Castle of Black Iron

Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace, Xuanyuan Hill…

When Zhang Tie and Bian Heng were enjoying the view, Fang Qingming and two dignified women in phoenix-shaped headwear sat silently in an attic in the east palace of Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace.

As the adviser of late Crown Prince Changying, Fang Qingming’s hair near his temples had been silver over the past 20-odd years after Crown Prince Changying’s assassination. Additionally, there were some wrinkles over his forehead. Even so, his eyes were still as crystal and quiet as water. Although he didn’t look as spirited as before, he was more profound with age.

Although Crown Prince Changying was already dead, Fang Qingming won greater favor from those people on Crown Prince Changying’s side.

There were mainly two people on late Crown Prince Changying’s side: Queen Shaoyi, mother of Crown Prince Changying; Mrs. Xiao, wife of late Crown Prince Changying.

When Emperor Xuanyuan was on the throne, there was once an Empress Wen who once ruled the harem of Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace. However, Empress Wen was not a knight. Therefore, she died at only 200 years old or so. After Empress Wen, nobody was conferred as empress in Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace any longer. Instead, ceremonial empresses were conferred, whose positions were above that of concubines and were as same as that of empress ceremonially. Even though, ceremonial empresses were not real empresses. All the mothers of those princes in Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace were ceremonial empresses. There were 17 ceremonial empresses and 39 princes and princesses of Emperor Xuanyuan in total.

Inside Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace, all the ceremonial empresses were briefly called empresses. They all had their own ranks and titles and were responsible for one department respectively.

At this moment, the two women on the opposite of Fang Qingming were Empress Shaoyi, mother of late Crown Prince Changying and Mrs. Xiao, the wife of late Crown Prince Changying.

Late Crown Prince Changying’s mother was a very beautiful woman at her 50’s. She looked very dignified with a smooth, delicate and wrinkled face in brilliant longuette made of boa silk. With tassels, a decorated shoulder covering, a belt decorated with jade, a floral waistband and a five-phoenix coronet, she looked pretty much like a royal dignitary.

By contrast, Mrs. Xiao, the wife of late Crown Prince Changying was much younger at her 30’s. Now that she could marry Crown Prince Changying, she must have an unparalleled beauty. Additionally, Mrs. Xiao was also in brilliant clothes and a 4-phoenix coronet.

At this moment, Fang Qingming looked as calm as water in a time-honored well. He was tasting the tea water in front of him. By contrast, Empress Shaoyi and Mrs. Xiao looked worried as they both knitted their brows deeply.

Right then, they heard rapid footsteps. It was the female personal attendant of Empress Shaoyi. After passing through the two doors, she opened the bead curtain and trotted in.

“Your Majesty, I’ve got a message from there…” The personal attendant hurriedly bent over and reported.

“Stand up. What’s the message? Mr. Fang is here, hurry, tell us about it honestly…” Empress Shaoyi urged after taking a glance at Fang Qingming.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” the personal attendant nodded at Fang Qingming before replying clearly, “According to the message from General Wei, Monarch Qianji’s airboat is approaching Pingzhou City. However, Immortal Qianji didn’t allow the airboat to land outside Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace; instead, he insisted on landing at the airport outside Xuanyuan Hill…”

Monarch Qianji was Zhang Tie’s current title in Taixia country. Since he destroyed three demons’ encampment on the battlefield and displayed his secret method Infinite King Roc Sutra, his title Monarch Qianji had been spreading across the entire country among people.

This title was of great significance to many people. The word monarch couldn’t be enjoyed by ordinary people. As Zhang Tie cultivated an emperor-level secret method and had promoted to a sage-level knight, his meritorious deeds were going to shine through ages. He deserved this title. However, at this moment, there was no emperor in Taixia Country and nobody in Xuanyuan Emperor’s royal palace was expected to ascend to the throne of Emperor Xuanyuan; therefore, when they heard the title Monarch Qianji, many royal households in Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace would feel terrified and complex.

At this moment, Xuanyuan Hill had already been converged with talented people and influential forces. Numerous people were craving for Zhang Tie’s arrival. Among them, those in Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace were most fidgety.

After hearing the personal attendant’s words, Empress Shaoyi and Mrs. Xiao finally heaved a deep sigh. After waving her hand and asking the personal attendant to leave, Empress Shaoyi watched Fang Qingming with great admiration and opened her mouth again. “Like you’ve predicted, sir, Zhang Tie didn’t have his airboat land outside Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace. As for the followings, we have to depend on you!”

Mrs. Xiao then stood up and bowed towards Fang Qingming before saying, “Over these years, without Mr. Fang’s help, my son and I didn’t even know how to survive in Xuanyuan Hill!” Mrs. Xiao said as she almost dropped off her tears, “Meng Shidao was Crown Prince’s master and was recommended as the finance minister by Crown Prince. However, after Crown Prince’s death, Meng Shidao instantly forgot about the friendship between him and Crown Prince and wanted to prop up someone else to ascend to the throne. That’s too merciless!”

Fang Qingming also stood up and bowed towards Mrs. Xiao out of kindness. Closely after that, he replied with a sigh, “His Highness Crown Prince had great talent and bold vision. However, he died for the country and failed to meet his ambitions. Although Crown Prince is already dead, he left his brilliant fame and still won the respect from people across the country and could bring good fortune to us. This time, I will try my best efforts to make it. If we succeed, it’s not my meritorious deed; but the blessing from heaven. As for Meng Shidao, Mrs. Xiao, please don’t worry about him. After Monarch Qianji arrives at Xuanyuan Hill, the Gobbling Party will be rooted up. As long as we win the support of Monarch Qianji, we could make everything. I will pay an official visit to Lord Guangnan right now!”

At the same time, Meng Shidao, the finance minister of Taixia Country was feeding his golden fish in a pool of the Sincerity Garden not far from Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace.

This Sincerity Garden was newly built. Its name and owner remained unchanged. The only difference was that this one was at least 10 times larger than that when Meng Shidao served as late Crown Prince’s master. The garden was surrounded by high, verdant birches. The entire courtyard was in the wood of birches. The high birches not only prevented curious people from peeping into the garden but also covered the sunshine. Although the sun was hanging high in the sky, Sincerity Garden was covered with tree shades while only a hint of sunshine could penetrate through the birches. As a result, Sincerity Garden looked a bit gloomy. Although Xuanyuan Hill was in the early spring, it felt a bit cold here.

“You mean Zhang Tie won’t let his airboat to land outside Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal palace. Unexpectedly, he’s such a gentleman…” Meng Shidao fed his golden fish conscientiously as he muttered, “Since they have received the news that Zhang Tie was going to Xuanyuan Hill, very few people showed up to my Sincerity Garden these days…”

Meng Shidao didn’t look back. Nobody was behind him. However, there appeared to be a human shadow in the dense trade shades close to the ground which looked such weird…

That shadow appeared to say something. However, nobody else could hear that voice except Meng Shidao.

“As of now, these small tricks won’t work anymore. Even though 100 million or 1 billion people die in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie would not lose even a strand of hair…” Meng Shidao said as he dropped some feed into water and shook his head, “You can leave. Just follow the plan. I even want to meet Zhang Tie here. I’m afraid that I will not have such a rare opportunity in the future…”

The human shadow faded away as if it had never appeared there at all. Meng Shidao was still feeding his golden fish attentively.

When he dropped off a bit larger feed into water, an ordinary golden fish suddenly darted out of water from the bottom of the pool and engulfed that piece of feed before the other golden fish approached it.

“Why did you move so fast?” Meng Shidao slightly knitted his brow as he watched that golden fish and muttered. He then became hesitant for a few seconds while holding some feed. Only the odd gloomy light deep in his pupils were sparkling like jack-o’-lanterns…

After a few seconds, Meng Shidao loosened his fingers, dropping that bit feed into water. At the same time, a red and black golden fish swam over there and engulfed that bit of fish feed at once.

In less than 5 seconds, the red and black golden fish, which had just engulfed the feed suddenly went berserk as two rows of dense, sharp teeth grew out of its mouth. Closely after that, it broke another golden fish into two halves and swallowed half of its body. Watching this scene, all the other golden fish in the pool became panicky at once. At the same time, the berserk golden fish started a massacre in water. As a result, the entire pool became bloody only after a short while…