Castle of Black Iron

6 days later, over 40 airboats landed on the open land in the south of Weishui River.

The moment the airboats landed, those fully-armored fighters of Fiery-Dragon Corps had walked out of the airboats in teams, followed by those wholly new wheeled dark green armored vehicles which drove out of the stern of the airboats.

These armored vehicles were much greater and flatter than the ordinary armored vehicles in Taixia Country. Two tentacle-like steel pipes stretched out of the top of this kind of vehicle. There was a huge oil tank under the armor in the back of this armored vehicle. This kind of armored vehicle could start and move rapidly and flexibly. It only emitted euphonious and muffled sounds from its engine and heatwaves from the air-bleed hole...

Being not far from the airport, a wholly new battle fortress was the new encampment of these fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps. After getting off the airboats, these fighters had started to quickly unload weaponry from the airboats. The entire encampment then became boisterous...

Only in one hour, 50,000 armored fighters with weaponry had stood solemnly in front of Zhang Tie in 5 formations and waited for Zhang Tie's review.

...

"Corps leader, Zhang Wumu as well as the 50,000 officers and fighters of No. 1 corps of Fire-Dragon Corps have been ready..."

A over 2-m high heavily armored tough man with a 1.7 m high battle crossbow on his back reported to Zhang Tie loudly in front of the team on an open land near the bank of Weishui River.

This tough man had been mentioned before. He was Zhang Tie's "senior fellow apprentice" in Hidden Dragon Island, who ranked top 3 on the battle strength rankings and family donation rankings in Hidden Dragon Island, a clan disciple of Huaiyuan Palace being close to Lan Yunxi.

When in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Wumu was well-known. He was even famous as Fiery King kong among the disciples of Huaiyuan Palace. At that time, he was much more eminent than Zhang Tie. Even Zhang Tie would call him senior fellow apprentice in Hidden Dragon Island.

However, as time went by, after Zhang Tie who was only a bit famous among the clan disciples of Huaiyuan Palace in Hidden Dragon Island became Huaiyuan Palace's clan elder, the two people's positions and prospects had seen a sharp difference.

As of now, Zhang Tie had promoted to an earth knight and was known across the country. Besides, he had become the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace, the head of Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect and the Weiji General of the western theater of operations of Taixia Country. His status was even greater than that of Zhang Taixuan the head of Huaiyuan Palace. Given the past performance of Zhang Wumu, Zhang Tie appointed him as a valiant general of Fiery-Dragon Corps.

Zhang Wumu was a disciple of Elder Muyuan's branch in Goldensea City. Because Elder Muyuan and Zhang Tie both came from the branch of Goldensea City, the relationship between Elder Muyuan and Zhang Tie was a bit closer than that between other elders and Zhang Tie. Therefore, after Zhang Tie established Fire-Dragon Corps in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Elder Muyuan recommended Zhang Wumu to Zhang Tie. In the beginning, Zhang Wumu just served as an ordinary officer in Fire-Dragon Corps. After promoting many times, he finally became the leader of No. 1 corps of Fire-Dragon Corps, which was the most powerful corps in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.

It was actually not the first time for Zhang Wumu to be Zhang Tie's subordinate. When Zhang Tie took over the Hurricane Corps of Huaiyuan Palace in Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Wumu served as an officer of Hurricane Corps. He might feel a bit jealous of Zhang Tie at that time; however, after Zhang Tie promoted to an earth knight, this former senior fellow apprentice was only in awe of Zhang Tie while his jealousy had completely disappeared. In the hearts of Zhang Wumu and the other disciples of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie's experience in Hidden Dragon Island seemingly became their glory.

——Would I have to tell you that Elder Mushen and I met each other every day as classmates in Hidden Dragon Island and fought demons in Heavenly Cold City?

This sentence could definitely rank first among the awe-inspiring words of the young generation of Huaiyuan Palace. If those young disciples of Huaiyuan Palace who had heard about Zhang Tie in Hidden Dragon Island and joined the task of exterminating Zhen Clan in Heavenly Cold City together with Zhang Tie said this sentence when they were full and almost drunk, they would instantly become the focus of everybody at present and win a lot of awe-stricken eye light.

Zhang Wumu had heard this sentence from others; however, he felt bashful speaking it.

As for "senior fellow apprentice", who, in Huaiyuan Palace, dared say that they were the senior fellow apprentices of Zhang Tie the grand elder of Zhang family? If someone was caught despising the clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace, their prospect in the clan would be stygian for sure. Even their family members and friends might be involved...

As Zhang Tie was familiar with Zhang Wumu, after Zuoqiu Mingyue requested Zhang Tie to assign 50,000 fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps to the theater of operations, Zhang Tie directly dispatched Zhang Wumu and the No. 1 corps of Fire-Dragon Corps here.

Zhang Wumu's voice was stentorian while he was spirited and ambitious. After glancing over Zhang Wumu and those fighters behind him, Zhang Tie nodded. Closely after that, he pointed at the over 5 miles wide billowy Weishui River while his voice entered the ears of all the 50,000 fighters, "We're here for a fight. From today on, this place would be your battlefield. Perhaps after a short period, a multitude of LV 9 demon fighters would rush over here from the opposite bank. Are you afraid of that..."

"No, we're not!" 50,000 fighters held high their sabers and swords while roaring furiously.

"If we were afraid of death, we would have not been soldiers!" Zhang Wumu watched the river with a solemnly look as he replied loudly, "Even if all the 50,000 fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps die here, we swear to save our cost. We will never lose face for corps leaders!"

"Good!" Zhang Tie nodded as he looked around before saying, "Demons are not almighty; they also have flesh and blood. If we kill a demon at the cost of our own lives and have gray-haired men bid farewell to black-haired men, kids would lose their fathers, wives would lose their men, elders would lose their sons, then we're not the real heroes. You have to kill demons by staying alive. You have to return alive and tell your sons and grandsons the story about how their fathers killed demons at the bank of Weishui River in the future. Only such people would be real heroes in my eyes and would make me glorified. Tell me whether you can make it or not?"

"Yes, we can!" 50,000 people answered in unison in high spirits.

"Good. Remember what you said. Men should never break their promise. You're elites of Fire-Dragon Corps. No matter what kind of demons you meet, as long as you deal with them according to the skills that you've been trained over the past 2 years, you will not be afraid of any enemy. I will also fight and bleed with you here to the end. If you fight to death, I will avenge your death. In the future, all of your kids will be the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect..."

"Long live!"

"Long live!"

"Long live!"

All the 50,000 fighters were extremely hyper while their morale reached the zenith...

...