Castle of Black Iron

"He's not a member of us..." The demon suppression general burst out into laughter. At the same time, the black snowflakes on his side vaporized in a split second while the sharp sword-shaped vertical wrinkle between his eyebrows became vivid as if the sword was going to fly out of its sheath from his forehead and make a massacre. "If this person could survive the chase of demons, I would like to see him."

"He's really a talent; however, it's not easy for an earth knight to survive the chase of a shadow demon!" The one who came out of the vapor replied, "Will we..."

Gu Duyi raised his hand and interrupted him calmly, "Wealth and rank are the matters of destiny. Now that we've come to Tiewei Mountain, dying is as usual as living even for knights. We're not here for discovering talents, but for opposing demons. If he is a real talent, he would survive himself even if he was chased by a shadow demon; if he's dead, he's just so-so. Only those who survive themselves are qualified to be praised. If he's dead, he has just fulfilled his responsibilities to be a human knight and didn't spend his life in vain..."

Over 200 years' combats in the Earth-elements Realm, this old man standing in the highest tower had treated death as usual as life.

Standing behind the old man, the knight just listened to him carefully without any objection. Because each word of this old man was definitely correct in the eyes of the subordinates of this old man. This old man had never made any mistake and would never make any mistake at all.

"How's Feng Yexiao of Taiyi Fantasy Sect?"

"Feng Yexiao and a team of new knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect are fighting as guerrillas in the periphery of the 1st loop!" Although the knight behind Du Guyi answered calmly, his words sounded disgruntled, even a bit disdainful, "Previously, Feng Yexiao intended to kill that earth knight-level shadow demon in Tiewei Mountain with his team members so as to gain a bounty land for Taiyi Fantasy Sect and accumulate military exploits and prestige for himself in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. However, he had not imagined that the earth knight-level shadow demon had been killed by another earth human knight only after a few days since he came to Black Armor Battlefortress. Therefore, Feng Yexiao lost his face and felt being slapped on his face invisibly!"

"Is that guy who killed the earth knight-level shadow demon is called Cui Li?"

"Yes, Cui Li entered Earth-elements Realm 3 years ago. It's said that he had a wonderful experience in a wild mountain and gained the "Fire Dragon Sutra" which was left by Fire Dragon Hermit. 3 years ago, many human knights explored hieron ruins from the Lion Fortress. Due to the participation of a demon knight and a knight of Three-eye Association, Cui Li suffered a lot of troubles. It was even said that Cui Li had already died in the hieron ruins in a very righteous way. I've not imagined that this man has promoted to an earth knight in the hieron ruins in only about 2 years and could come out of there alive!" That knight faintly hesitated before asking, "Lord, do you think this Cui Li is..."

The demon suppression general faintly narrowed his eyes and asked, "Has Guan Qianchong met him?"

"Yes, he has; additionally, Guan Qianchong has agreed to reward him..."

The demon suppression general revealed a smile, "If so, this man must be innocent. If there's some problem with him, he could not have passed Guan Qianchong's interrogation because Guan Qianchong is the gate of hell. There're so many bizarre secret methods and skills in the world. Nobody dares say that he knows all of them. Now that Cui Li could gain the "Fire Dragon Sutra" which has long been lost, he must have a great luck. This man might have a special experience in the hieron ruins. Besides, as he killed an earth knight-level shadow demon, he must be a blessed fighter!"

"However, Cui Li might not know that he has offended Feng Yexiao. Feng Yexiao is domineering. After losing his face this time, he might find Cui trouble in the future!"

"With one more shadow human knight on our back, it's not bad. No matter what, Feng Yexiao and Taiyi Fantasy Sect would not surrender to demons. Don't be over furious. Now that Cui Li could come out of the hieron ruins alive, he might have made a big achievement. In the future, Feng Yexiao might force Cui Li to show us his special talents!"

The simple sentence of demon suppression general was full of his wise philosophy about the world.

"Xuanyuan Hill is too indulgent with sects such as Taiyi Fantasy Sect. The holy war has turned white-hot. The demons' strikes are like tides; however, these sects still want to maintain their own forces at this critical moment. Don't they know that there will be no complete eggs when the nestle topples over? If Taixia Country was extermined by demons, these sects would have no place to stay! Is the gossip real? Has Emperor Xuanyuan..."

The demon suppression general immediately turned around and gazed at the knight behind him with his dignified eyes while an overwhelming stress and invisible qi of heavenly knight collided with the knight.

Before finishing his words, the knight uttered a muffled harrumph; meanwhile, he was forced to move one step back while bleeding at his mouth corners. However, he still looked at the demon suppression general's eyes frankly and straightforwardly.

After half a minute, the demon suppression general's dignified eye light slowly faded away, "Remember, our battlefield is Earth-elements Realm, the affairs of Xuanyuan Hill has nothing to do with us. As soldiers of Taixia Country, our only job is to kill demons as long as we're alive. No matter what happens on the earth's surface, it has nothing to do with us."

"Yes, sir!" The knight wiped off the blood stains from his mouth corners and replied in a muffled voice.

The demon suppression general let out a long sigh, "It seems that the knights in the battle fortress are too leisure and don't bleed too much. It has been over 2 months since the last large-scale battle. Even you started to have a bee in your head. Pass my order, launch a large-scale strike at the demon battle fortress in formations 1 hour later..."

"Yes, sir!"

The vapor reappeared in the tower while the knight who had received the order swung in the vapor like a shadow for a short while before disappearing...

Only after half a minute, the entire battle fortress had become boiled like an actuated machine while numerous knights in the battle fortress had stopped what they were doing and started to prepare for the coming large-scale battle at the fastest speed...

The Demon suppression general turned around and threw a glance at the demon battle fortress in the distance. Only at this moment when nobody was on his side did the demon suppression general look a bit worried.

Nobody knew what Du Guyi was thinking about.

As for this old man who had fought over 200 years in the Earth-elements Realm and experienced the 2nd holy war, although this large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights in Tiewei Mountain is related to the ownership of millions of earth-element crystals. It's not what Du Guyi was really concerned about. To a certain extent, the result of this large-scale battle, even the lives of over 10,000 human knights who had converged in the battle fortress or his own life didn't count most.

The battle between humans and demons was precisely the wrestle between Hua people and demons. As for Hua people, the result of 1 or 2 large-scale battle between humans and demons, the lives of 10,000-20,000 human knights including the lives of some heavenly knights who were called old guys by others like Du Guyi were not decisive. Even the Lion Fortress which was regarded as the greatest power and pass in the Earth-elements Realm would be broken through by demons one day, it was not a big deal. Before the Catastrophe, humans didn't have any power in the Earth-elements Realm, but they could still survive.

Humans might lose this large-scale battle. Over 10,000 human knights who joined the coming large-scale battle including Du Guyi himself might die. However, basically, it didn't matter at all. What counted most was that Hua people and the entire Taixia Country could be able to reorganize more large-scale battles and shoulder more failures after losing such a large-scale battle 100 times and 100 heavenly knights like Du Guyi. This was the key factor for Taixia Country to last forever and confront demons constantly.

At this moment, what the demon suppression general concerned most was the problem facing Xuanyuan Hill; instead of the Earth-elements Realm.

One year before the 3rd holy war, Emperor Xuanyuan had disappeared. Nobody knew where he had gone. In the beginning, Xuanyuan Hill could cover it with the excuse that Emperor Xuanyuan was in cultivation. Now, this excuse didn't work anymore.

The top chancellors in Taixia Country had been officially noticed after Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared 1 year later. At the beginning, only rulers and very few people knew about that news. As time went on, the chain reactions after Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared gradually occurred. Not only Xuanyuan Hill, but even the officialdom and commoners had also known this news. However, nobody dared say it in the public.

After Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared, the entire Taixia Country and Hua people lost their head at the critical moment. Dark forces had long been increasingly surging across Eastern Continent while all the unpredictable factors were rapidly developing in Taixia Country.

A few months ago, the surging elements tide shocked the entire earth elements-realm. At that moment, even Du Guyi thought that a prince in Taixia Country had formed an earth chakra of emperor-level cultivation method and would be able to compete for the throne with the crown prince. When Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared, a prince could defeat the crown prince was definitely not a good news.

Demon suppression general was worried about this a few months ago. He felt that nothing was worse than this at this moment. However, he found that none of the princes in Taixia Country had formed an earth chakra of an emperor-level cultivation method at all a few days ago.

This news had just been confirmed yesterday. Through months' investigation of the clan elders in the clansmen register center, they finally confirmed it, which was even more shocking than the disappearance of Emperor Xuanyuan.

'If none of the princes of Taixia Country have promoted to an earth knight in terms of "Xuanyuan God Sutra", who's that one? Besides "Xuanyuan God Sutra", is there another complete emperor-level cultivation method in the world?'

As long as he thought about this question; especially the possible worst answer, even demon suppression general who had ignored his own life felt chilly inside...

Without Emperor Xuanyuan, even though the imperial force of Taixia Country could not frighten top sects which were ruled by sage-level old monsters such as Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Therefore, the balance between the top seven sects and the imperial household of Taixia Country which had been preserved hundreds of years would be broken.

If Xuanyuan Hill lost its head, the entire Taixia Country would lose its ruler. Chancellors, courts and major local clans, everybody and every agency would feel unsafe; plus troubles caused by Heavens Reaching Church, Taixia Country might easily be in a big chaos facing troubles domestically and foreign invasions. Before demons broke in, Taixia Country might already have a big problem inside.

When there was a big problem inside Taixia Country, as long as Taixia was fully defeated by demons in the Earth-elements Realm, Taixia country would be completely defeated on the earth's surface. That was what the demon suppression general really worried about.

This potential concern could not be solved at least now.

If Emperor Xuanyuan appeared timely, this problem could be solved; however, if he appeared a bit late, demons would not spare a chance to Taixia at all even if Emperor Xuanyuan wanted to solve this problem...