Castle of Black Iron

Only with a slightly greater strength than commoners, he had started up the engine. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt pretty good.

“Hahaha…” Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. After that, he ran to the belly of the airplane pleasantly and took away the non-slippery lock which was seizing up the wheels of the landing chassis of the airplane. After that, Zhang Tie drilled out of the belly of the airplane and sat in the cockpit. He then looked at the crowd; at the same time, he beckoned Zhang Su, who was also shocked greatly, to the back seat. Zhang Su immediately ran over there. After jumping onto the wing, he pulled open the cover of the back seat and sat flexibly.

Zhang Tie had his plan by calling his cousin Zhang Su to sit on the back seat at this moment. Previously, Zhang Su might be unknown; however, since he jumped onto Zhang Tie’s airplane, the name of Zhang Su was destined to be recorded in the history of humans.

Because it was the first trial flight of the first airplane in the Black Iron Age over 900 years later after the Catastrophe, a great attempt for commoners to convince the sky once again. Besides Zhang Tie, Zhang Su also joined this trial flight.

Because it was humans’ first trial flight in the black iron age, it carried a special meaning. The name of Zhang Su was destined to be remembered by people. ‘Zhang Su is too inconspicuous at the present. If he works for me, he’d better have a bit reputation.’

Of course, Zhang Tie would grasp such a rare chance; instead of bothering others. The 3 airplanes had been assembled and passed the engine performance test. They did not have a trial flight yet.

It was at Zhang Tie’s request. However, those onlookers might have not responded to it as they were still in shock and wondering how could Zhang Tie run this airplane; neither were they sure whether this airplane could fly.

Zhang Tie closed the cover of his cockpit, so did Zhang Su. After that, the entire airplane slowly moved under the gaze of everyone else. After circling a small half of the warehouse, it drove out of the gate of the warehouse and came to the airport.

The plain airport provided the airstrip for the airplane. Zhang Tie gradually accelerated the airplane. After moving hundreds of meters away, Zhang Tie and Zhang Su felt being weightless while the entire airplane took off under the gaze of all the people at present. After leaving the ground, the landing chassis of the airplane was also slowly drawn back beneath the wings.

Zhang Tie then drove the airplane and had it fly around Xuantian Peak.

The wuther of the engine aroused the attention of many people on Xuantian Peak.

Zhang Tie soon became familiar with the driving skills and know-how of this airplane. Therefore, Zhang Tie could have this airplane do more and more actions in the sky. In the evening, it constantly rolled and ascended and did various maneuvering movements as flexibly as a huge bird and a monkey on the tree.

After flying a few circles around Xuantian Peak in the sky, Zhang Tie played a trick. He had the airplane fly over the warehouse upside down from over 3 m higher above the warehouse. When they almost crashed against the cliff of Xuantian Peak, Zhang Tie pulled it up vertically rapidly, shocking those onlookers pretty much.

Bai Zhengnan patted his head as he flew towards Zhang Tie’s airplane, closely followed by Mountain Lifting Hermit, Feng Cangwu, Bai Suxian, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi. They caught up with Zhang Tie’s airplane in the blink of an eye…

Zhang Tie soon realized the result of showing off in front of a team of knights by airplane——he was surrounded by those knights out of curiosity.

Bai Zhengnan flew onto the left wing of the airplane; Mountain Lifting Hermit flew onto the right wing of the airplane; Bai Suxian, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi flew to the top of the airplane; Feng Cangwu flew to the front of the airplane as he just flew backward while observing the airplane…

Of course, this airplane couldn’t match knights in speed; therefore, these people could surround it and watch it easily.

When they were gazing at the airplane and Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie felt like being put in a cage. At the speed of 360 miles per hour, the onlookers and the airplane were relatively still, no matter how the airplane moved. When those knights watched the airplane, they kept speaking highly of it.

Thankfully, they were all familiar ones. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn’t feel too embarrassed. He just tested this airplane’s performance to his heart’s content. All the onlookers just watched him manipulating it quietly. As knights, they all realized the significance of what Zhang Tie was doing. They all knew that they were not watching something fresh out of curiosity, but witnessing a sharp weapon which could change the balance of air forces between humans and demons in this age.

On the evening of February 6, the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar, the first human airplane accomplished its first ever flight above Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory which, as a whole, was tranquil with sparse lights.

As the airplane constantly ascended, Xuantian Peak which was higher than 8,000 m was instantly lagged behind. Meanwhile, the wuther of the engine grew increasingly acuter too; however, it was still steady. When Zhang Tie looked at the altimeter of the airplane, he sensed the performance of the airplane. When it reached about 12,500 m in height, Zhang Tie tried many times and found that the airplane couldn’t reach higher any more no matter how the engine of the airplane wuthered. Later on, Zhang Tie properly declined the airplane to over 4,000 m in height before flying towards Tianxuan City.

Only after over 10 minutes’ flight, Tianxuan City had appeared under Zhang Tie’s foot.

Tianxuan City was a large city with a big population. Although the dark had fallen, it was a nice nightscape while the sky was adorned with brilliant stars. When Zhang Tie had the airplane fly over Tianxuan City, the metallic texture of the surface of the airplane and the sound of its engine attracted the attention of many people in Tianxuan City, causing a bit turmoil.

After flying over Tianxuan City, Zhang Tie had the airplane fly over the hinterland of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Closely after that, he flew over Xinlu City, Langyun City, Ningan City, Xuesong City, Yande City, Qinghe City, Dashang City, Wugong City and Dongyang City within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory one after another. After over 5 hours’ flight, he returned along Yangui Mountain Range, ignoring the turmoils that he aroused among those cities.

When the airplane was approaching Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks, Zhang Tie’s heart pounded as he told those onlookers, “The performance of the steam crossbows has not been tested. How about testing the air combat capability of this airplane by scattering a bit and releasing your protective battle qis like wing demons?”

As for knights, as long as they released their protective battle qis, these steam crossbows could never threaten them, at most make them itchy. After hearing that Zhang Tie wanted to try the air combat capability of this airplane, all of them felt it was interesting as they all nodded as if they were playing a game. They all released their protective battle qis while extending the distances between them and the airplane.

After saying “star” to Zhang Su, Zhang Tie immediately started to test the performance of those steam crossbows on the airplane by shooting bolts towards those knights.

The steam crossbows were as powerful as usual; additionally, being installed on the airplane, they could be manipulated flexibly. When in normal flight, besides the direction of the propeller, the tail unit and the space below the body of the airplane, there was almost no dead ground. He could also shoot those dead grounds as Zhang Tie adjusted his flight attitude.

Gliders could never match airplanes in flexibility and maneuverability.

Bai Zhengnan and Mountain Lifting Hermit both felt it was interesting. Until Zhang Su shot all the bolts, Zhang Tie noticed them before returning to Xuantian Peak by airplane. The airplane landed on the same runway before slowly entering the same warehouse.

The entire process took them about 6 hours. When Zhang Tie drove the airplane back to Xuantian Peak, it was over 1 pm on February 7.

Donder, Zhang Tie’s disciples and the disciples of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were all waiting for them back in the warehouse.

What happened today shocked everybody too much. Even Donder and all the others became very excited, not to mention Zhang Tie and those knights.

After parking the airplane, Zhang Tie opened the cover of his cockpit and jumped out of it closely followed by Zhang Su.

A lot of people came around Zhang Tie at once. They all watched Zhang Tie with their shiny eyes as if they were watching a rare pre-historical beast. As a result, Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over. He had not even been watched in this way even in the rotating chakra ceremony a few days ago.

None of those knights spoke. Donder and those disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect both felt that the atmosphere was weird; therefore, they dared not open their mouths either.

Zhang Tie shrugged as he said, “Don’t look at me like that. Just say something!”

Zhang Tie broke the silence.

“Maximal flight height, 12,500 m!” Feng Cangwu opened his mouth.

“Maximal speed, about 420 miles per hour!” Lu Zhongming said.

“The crossbows on the airplane have advantages over airships on power, flexibility and speed.” Bai Suxian nodded as she said.

“Over the past 6 hours, this airplane has flown about 2,380 miles. How long could it fly now?” Bai Zhengnan looked at Zhang Tie and asked him.

“There’s still half fuel in the oil tank…” Zhang Tie answered straightforwardly.

“You mean the maximal operational radius of action of this airplane is about 2,380 miles and it could fly 4,560 miles…” The royal highness of Lord Guangnan’s Mansion took in a deep breath as he looked at Zhang Tie in a profound manner, “With this airplane, Iron-Dragon Sect could enjoy a good fame among humans too!”

Before Zhang Tie finished his words, Donder suddenly coughed twice before saying, “Hmm, it’s already too late. Don’t stand here anymore. It’s cold. We can talk in the room…”/

It was indeed not the right place for Zhang Tie and those knights to talk about it.