Castle of Black Iron

The deep and serene valley was covered with fungi which were adapted to darkness. All the fungi were higher than 2 m like huge, open umbrellas, few of them could reach 3-4 m in height in the shape of pavilions. At the first blush, the entire valley was like an exotic children’s playground...

Water flew out of the cliffs on both sides of the valley. In the Earth-elements Realm, as long as there were underground plants, there would be full of vitality.

This was the ideal place for the teams of human knights to take a rest.

All the members of the team led by the white-eyebrow elder were from Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace, Taixia Country. The white-eyebrow elder’s name was Zhang Anguo; he’s the grand elder of the House of Elders in Tianlu Palace. The word ” An 1 ” was exclusive to the knights of Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace like the word ”Mu” in Huaiyuan Palace.

Given the point that the Tianlu Palace could dispatch one grand elder and nine knights for an action in Earth-elements Realm, Zhang Tie sighed with emotions about the sharp difference between Tianlu Palace and Huaiyuan Palace inside. He wondered when Huaiyuan Palace could reach the level of Tianlu Palace.

The knights under the leadership of Old Monster Qi also came from the Lion Fortress. Besides Old Monster Qi, the other black iron knights were all strange in the Lion Fortress. As there were too many human knights in the Lion Fortress with a great mobility, if not being a trump knight, black iron knights could barely have a great influence in the Lion Fortress.

The three teams of knights pitched their camps with a distance fewer than 7 miles from each other.

The team of Mountain Lifting Hermit directly pitched their camp on the thigh of a huge statue which was sitting up straight.

As it was about 400 m away from the ground, it was relatively cleaner and more refreshing. The two legs of the huge statue, after being put together, was as large as a square which could hold thousands of people at least. The valley was at the foot of this status, from where they could get food.

...

Zhang Tie also took out a simple foldable tent from his bag, which only weighed 2 or 3 kg and was as large as a hat after being folded. Zhang Tie found a proper place and threw the tent onto the ground. With a sound of ”bi”, it automatically turned into a camouflaging tent with a dome.

Such a simple, portable tent was only used for the waterproof purpose and prevent its owner from being exposed to the public when in sleep. It was just a bit confidential yet without any defensive power. As for knights, even though they slept in armored vehicles, their safety could still not be guaranteed. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn’t pose any requirement for the tent.

After fixing the four corners of the tent by hand using alloy steel nails, Gong Ziyao came to Zhang Tie’s front and said, ”Come on, let’s go find some food!”

”Where’s brother Zhou?”

”He went to find firewoods and water. After coming out for so many days, I’ve been so desiring about meat!”

Zhang Tie then picked himself up and called Filton. Filton hurriedly ran toward them.

”We’re going to find some food, will you come with us?”

After hearing that they were going to find food, Filton’s eyes gleamed at once as he licked his lips, ”The breadfruits and nutritious mushrooms in the Lion Fortress made me sick...”

Zhang Tie and Gong Ziyao burst out into laughter at the same time. After that, Filton told Cecilia about their plan before flying off the statue with Zhang Tie and Gong Ziyao.

As they would enter the magma sea in about 2 days, with the three earth knights on their side, they became relaxed at once...

...

With the perceptions and night-viewing ability of knights, the three people would soon find a prey among some fungi.

It was an animal as large as a dog. When Zhang Tie caught sight of it, it was eating a finger-nail sized termite at the root of a fungus. At the sight of it, Gong Ziyao took out a fluorite lamp with optical lens and irradiated it. The moment the animal saw the light, it became still at once like being affected by a magic. Closely after that, Gong Ziyao walked over there leisurely and killed it by pointing at its head before picking it up.

The entire process went very smoothly and easily.

”Brother Gong, what’s this?” Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.

”This animal is called underground pangolin. It’s very vigilant. The moment it catches sight of light, it will become still and relaxed. In this state, its flesh will be very tasty. If it were killed in vigilance in the dark out of fear, its body of gland would secrete an exotic substance to make its flesh sour and poisonous. If so, its flesh would be inedible!” Gong Ziyao explained.

In the next half an hour, the three people caught another underground pangolin in the same way. They even found some edible mushrooms. After cleaning them in a mountain spring, the three people took their food back to their camp.

The others had already set some bonfires and cooked their own food in the camp. Those withered fungi in the valley were good firewoods.

At this moment, proper rest and adjustment physically and spiritually were definitely necessary. Nobody knew what they would face in the hieron ruins in 2 days.

The group of 6 roasted two underground pangolins and boiled a pot of fungi soup, which were both tasty food at this moment.

Sitting around the bonfire, the group of 6 ate and chatted. Until they ate up all the food did they return to their own tents to rest.

As knights didn’t need to sleep for too long, they were actually cultivating and forming their chakras.

After entering his own tent, Zhang Tie closed the tent from inside and sat down with crossed legs before digesting the achievements of killing that demon knight a few days ago...

Just like what he achieved the first time, Zhang Tie became reassured, he ”saw” a lot of golden, pure earth elements rotating around his chakras like satellites on the tracks of a planet and waiting to be converted into his earth chakra...

This achievement was indeed fewer than the last time. However, he could light at least 4 scales.

Zhang Tie revealed a smile...

Being immersed in Zhang Tie’s spiritual energy, the geometrical patterns on the earth chakra of ”King Roc Sutra” were gradually lit...

...

As expected, in a few hours, four scales on Cui Li’s crystal plate were lit consecutively, turning the number of scales being lit into 40...

What an amazing speed!

Soon after he lit 4 dragons scales, Zhang Tie heard a muffled sound ”Emergency...” from outside...

All the team members woke up from their dreamlands or cultivation realms at the same time as they rushed out of their tents at the fastest speed...

In a place over 50 miles away, a knight’s battle qi luster faded away immediately...