Castle of Black Iron

Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province...

There was a faint white line in the skyline in the east. The Faerie-dragon Star in the east was radiating its brilliance before dawn. It was pretty tranquil over the land.

A 500-m longer grey airboat silently flew out of the stratosphere tens of thousands of meters high and entered the troposphere. The airboat darted towards the southeast of Longxi Prefecture like a sharp arrow and a fierce beast that was going to dive towards its prey after passing through the clouds.

An old man with silver hair was standing in the prow and watching the land in the distance with his hands crossed on his back in a black robe and Xiezhi-shaped crown. A team of knights from the court of Zhongzhou Province was standing still behind the old man with solemn looks for over 10 hours. As the old man remained silent, the prow of the airboat was silent too. They just watched the clouds being broken through and the land at their foot moving rapidly backward.

Zhongzhou Provincial Court was evidently much more powerful than other provinces, which could be judged from the team of knights at the prow.

As a lower province in Taixia Country, when Youzhou was established, Zhang Tie as a black iron knight could rule the court in Youzhou Province because there wasn’t any knight in the entire judicial system in Youzhou Province. By contrast, there were over 20 black iron knights in the court system of Zhongzhou Province. Additionally, the chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court was a famous earth knight.

Over 10 hours might be difficult for commoners to tide over; however, it was nothing serious for these knights who could cultivate 1-2 months per time.

They all remained silence; however, they all had questions inside. Because the knights in Zhongzhou court still didn’t know why the chief justice summoned them to travel 10,000 miles overnight by airboat. However, the chief justice always behaved rigorously with unpredictable thoughts. As they all knew that the chief justice was bad-tempered, they didn’t ask him about the reason at all. If the chief justice wanted to let them know, he would tell them; if not, of course, he had his reason.

At this moment, besides the chief justice, almost half of the knights on duty in Zhongzhou Provincial Court were in the prow. Besides, all the most elite subordinate forces of Zhongzhou Provincial Court, Bian Camp had sallied forth in full strength and gathered in the airboat.

Nobody knew about their destination and what they would do; however, they all knew that chief justice was going to solve a big case given such a large-scale action. The chief justice had not organized such a large-scale action for the latest decade.

”9 o’clock; full speed ahead; suspension in 5 minutes...”

The chief justice finally opened his mouth after over 10 hours’ silence. The moment the pilot received the order, he immediately adjusted the flight route of the airboat and had the airboat make a big turn in the air. Through this adjustment, all the knights who were guessing about the destination just now became confused.

Commoners might not be able to determine the precise location in the air without asking the captain or the navigator as Zhongzhou Province was too large. However, the chief justice had kept everything in Zhongzhou Province in his mind, including grasses, woods, mountains and rocks. As long as he looked down, he would be able to determine the precise location of the airboat. This ability alone was admirable enough.

The moment the chief justice opened his mouth; it indicated that the puzzle would be revealed right away. Those knights who were familiar with the style of the chief justice were all spirited as they chested out and waited for the chief justice’s order.

Finally, they heard the news...

”Last afternoon, the castellan of Jinwu City, Yanghe Prefecture, Youzhou Province was almost assassinated...”

It was the second sentence of the chief justice tonight.

After hearing this news, many knights from Zhongzhou Provincial Court faintly frowned. In the eyes of these knights, the assassination attempt of a castellan of a small city in a lower province was trivial. This event should be investigated by the Youzhou Provincial Court, it was not within the limits of responsibility of Zhongzhou Provincial Court.

”The castellan of Jinwu City is Zhang Ping. He has a son, Zhang Tie...”

The chief justice knew what the others were thinking about. Therefore, he continued and shocked the others once again.

Yanghe Prefecture, the castellan of Jinwu City, these words were too distant and trivial for those knights of Zhongzhou Provincial Court. However, the name Zhang Tie had been a heavy boulder that the entire judicial system in Taixia Country had to shoulder. As time passed by, this boulder grew heavier and brought greater stress to the judicial system in Taixia Country.

The tragedy in Fuhai City that happened 4 years ago had become the No. 1 pending criminal case in Taixia Country. In the folks, it even became the first deceived case in Taixia Country. As the main character of this pending criminal case or unjust case, the name Zhang Tie was even more famous than the grand justice of the supreme court in Taixia Country, who ranked one of the top 9 chancellors in Xuanyuan Hill in the judicial system in Taixia Country. Many people in the local courts in many remote places might have not heard about the name of the grand justice of the supreme court in Taixia Country; however, they were all very familiar with the name of Zhang Tie. The tragedy in Fuhai City and the name Zhang Tie both became the most eye-catching names in the local judicial systems across Taixia Country.

The provincial judicial systems across Taixia Country paid attention to the name Zhang Tie, not because of the fluctuated tragedy in Fuhai City, but because Zhang Tie was the former chief justice of Youzhou Provincial Court, a member of the judicial system in Taixia Country, the lion of Youzhou Province. When he served as the chief justice of the Youzhou Provincial Court, he inflicted a heavy loss on Heavens Reaching Church in a short period and won the admiration of the entire judicial system in Taixia Country. He even became the good model of the Supreme Court in Taixia Country...

Even though he was wanted by the judicial system, his article in the forum of the Mountain of Brightness shocked the entire human knights’ world. The poem The Beloved Ones could almost be heard everywhere in Taixia Country until now. Additionally, the conspiracy behind the tragedy of Fuhai City that he exposed in his article shocked Xuanyuan Hill as it might be involved with demons and the remnants of Bloody Soul Temple which had already been eliminated. As a result, many moguls couldn’t eat and sleep well.

Because of Zhang Tie, the entire judicial system in Taixia Country felt being roasted. Many people were swearing that the subordinate members of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country were all rubbish, who only knew how to frame good people instead of being able to catch the demons.

To be honest, after reading the article ”The Inscriptions on the Gravestone of the Despicable”, even many officers in the judicial system had confirmed that Zhang Tie was innocent. However, the laws of Taixia Country were unalterable. The evidence was complete. Before revoking those evidence, it was nothing than making a joke with the Laws of Taixia Country by revoking Zhang Tie’s order for arrest.

Zhang Tie’s father was attacked and almost assassinated...

Many people had been thinking about the relevant things about this news.

”According to the intelligence from Youzhou Province, they’ve already confirmed that the assassinator was from Zhongzhou Province, within our territory. Additionally, the culprit on the back of the assassinator was the very one who caused the tragedy in Fuhai City and framed Zhang Tie...” After hearing this news, all the knights from Zhongzhou Provincial Court held their breaths.

”Lord, sorry for my doubt; but this intelligence is too important. Now that those assassinators have arranged the assassination in Jinwu City, they must have made an overall preparation. Now that they were going to assassinate an important figure in the territory of Huaiyuan Palace, they would definitely assign dauntless people over there, who would not leave any clue easily. I wonder how Youzhou Provincial Court gained the intelligence in such a short period!” The one in front of the team of knights from Zhongzhou Provincial Court asked.

”We don’t need to care about how Youzhou Provincial Court gained this intelligence!” The chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court turned around with a solemn look and snow-white eyebrows before adding, ”If the intelligence is fake, Zhongzhou Provincial Court will definitely ask for an explanation from Huaiyuan Palace. The judicial system in Taixia Country could never be used privately. If the intelligence is real, the Zhongzhou Provincial Court should exert its full efforts to mop up and quell the evil forces in Zhongzhou Province for the safety of Taixia Country as a whole!”

All the knights from Zhongzhou Provincial Court exchanged a glance with each other as their hearts raced at once.

In a few minutes, the airboat suspended while there was a valley covering over 100 square miles at their foot. In the valley, there were some castles and manors. It seemed that it was a remote place in Longxi Prefecture of Zhongzhou Province. Those owners of the castles and manors should be the local forces.

Such places could be found everywhere in Zhongzhou Province. Local tyrants or small sects always liked these places.

The day had just broken while a golden line appeared in the sky in the east. The thin mist in the valley was also gradually dissipating. The airboat hid behind a cloud, sharing the same color with the latter. Therefore, it could be barely noticed by others on the ground. From this height, it was absolutely a good place to enjoy the sunrise; pitifully, those on the airboat didn’t feel like appreciating the sunrise at this moment.

”It’s Pingsha Valley at our foot. Go down there and search over there inch by inch. Arrest all the people over there for further detention and investigation, regardless of gender or age. Kill them if any of them dares resist you, am I clear?” The chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court sent an order.

”Clear!”

”Go!” The chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court shook his hand as he added, ”I will watch you from the airboat. If you met any powerful opponent, just release your battle qi smoke, I will solve him...”

”Yes, sir!”

Closely after that, all the knights flew off the airboat and charged at those castles and manors. The airboat flew around Pingsha Valley slowly while over 8000 criminal hunters of Bian Camp under the affiliation of the Zhongzhou Provincial Court started to jump off the airboat like sowing seeds. When they were dozens of meters away from the ground, they opened their rotachutes. The moment they landed, they had rushed towards Pingsha Valley and surrounded it...

At this moment, the first sunlight had cast down onto the ground...

On the ground, with the rising battle qi totems and roars of fighters of Bian Camp, Pingsha Valley was in chaos...