell inside; especially in the last few minutes, the fight between Han Zhengfang and Meng Shidao benefited Zhang Tie for the rest of his life as it was the first time for him to witness such a fight between top knights.
Zhang Tie witnessed how Han Zhengfang broke through Sincerity Garden.
After Han Zhengfang broke out of the grey mist, he suddenly split into 9 bloody humanoid mist. One of them was killed by Meng Shidao immediately; another one was blocked by a sword qi from the emperor's imperial city; besides, Meng Shidao chased after another one out of the emperor's imperial city and killed it, leaving 6. Zhang Tie targeted on one of the last 6 bloody humanoid figures. Since the 9 bloody humanoid mist came into being, Zhang Tie had been keeping a close watch on one of them.
Given their looks, all the bloody humanoid mist looked same. They even had the same battle strength and flying speed; however, under his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could clearly see that one of the 9 bloody humanoid mist was evidently different than the other 8. The bloody runes floating in this one's qi sea, breast and mind sea respectively were utterly different than that in the bodies of the other 8 bloody humanoid figures. Therefore, Zhang Tie kept a close watch on this one.
The bloody humanoid mist flew at a high speed. The moment he exited Xuanyuan Hill, its speed had already reached over 4 times that of the speed of sound. This speed could never be reached by a shadow knight. Ordinary knights couldn't block him at all as it moved too fast. Before some knights outside Xuanyuan Hill realized what happened, this bloody humanoid mist had already flashed far away in a split second, sparing no chance for them to catch up with him.
If not grasp the secret method of flying as a divine dominator, Zhang Tie could only stand aside and watch him escape away in vain at this moment too.
Zhang Tie targeted that bloody humanoid mist by his lotus-flower eyes and kept a distance of about 20 miles away from that bloody humanoid mist.
When he flew using the ability of divine dominator, he didn't give out any light. Therefore, nobody would pay attention to him no matter how fast he moved. It was utterly different than flying relying on the gravity caused by rotating chakras. As for the latter pattern, as long as he reached a certain high speed, he would become as eye-catching as a meteor in the evening. In that case, he would expose himself to the public. However, Zhang Tie didn't face such a problem now. Additionally, with the effect of the master-level immortal hiding rune, Zhang Tie could barely expose himself to Han Zhengfang with such a distance in between. Even sonic booms would be lagged far behind Zhang Tie. Sonic booms could only spread about a couple of miles in the air. Given the safe distance between Zhang Tie and that bloody humanoid mist, the latter could never hear any sound behind him no matter how sensitive his ears were.
That bloody humanoid mist also hid its battle qi light in flight. Additionally, although being a bloody mist, it could not be seen at all. Even a person with night viewing ability could encounter it in the sky, he could barely trace it with his eye light as it moved faster than 4 times that of the speed of sound.
Only after about 1 hour, the bloody humanoid mist had already been almost 2,300 miles away from Xuanyuan Hill and entered a wild and dangerous mountain wood.
It was barren under his foot. Although being at a high altitude, Zhang Tie could still sniff the stimulative smell of sulfur. The earth was covered with rising vapor and smoke that was blowing out of the underground space. The visibility was only hundreds of meters. In the looming mist and smoke, dull red magma was constantly spurting out of the crater like boiling water that flew out of the pot. The bloody humanoid mist directly entered the crater…
Chapter 1168: Canglan Palace
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
When the bloody humanoid mist was 330-400 miles away from this barren and dangerous volcanic area, it could almost not bear it physically under the gaze of Zhang Tie. As a result, it gradually reduced its speed from 4 times that of the speed of sound to same as that of the speed of sound…
When the bloody humanoid mist reduced its speed to less than 200 m per second, Zhang Tie even saw it dropping off 100 m in a split second like a drunk man in the evening who fell off a pit. Closely after that, it became spirited and continued to fly towards the crater…
At this moment, the bloody humanoid mist gradually diffused, revealing the real human body.
It was Han Zhengfang. Zhang Tie knew that he had made a correct choice this time. Among the 9 bloody humanoid mist, only this one was real; all the others were just used to fool the public and create chaos. However, those substitutes were indeed very powerful, who could fly even faster than real shadow knights. Additionally, their battle strength could match that of real shadow knights in a short period. How unfathomable was the secret method of Bloody Soul Temple!
Tonight, Zhang Tie saw this remnant of Bloody Soul Temple also the master of Heavens Reaching Church breaking out of Xuanyuan Hill alone. If not given the stance, Zhang Tie really admired Han Zhengfang. A person who could conceal his real identity in the hinterland of Taixia Country for so many years as one of the 9 ministers was really talented.
When the former finance minister of Taixia Country revealed his original body, he was naked all over like a roasted duck that was taken out of the oven. His skin all over was crimson, which gradually turned a bit normal in a few minutes. Being dozens of miles away, Han Zhengfang's skin looked pretty white as if he had not basked in the sun for dozens of years. According to the saying in Waii Subcontinent or Western Continent, only vampire's skin could be that white…
Han Zhengfang was very meticulous. After coming to the crater, he didn't enter it immediately; instead, he flew around the crater slowly for a short while as a rest; meanwhile, he took a vial of medicament. After confirming that he was not followed up, he flashed into the magma at the fastest speed.
Zhang Tie just watched him from afar; instead of rushing over there at once.
With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see clearly Han Zhengfang's movements in magma. The entire volcano and magma inside it were transparent with different color temperatures in Zhang Tie's eyes. Of course, Han Zhengfang's temperature was different than that of magma. Therefore, he was very eye-catching even in magma. Zhang Tie blinked his eyes twice and filtered the color temperatures of magma and underground rocks; closely after that, Han Zhengfang became as clear as a person in a crystal swimming pool in Zhang Tie's eyes.
The crater was like a rugged and vast deep well being filled with scorching magma. After deepening over 800 m underground, it was connected with a magma vein, from where magma flew out naturally under the great pressure of the underground space. That magma vein led to the deep underground space…
Han Zhengfang didn't stop until he reached about 5,000 m underground. He hid in somewhere. It seemed that Han Zhengfang had set a specially hidden residence for himself over there. There was something special inside that residence. After Han Zhengfang entered that place, he immediately lay in a huge coffin naked before covering the coffin with a lid from inside.
After Han Zhengfang lay in the coffin for about 5 minutes, Zhang Tie appeared above the crater silently in his Chaos.
Zhang Tie in Chaos was isolated from the stimulative sulfuric smoke that rose from the crater by his protective battle qi. The scarlet and scorching magma was gurgling out of the crater. The volcano reminded Zhang Tie of the pimples on the faces of those horny teenagers in the No. 7 male middle school in Blackhot City. According to the explanation of the church of patron, all the volcanoes were the pimples on the face of Gaya, the mother of the earth.
Nobody knew how long had this volcano maintained such a state. It might not erupt on a large scale anymore. Therefore, Han Zhengfang built his shelter inside it. Additionally, thousands of square miles around here was covered with magma that gurgled out of the underground space. It was fatal everywhere on the earth. Additionally, there were faint toxins in the air. Nobody could be seen here.
Commoners would never come here. Those below earth knights could not stay in magma for a long time. Even ordinary earth knights could not bear too long in magma. Han Zhengfang built his shelter here in case of being discovered by others. No earth knight or shadow knight across Taixia Country would like to soak in magma in the wild and especially dream about discovering backrooms in the magma.
With the protection of his protective battle qi, Zhang Tie entered the magma inside the crater at once. Even at this moment, he still kept his immortal hiding rune effective as he swam towards Han Zhengfang's shelter meticulously.
Magma and water had different densities. However, it didn't affect Zhang Tie's moving speed at all. He just moved like how he did in the water. Being protected by his protective battle qi and Chaos, Zhang Tie almost could not sense the high temperature of the magma. It only took him less than 5 minutes to reach 5,000 m in depth outside the entrance of Han Zhengfang's shelter.
The entrance of Han Zhengfang's shelter was a huge granite which weighed over 10 tons soaking in the magma, which was covered with metal granules.
This huge granite being soaked in the magma had already turned crimson like firebricks in the brickkiln.
There was a small magma vein like a root of a huge tree at this place. It flew far away. There were also many rocks and bulges around the huge granite, large or small. Actually, the same scene spread over the entire magma sea. Nobody could imagine that there was a hidden space behind this huge granite.
'I'm afraid that Han Zhengfang couldn't see anything in the magma at all. He just fumbled all the way here through his memory. The other knights would be blind here except for being able to sense something besides themselves.'
Zhang Tie hugged this huge granite and easily pushed it aside, revealing a cave that led upwards. Zhang Tie flashed in the cave before pushing the huge granite back.
Only after floating up less than 20 m, Zhang Tie had already exposed his body out of the magma.
Two icy blue beads were inlaid in the cliff above the magma. Zhang Tie was curious about the two special beads. He could sense a bizarre force field around the two beads. Like water-driving beads that he had ever heard, the two icy blue beads could press down the magma that intended to spill out of the cave. When Zhang Tie passed that force field, he felt like passing a cold veil.
The two beads were absolute treasures. However, Zhang Tie didn't touch them; instead, he started to glance around this place seriously. When he was at the edge of the crater just now, he kept his close watch on Han Yuanhong. All the lifeless things which Han Yuanhong had were just color temperatures in Zhang Tie's lotus-flower eyes. When he arrived here, he had an utterly different feeling.
This place was absolutely like an underground mini-palace. The magma below it was like the moat of this mini-palace. Zhang Tie was now in a fountain-like magma pool outside the gate of this mini-palace.
There was no guard outside the gate. It was just a closed metal gate. The dozens of steps from the magma pool to the gate were made of top-quality class 9 crystals, each of which would be worth above hundreds of thousands of gold coins. However, they were used for paving here. How luxurious it was!
There were some specific underground plants on both sides of the steps. These plants didn't need sunshine. Only with proper temperature could they provide fresh air for this place. Therefore, it was not suffocating here although being in the underground.
Zhang Tie walked out of the magma and stepped onto the crystal steps by foot quietly.
There were 6 words on the top of the metal gate——Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple.
'It turns out to be built by Bloody Soul Temple. When they built this palace, Bloody Soul Temple might not have been exterminated yet. This secret base was a small act of Bloody Soul Temple under the eyes of Emperor Xuanyuan. However, nobody could discover it.' Zhang Tie admired the means of Bloody Soul Temple very much.