Castle of Black Iron

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...