Castle of Black Iron

Not until the next day broke did Zhang Tie slowly fly back to Saint Petersburg.

It only took Ockham over 40 minutes to fly over 3,600 miles away and enter the unpopulated zone on the border of the iced land in the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness.

There was only ice, snow, and storm here. Nobody else but Zhang Tie and Ockham could be seen here. Even few living beings could be seen here. Of course, their fight would not arise the attention of anyone else. Neither were the members of Cardinal Elders Committee able to fly so far away in such a short period. Furthermore, as Ockham's spiritual energy was disrupted by people, he couldn't even send a message to his men through the remote-sensing crystal. Therefore, this entire battle process was both earth-shaking and silent. Besides Zhang Tie and Ockham, nobody else in this world knew that a fight had broken out between a powerful shadow knight and a more powerful divine dominator in the ice-capped land in the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness.

Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this fight. It was a bumper harvest for him.

After this fight, Ockham became his captive. Benefited from this, he would promote to a shadow knight more easily. It was predictable that he could at least enter the 5 change earth realm after absorbing Ockham's water chakra.

The wealth in the portable space-teleportation equipment of Ockham was even greater than that he gained from those Three-eye Association clans and the demon general in Waii Subcontinent. What made Zhang Tie more reassured was that his kinetic energy skill and the ability of divine dominator could already match the battle strength of a shadow knight completely through the test and improvement of this fight.

Although Ockham was not a top shadow knight, his battle strength was at least between 3 change shadow realm and 5 change shadow realm. Although Zhang Tie severely injured Ockham with his golden spear at the beginning before the latter made any preparation, it was his first time to defeat a shadow knight in the public by force. Being different than that fight between him and Han Zhengfang, this was a milestone fight for Zhang Tie.

When the first sunlight reached the tip of the highest tower in the Grey Palace, Zhang Tie arrived at the air territory of Saint Petersburg too. He started to slow down.

Overnight, Saint Petersburg as a whole had been heavily guarded. Looking down from the sky, Zhang Tie found that armies were mobilized both inside and outside the city. Some large-scale battle airships were patrolling around Saint Petersburg.

The moment Zhang Tie arrived there, he had been discovered. A knight rushed into the sky towards him while some battle airships also flew towards him from afar.

"Your Majesty..." Elder Toles greeted Zhang Tie with a big surprise as he continued, "Are you okay?"

"Of course, I'm okay. Oh, was there any trouble last night? Is everybody good?"

"We're all fine. There's no trouble!" After approaching Zhang Tie, Elder Toles looked at Zhang Tie carefully from head to toe. After confirming that Zhang Tie was fine, he finally became reassured as he asked, "Your Majesty, have you met Dally and the other elders?"

"No, where are they?" Zhang Tie replied as they flew back towards the Summer Palace. After those battle airships approached Zhang Tie, the crew saw clearly Zhang Tie's look. Closely after that, those fighters on those battle airships cheered up as their airships turned around.

"Last night, closely after Your Majesty and Ockham left Summer Palace, they had rushed outside. However, they couldn't see your trace; therefore, they divided into two groups and searched for you towards the north and the south respectively!"

Ice and Snow Wilderness was so large in size. Generally, as long as they left Saint Petersburg for about 120 miles, even if they were in the same direction with Zhang Tie and Ockham, they could barely meet Zhang Tie and Ockham. Additionally, over one night, old bear Dally and the other elders could at most move 600 miles. They could never approach that battle area between Zhang Tie and Ockham. Therefore, it was normal that Zhang Tie had not met them on the way back.

"I'm fine. Call them back!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. 'Although these elders of tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness didn't give me a favor last night, their loyalty satisfied me. At least, they were more loyal to me than before. Previously, a chief pastor of Sacred Light Empire could almost split up the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, it was a halos pastor from Sacred Light Empire who came here last night. Even in that case these guys still dared come out to find me, that's not bad.' Zhang Tie thought as he continued, "Is Saint Petersburg in a state of siege?"

"Yes, the entire Saint Petersburg had been in a state of siege since last night..."

"You're overreacting. Cancel it off..."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Although Elder Toles wanted to ask about the condition of Ockham, he didn't as he found Zhang Tie didn't mean to talk about that. What happened last night was too weird. Even those elders of the Cardinal Elders Committee didn't know what happened at that moment.

"Ockham will not come anymore..." Zhang Tie said calmly.

After hearing Zhang Tie's words, Elder Toles' heart pounded as Zhang Tie's reply contained many meanings...

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had arrived at the Summer Palace. At the sight of Zhang Tie coming back safe and sound, all the fighters of Thor's Hammer who were ready to fight the shadow knight of Sacred Light Empire to the end immediately cheered up, which could be heard within miles...

"Wula...Wula...Wula..."

These fighters were single-minded. No matter what, as Zhang Tie and Ockham disappeared at the same time last night; now that Zhang Tie came back alone safe and sound, it meant that Zhang Tie was the winner.

After one night's oppression and tension, so many people were waiting for the news. The cheers of the Thor's Hammer immediately drove away that oppressive and intense atmosphere like a warm current.

The collapsed part of the palace was still in clean-up; however, the loud cheers and the command of lifting the martial law and the return of those fighters to their own camps indicated that the crisis brought by that shadow knight of Sacred Light Empire had been defused. Therefore, a fervent and festive atmosphere spread over the entire Saint Petersburg at once.

When Zhang Tie returned to the Summer Palace, his wives and kids also returned to the earth surface from the hidden shelter. At the sight of Zhang Tie, all the women's eyes were filled with tears.

Many people across Saint Petersburg and the Summer Palace must be worried about Zhang Tie last night. However, Zhang Tie's lovers were more worried about Zhang Tie. They didn't sleep last night at all. Although it was just one night, when they saw Zhang Tie once again, they felt like experiencing a life or death situation.

Zhang Tie wiped off their tears one after another and finally made his women reassured.

Andre, Matvey, Alexander, Anatoli and the other kids were watching Zhang Tie with extremely adoring eyes. What they heard most were various legends about Zhang Tie's braveness and manifestations of God's will. Their moms told them their father was a real hero. Those kids did not have a concept of hero previously. However, last night, they witnessed their father's braveness and how their father alone overcame that shadow knight.

"Papa, when I grow up, I will also protect mom and all the others using my spear like how you did..." Andre raised his tiny face as he told Zhang Tie decisively with shiny eyes, "Can you teach me how to use a spear?"

After hearing Andre's words, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he stretched out his hand and touched Andre's head, "As long as you want to learn, I will teach you for sure. Besides spear, I could teach you many others skills. After you grasp them all, you will protect your moms like me by driving away the enemies!"

All the kids nodded forcefully.

"Let's go, I'm afraid that you've not had breakfast yet. Let's go and have breakfast..." Zhang Tie waved his hand.

After hearing Zhang Tie's words, the kitchen of the Summer Palace became busy at once...

...

Old wild bear Dally and the other members of Cardinal Elders Committee didn't return to the Summer Palace until 2 pm.

After all the members of Cardinal Elders Committee returned, Zhang Tie called them in a study. He had to make an explanation to these core figures of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom about what happened last night.

Zhang Tie sat on the most important seat in the study. All the elders of Cardinal Elders Committee sat on both sides of the study as they exchanged glances with each other. As a result, the entire study was in a weird atmosphere.

"Your Majesty, how about Ockham the halos pastor of Sacred Light Empire who raided the Summer Palace last night?"

Many elders wanted to ask the same question; however, only old wild bear Dally dared ask it carelessly.

Actually, Zhang Tie was waiting for someone to ask that.

"The power of Sacred Iceland Kingdom is definitely not as weak as you see, a shadow knight couldn't rock the foundation of Sacred Iceland Kingdom!" Zhang Tie said firmly and vaguely.

All the elders understood it right away. They immediately recalled that legendary heavenly knight who exterminated the entire expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire only by one blow——Last night, that mysterious heavenly knight gave a favor to His Majesty once again. That heavenly knight must be hiding somewhere in the Summer Palace last night; he must have long predicted that someone more powerful from Sacred Light Empire would launch a strike; therefore, that heavenly knight was waiting for the halos pastor to seek for death himself. That explained why Zhang Tie could come back safe and sound...

The power of a heavenly knight was out of black iron knights' imaginations. This might explain why Zhang Tie and Ockham directly disappeared in the public in a split second last night.

The elders of Cardinal Elders Committee thought that they had got the answer. Only Pontiff Sarlin threw a glance at Zhang Tie; meanwhile, he slightly frowned with a dubious eyelight; however, he didn't say anything.

"Realm, it must be the power of realm grasped by the heavenly knight..." The clan head of the mountain bear tribe, who was always taken as a rustic nodded and said loudly as if he had seen the realm of a heavenly knight...

"That heavenly knight would almost promote to a semi-sage..." The clan head of the fire bear tribe was also shocked.

Hearing their discussions and watching their looks, Zhang Tie could only speak to himself inside——I'm not cheating you. I'm telling the truth; if you misunderstand my words, don't blame me for not clarifying it to you...

...

In less than 1 day, a news had spread over Saint Petersburg. The halos pastor from Sacred Light Empire who raided the Summer Palace last night had been killed by a heavenly knight who had promoted to semi-sage. That heavenly knight was actually always the secret No. 1 knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom...

The gossip was so vivid that those who attended the evening banquet last night even swore that they had witnessed how that mysterious heavenly knight displayed his power of realm and had Ockham the halos pastor of Sacred Light Empire and His Majesty disappear in front of the public.

The gossip spread over Saint Petersburg on the 2nd day and the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom on the 3rd day.

Like how the Sacred Iceland Kingdom acquired the intelligence about the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire through various channels, Sacred Light Empire could also acquire the intelligence about the Sacred Iceland Kingdom through almost the same channels. One of the simplest methods was to pay those merchant ships who traveled between subcontinents, Western Continent and Ewentra Archipelago and many forces' offices or diplomatic agencies in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom.

After hearing this news, Sacred Light Empire was scared too much...

After another 2 days, Golden Roc Bank sent a news to the Sacred Iceland Kingdom as the intermediator. The pope of Sacred Light Empire had already dispatched a special envoy to Ice and Snow Wilderness for diffusing the disputes between the two countries...

Now that a special envoy would arrive, it meant that the Sacred Light Empire really wanted to sue for peace...