Castle of Black Iron

The alleged No. 1 knight was similar to a nationwide employed knight. The only difference was that nationwide employed knights served a nation or royals while employed knights served clans that had not established countries. If demons completely occupied Blackson Humans Corridor in the future, Senel Clan might be rewarded with a nation. If so, that knight employed by Senel Clan might be the No. 1 knight of their nation or a corps leader.

Any knight would be at least a corps leader in Blackson Humans Corridor if they took an office in the army. However, there were many human countries in Blackson Humans Corridor, none of their armies contained more than 400,000 soldiers. None of the countries were able to establish and sustain the needs of a corps. Therefore, if one country could have one knight on their side, even if the knight could not take the office as a corps leader, he would become the alleged No. 1 knight of the country.

The No. 1 knight of a country was like a lifetime marshal, which was the supreme battle force of a country. Countries with one No. 1 knight would be much more powerful than those without and weaker than those countries which could establish corps. These countries were the pillar ones with the greatest battle forces in Blackson Humans Corridor.

The Symbian Republic and Raymlan Empire were both such countries. However, the No. 1 knight of Symbian Republic sacrificed himself outside Mocco City while the No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire was standing in front of Zhang Tie.

Some countries and powers had hundreds of thousands of soldiers; however, they still could not attract knights to serve them. Over 70% of the human countries in Blackson Humans Corridor were like this, such as the former Andaman Alliance, the current Free Commercial Federation, Cross Star Commercial Federation, Holland Republic, Titanic Duchy and that Holy Golden Orchid Empire, etc..

Countries like Norman Empire and Jinyun Country which could establish corps all ranked first in Blackson Humans Corridor, especially Hua countries like Jinyun Country. In Jinyun Country, all the major Hua clans could cultivate knights. The number of knights in the major Hua clans in Jinyun Country also ranked first across Blackson Humans Corridor. The mighty Jinyun Country was also a powerful epitome of Hua people in this age.

Zhang Tie had not imagined that the No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire could block his way.

Given the knight’s sword qi, Zhang Tie knew that he was not weak. Such a sword qi could exterminate anyone below ”knight” from 200 m away. However, for Zhang Tie, it was just not bad. Compared to the demon knight that Zhang Tie had just killed, this one might even be weaker.

After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie’s perception also rose to the level of knights. He started to treat everything with the insight and mentality of knights.

Although Zhang Tie was flying at the speed of about 200 m per second, at the sight of the sword qi crossing his way, Zhang Tie stopped instantly. He transiently completed his conversion between extreme high-speed movement and extreme static.

Seeing how Zhang Tie stopped, that knight called Jaray frowned as he made his decision to kill Zhang Tie...

Zhang Tie’s extremely young look made Jaray more alert.

Besides being taller and stronger, Zhang Tie’s look remained unchanged. He was still as same as that at the age of 16 in Blackhot City. Those who were familiar with Zhang Tie wouldn’t feel that Zhang Tie’s look was special. However, in the eyes of Jaray, Zhang Tie looked extremely ”monstrous”, ’A 16-year old knight? No way!’

Therefore, Jaray was sure that this unidentified knight had hidden his true look purposefully. ’It’s already evil for such a powerful knight to disguise himself as a Hua man; additionally, he wants to raid the capital of Raymlan Kingdom. It will be more dangerous.’

If such a powerful knight was allowed in the capital of Raymlan Empire, it would be a real catastrophe.

Similar events once happened in former holy wars. This also indicated the terror of knights. Nothing else could stop a knight except knights.

Right then, the royals in Saint Maner City, the capital of Raymlan Empire had already started the evacuation procedures. All the royal members were in an emergency evacuation...

...

”What do you want?” Zhang Tie muffled his voice unpleasantly when he was blocked by someone forcefully.

”Your Excellency, although Raymlan Empire is a small country, you’re still not allowed to enter Saint Maner City, the capital of Raymlan Empire unless you step on my corpse...” Jaray said solemnly as he put his long sword horizontally. Meanwhile, his cyan battle-qi totem rushed to the sky.

Closely after that, all the battle airships behind him started to change their formation as if they had already received the signal to fight. The huge net gradually transformed into a huge ball. Having served in airship troop for a long time, of course, Zhang Tie knew what did the ball formation mean. It meant that the airships were going to collaborate with each other and fight him to death. So many battle airships in different sizes were going to fight a knight, what a tragic scene!

Honestly, if this knight Jaray said a jargon such as, ”This mountain belongs to me, this tree is planted by me; if you want to pass by, leave your money”, Zhang Tie would never feel strange. However, when Jaray thought that Zhang Tie was going to invade Saint Maner City, the capital of Raymlan Empire, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded and almost cried, ’What the hell! I’m just in a rush. How the hell can I be framed in this way?’

Now that it was a misunderstanding, Zhang Tie’s unpleasure faded away at once.

”Your Excellency, you must have misunderstood me. I’m just in a rush!” Zhang Tie explained calmly.

”Hahaha...” Jaray burst out into laughter before glaring at Zhang Tie, ”You’re in a rush? That’s the best joke that I’ve ever heard. As a knight, why do you fabricate such a laughingstock? You really think that nobody in Raymlan Empire could stop you? 2 hours ago, you flew over Kalay Mountain Range and Barlin City before flying 1,000 miles towards Saint Maner City in such an aggressive way. You call it ”in a rush”? It was Goddess Lake behind Saint Maner City which lasts 2,000 miles. You tell me you’re going to fly over 3,000 miles only ”in a rush?” I’ve never heard that any knight across Blackson Humans Corridor could fly over 2,000 miles without a stop. You flew over 1,000 miles in only 2 hours towards Saint Maner City, dare you say it is not a raid?”

After hearing Jaray’s words, Zhang Tie became stunned as he instantly found the problem, ’Erm...erm...can’t all knights fly forever? I didn’t find any problem in the flight yet. It’s so easy. According to Jaray, it’s uneasy for a knight to fly over 1,000 miles. I just flew at a normal speed, why did it become aggressive in others’ eyes? Why do they think I am targeting Saint Maner City?’

’Does it mean that other knights could not have such a great flight performance? Saint Maner City is a major air traffic hub in the south of Blackson Humans Corridor which is closest to Kalay Mountain Range. Therefore, my flight route aroused their misunderstanding.’

Zhang Tie realized that he had made a low-end mistake. As he had just promoted to a knight, he thought all the knights could have such a great flight performance. Therefore, he just flew wherever he wanted.

Zhang Tie almost forgot that he was cultivating an emperor-level secret knowledge, the ”King Roc Sutra” that nobody else had cultivated in this world.

In the world, there were totally 2 emperor-level secret books, ”Xuanyuan God Sutra”, which was cultivated by Xuanyuan Emperor’s clan members in Taixia Country. As to ”King Roc Sutra”, Zhang Tie was the only one who reached above LV 11.

’After returning to Huaiyuan Palace, I have to report to the elders that I’ve promoted to a knight. Additionally, after promoting to a knight, I became more confident to return to Huaiyuan Palace. I could face the elders frankly. However, if the secret that I am cultivating ”King Roc Sutra” is exposed to the public, it will arouse an earthquake.

In a split second, various whims occurred to Zhang Tie’s mind, ’It seems that I have to give up the mind to fly towards Huaiyuan palace in case of arousing the attention of the public. If I just flew over 10,000 miles back to Huaiyuan Palace arrogantly, I might never live a peaceful life in the future.’

Seeing Zhang Tie being silent, Jaray confirmed his hypothesis. Watching Zhang Tie’s young face, Jaray sneered, ”Now that we’re going to fight, why not show your real look. It’s heard that the Three-eye Association also have some powerful knights. If you still hide your real look at this moment, it would ruin your dignity as a powerhouse. You’re really whimsy, how can you disguise as a young man.”

Being wordless, Zhang Tie just rubbed his face, ’When I disguised as others, nobody had ever identified my real look; however, when I’m showing my real look, nobody believes in me. How dramatic!’

Zhang Tie sighed as he watched the No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire calmly, ”Your Excellency, you must have misunderstood me. I’m Zhang Tie. I’m in my real look. I’m from Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun Country. I want to go back to Huaiyuan Palace by the airship in Saint Maner City!”

After hearing Zhang Tie’s reply, Jaray became stunned as it was completely out of his imagination.

In a split second, Jaray recovered his composure as he burst out into laughter, ”Is there any young elder like you in Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun Country? Now that you’re a human knight, please show me your knight plate.”

”What is a Knight plate?” Zhang Tie became amazed.

”You’re really good at disguising!” Jaray sneered, ”Now that you’re a knight from Huaiyuan Palace, don’t tell me that you’ve not been to the Mountain of Brightness.”

Having just promoted to a knight, Zhang Tie knew nothing about the world of knights. He didn’t know anything about the Mountain of Brightness and knight plate.

”I’ve just promoted to a knight and I’m about to rush back to Zhang Clan. I’m not an elder of Huaiyuan Palace yet. Therefore, I don’t have a knight plate!”

Watching Zhang Tie’s calm look and hearing his stable reply, Jaray became dubious...

’If Zhang Tie was really a knight on the side of Three-eye Association or demon, he should have started the fight as soon as possible. He doesn’t need to waste time with me here. The longer he stays here, the more disadvantageous it would be for him and the more possible that he might be caught up by other human knights behind him. As a result, he might finally be surrounded in Saint Maner City. I’d also talk with him so as to prolong time. After a few more hours, one of my friends would arrive.’

Jaray gazed at Zhang Tie with an experienced vicious look as he suddenly asked, ”Now that you want to go to Saint Maner City, do you mind us giving you a favor by an airship? In Hua language, Raymlan Empire should show the rite to you as the host.”

Zhang Tie replied with a faint smile as he got Jaray’s intention. ’Now that we’re not enemy, I want to ask this human knight some questions by this chance in case of loopholes.’

”Alright. I wonder which is your flagship airship, Your Excellency. After traveling so long, I’m a bit tired. I also want to take a rest!” Zhang Tie replied frankly.

Jaray threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie. Although he was still alert about Zhang Tie, he had already put away his battle-qi totem.

”Come with me!”

Saying this, Jaray flew towards the airship troop in the distance at the speed of about 100 m per second.

Zhang Tie just kept about 100 m away from Jaray.

As Jaray flew, he kept noticing Zhang Tie. After finding that Zhang Tie was still not anxious, Jaray doubted, ’Is he a real knight of Huaiyuan Palace? But he’s too young. I’ve not heard about such a young knight in Huaiyuan Palace these couple of years. It’s heard that Lan Yunxi, the princess of Huaiyuan Palace is just LV 12. She’s even served in Selnes Theater of Operations as the commander of the airship troop of Jinyun Country. Zhang Tie, hmm, I remembered that someone had mentioned about this name before...’

”Your Excellency, do you know Lan Yunxi?” Jaray asked tentatively.

Zhang Tie became stunned as he had not imagined that Jaray also knew about Lan Yunxi, ”She’s my elder sister!”

’——and my reserved wife.’ Zhang Tie didn’t pour out the latter half.

”You know each other?”

”Very familiar!”

...

Watching Jaray and Zhang Tie flew towards them, one after another, the airship troop of Raymlan Empire didn’t open fire towards Zhang Tie——of course, even if they opened fire, their strike would almost be ignored by Zhang Tie. The steam bolts on the airship could never break knight’s protective battle qi at all. Among all the steam weapons, only large-scale city-defense steam weapons such as steam centrifugal shells could pose a bit threat to the knight.

Zhang Tie was directly led to a deck of a huge fury-level airship. Due to his great battle force, Zhang Tie was very confident. He didn’t worry that these people of Raymlan Empire could play any trick in front of him.

The moment the two knights landed on the deck, some commissioned officers had rushed out.

At the sight of Zhang Tie, one commissioned officer of Raymlan Empire widely opened his eyes, ”Ahh? Your Excellency Zhang Tie?”

The moment that commissioned officer uttered had Zhang Tie became stunned. So did Jaray and the other commissioned officers in the surroundings. They all gazed at that young commissioned officer with a strange look.

”You know me?” Zhang Tie asked as he pointed at his nose.

After drawing in a deep breath, that commissioned officer explained, ”When in Mocco City, after the failed bomb attempts of Three-eye Association towards you, I saw you wander around the city with a carriage of wing demons’ heads. I remember that the entire depressive Mocco City had been boiling that day. Later on, when I led the airship relief team of Raymlan Empire to Selnes Theater of Operations, we encountered the ambush of wing demons. At the critical moment, Your Excellency appeared by a unique Wind Talker glider and cleaned all the wing demons. I was in the airship at that moment. Before leaving, Your Excellency even waved the wings of the glider. It’s deeply imprinted in my mind from then on. Your Excellency might have forgotten about what you did in Selnes Theater of Operations, but my brothers and I would never forget about that. Later on, you were framed by those b*stards of Three-eye Association. They said you had surrendered to demons after being captured. However, none of the brothers who had served the airship troops and glider troops believed that. None of those who had seen you wander in the streets with a carriage of wing demons’ heads, who had fought together with you, who had seen the wrecked glider which could never fly off would believe that the Selnes Eagle who had safeguarded the entire air territory of Selnes Theater of Operations could be conquered by the mean conspiracy of Three-eye Association by lowering your arrogant head to demons and Three-eye Association.”

After hearing this commissioned officer, Zhang Tie almost dropped his tears. All the other commissioned officer and Jaray were deeply moved. Even the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations had been broken by demons, the Selnes Eagle who once hovered above the entire Selnes Theater of Operations was still an immortal legend in the human airship troops across Blackson Humans Corridor and the pride of all human soldiers who could drive gliders.

After saying these words, that commissioned officer stood at attention and made a salute to Zhang Tie solemnly, ”Your Excellency, welcome to visit Goddess Lake, the flagship of the royal airship troop of Raymlan Empire...”

Zhang Tie also made a solemn salute to this commissioned officer without saying anything...

Jaray scanned the faces of Zhang Tie and that commissioned officer before bursting out into laughter...

”Distribute my order, cancel off the warning. Return to Saint Maner City...”