Castle of Black Iron

On February 6, the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie’s airboat finally landed at the airport of Xuanyuan Hill slowly.

Although Bian Heng had seen the world, when he saw the prosperous Xuanyuan Hill in the sky, he was still greatly shocked for quite a while. He didn’t recover his composure until he was awakened by Zhang Tie. After that, he followed Zhang Tie towards the hatch door of the airboat and prepared to get off the airboat.

Besides Bian Heng, only Zhang Tie’s eldest son Zhang Chenglei and his cousin Zhang Su followed Zhang Tie here. The others in Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect and those women of Yin-Yang Sect in Castle of Black Iron didn’t come with him.

Those women of Yin-Yang Sect were busy doing their own jobs in Castle of Black Iron. Their lives were pretty full every day. Therefore, they didn’t have time to pay attention to other things. Additionally, the holy war was ongoing; therefore, those women of Yin-Yang Sect didn’t want to come out of there for the time being. Zhang Tie just let them do whatever they wanted in Castle of Black Iron. As for Yan Feiqing and the other family members, it was not suitable for them to follow Zhang Tie here as he was here to negotiate about the warfare of the holy war which determined the future of Taixia Country and humans; instead of making a sightseeing tour. Therefore, they just stayed in Youzhou Province.

Before opening the hatch door completely, Bian Heng suddenly heard muffled booms from outside. Closely after that, he released his protective battle qi with shock as he asked, “Is there an assassin?”

“It’s not an assassin, but gun salute!” Zhang Tie told Bian Heng with a smile.

“Gun salute? What’s that?” Bian Heng asked Zhang Tie out of curiosity.

There was no gun salute in Motian Realm. Therefore, Bian Heng felt very strange about this kind of ritual.

Hearing the thunder-like bangs, Zhang Tie started to explain about gun salute and its purpose to Bian Heng.

“It’s so strange; so strange!” After hearing him, Bian Heng shook his head while he replied with an unbelievable look, “According to you, guns were mass destructive weapons on battlefields; however, they finally work as gun salute. I’ve really not seen people greeting their guests with gun salute!”

“This tradition is not exclusive to Hua people, but originated from the Western Continent. I’m afraid that it’s similar to using axes and spikes as ceremonial instruments by Hua people!”

Gun salute in this age was greatly different than that before the Catastrophe. In Black Iron Age, gun salute was an effect of loud sound caused by the fast release of the compressed stream. In order to make it louder, the gun barrels for the ceremonial purposes were even processed with rune technology. The vehicles for gun salute were especially huge. These things could only be seen in Xuanyuan Hill. They belonged to the honor guards of Taixia Country.

In order to welcome Zhang Tie, an over 20,000 m long runway had been cleared at this airport. A square matrix of salute guns was set in the nearby and was discharging their gun salutes tidily and orderly.

The airport was covered with banners and people. Almost all the big figures in Xuanyuan Hill had arrived here.

Three princes were assigned here, who were standing in front of all the others and in the middle location. On the left side of the three princes were the high-level officials of Taixia Country represented by the three councilors of the state and nine ministers. On the right side of the three princes were Hua dignitaries represented by the six lords in Taixia Country.

At this moment, almost all the major officials above LV 3 in the royal court of Xuanyuan Hill had arrived. They were all welcoming Zhang Tie respectfully. Actually, two of the three councilors and nine ministers were not here, namely Meng Shidao, the Premier of State Council of Taixia Country and Li Yunji the former justice minister who was put behind the bars in the prison of Xuanyuan Hill.

It was said that Meng Shidao was sick; therefore, he didn’t come here to welcome Zhang Tie. Li Yunji the justice minister was the most unfortunate. Although he showed off his power in Youzhou Province, he was arrested by a commander of God’s Will Army on the way back to Xuanyuan Hill and put behind the bars in the Xuanyuan Hill. As for his crime, he colluded with the three major sects, fabricated an unjust case and framed up loyal and upright people. The golden Xiemao rune that Li Yunji presented outside the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect was also proved to be fake. Since Li Yunji was put behind the bars, the position of the justice minister had been vacant.

Except for Lord Fairysea; Lord Guangnan, Lord Xuanwu, Lord Jingtian, Lord Dingxi and Lord Yian were all here and standing in the first row, closely followed by noblemen like dukes, marquises and counts. Those below counts were not even qualified to stand here.

Bai Runtian the Lord Guangnan was standing in the middle of the five lords and looking around complacently. Standing on both sides of Lord Guangnan, Lord Xuanwu, Lord Jingtian, Lord Dingxi and Lord Yian were watching Lord Guangnan with admiration in their eyes.

Previously, except Cao Clan, the clan of Lord Dingxi slightly declined due to various reasons, Lu Clan, the clan of Lord Xuanwu, Sun Clan, the clan of Lord Jingtian and Qin Clan, the clan of Yian were not weaker than Bai Clan, the clan of Lord Guangnan. They were all on the same level. Although Qin Clan’s base was in Xuanyuan Hill and didn’t appear to own too much territory, Qin Clan controlled Xuanyuan Bank, the largest bank in Taixia Country. Xuanyuan Bank’s influence covered the entire country. Therefore, Qin Clan was almost the No. 1 clan among the five lords. However, it was already history. As Zhang Tie was Bai Runtian’s son-in-law, of course, Bai Runtian became the lord of lords. Nobody had any dissent about it.

Behind the royal households and major officials and officers were ambassadors, even kings or princes from countries on the Western Continent and subcontinents. They were of different skin colors and in different kinds of uniforms. The population of these people was greater than 3,000.

With gun salutes, all of them were standing there silently, raising their heads and waiting for Zhang Tie.

Such a grand ceremony had been held for over 100 years in Xuanyuan Hill.

After 108 gun salutes, with the long bugles of the honor guards, the Xuanyuan-level airboat’s hatch door slowly opened. Zhang Tie then slowly got off the airport and stepped onto the red carpet on the ground, followed by Bian Heng.

The three princes instantly came forward to greet Zhang Tie.

The three princes were respectively the eldest prince Xuanyuan Changqing, the sixth prince Xuanyuan Changhong and the eighteenth prince Xuanyuan Feng.

Xuanyuan Changqing was already a heavenly knight. Xuanyuan Changhong and Xuanyuan Feng were already shadow knights. Pitifully, none of them cultivated the emperor-level secret method Xuanyuan God Sutra .

Zhang Tie didn’t see Xuanyuan God Sutra before. He just heard about that the conditions for cultivating this emperor-level secret method were very strict, which required exceptional qualification. Therefore, not all the princes of Emperor Xuanyuan were qualified to cultivate Xuanyuan God Sutra. Those who could cultivate Xuanyuan God Sutra and had promoted to knights were only late Crown Prince, the third prince and the ninth prince.

However, the Crown Prince had been assassinated, the third prince was killed by Zhang Tie; the ninth prince had been put under house arrest as he was involved with the three major sects and Royal Alliance. Therefore, the entire royal households looked a bit bleak. None of them could bring hope to the royal households anymore.

Perhaps the word bleak was too acerbic. To be honest, as the descendants of Emperor Xuanyuan, all the three princes in front of Zhang Tie were talents with superb flair. It was not hard for them to be outstanding. However, as princes, since they were asserted that they couldn’t cultivate Xuanyuan God Sutra by Emperor Xuanyuan and had to cultivate other inferior secret methods, they had been doomed to not be outstanding in Xuanyuan Hill which was full of elites and heroes for their whole lives, not to mention ascending to the throne.

After greeting Zhang Tie, the three princes stood aside. After that, a young wife in 3-phoenix coronet and with red eyes and a handsome and stable youth walked to the front of the representatives of royal households, holding the hands of a 7-year old boy in golden royal costume. The three people then knelt down and touched the ground with their foreheads towards Zhang Tie at the same time.

“Father-in-law, my respect to you. I’m Xuanyuan Yunfei…”

“Father, my respect to you. I’m Shini…”

“Grandpa, my respect to you. I’m Xuanyuan Zhu…”

As the 7-year old boy knelt down and crept on the ground, he raised his head and watched Zhang Tie with his black eyes in a flexible and smart way stealthily. The boy’s look reminded Zhang Tie of himself in his childhood…