Castle of Black Iron

During the 40-odd days when he stayed in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie ate more than 50 king kong fruits and two fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps. Benefited from that, his explosive force increased by 2 more times. Additionally, with the baptism of the pair of huge golden locks which weighed 1,200 tons, his physical strength and spiritual energy both improved rapidly. What was more, he had already reached 7 change realm of the heavenly knight. Therefore, this Cui Li was far more powerful than the former one.

It was no exaggeration to say that Zhang Tie had reached a new height after leaving Castle of Black Iron. It was also the process that power should experience. Powers referred to those who ascended to one peak from another.

It was a distance of about 200,000 miles from the land to the Mountain Ruins. Zhang Tie had already experienced it before. If Zhang Tie activated his ability of Divine Dominator, it would just be a few hours of flight. However, now that he wanted to pretend to be an average heavenly knight who looked harmless to others, he had to move towards Mountain Ruins slowly.

Of course, the speed of about 1,000 m per second was as slow as that of a snail for Zhang Tie. However, in the eyes of the other immortal generals, it was already a pretty high speed.

Theoretically, if he stuck to this speed, it would take 4 days to reach the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer. Actually, most of the heavenly knights couldn't do it; because such a "high" speed meant a great consumption of one's battle qi. As Zhang Tie cultivated Infinite King Roc Sutra, he could acquire battle qi constantly and wouldn't worry about running out of his battle qi in flight no matter how long he flew. He was absolutely a freak. By contrast, the other heavenly knights who cultivated other secret methods had to consider the consumption of their battle qi at any time in such a long flight.

Mountain Ruins was the battlefield of powers. It contained a lot of unexpected dangers. All the people who rushed towards Mountain Ruins would keep a high battle force when they entered Mountain Ruins. Therefore, it would take most of the wind immortal generals over 10 days, even longer time to reach the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer. Most of them would choose to replenish their energy on the 1st day or the 15th day of one month so that they could enter Mountain Ruins in the best states.

As for most of the heavenly knights who prepared to enter Mountain Ruins for the first time, the process of rushing towards Mountain Ruins was a tough test for them. During the long flight, they had to consume a lot of energy yet without any reliance.

Zhang Tie flew at an average speed. When he entered the airspace of 6,000 miles high, everything in front of his eyes was uncovered. At such a height, besides cold heavy wind, there was nothing else, airboats or air-floating mountains where people could have a rest in. Additionally, immortal generals below heavenly knights couldn't reach such a height at all. Therefore, the continuous clouds became endless white carpets under his foot, which covered all the domains, no matter big, medium-sized, or small.

After reaching the high airspace, Zhang Tie felt as if he had entered into another world. Besides loneliness and cold wind, nothing else could be seen in the sky.

After entering the high airspace, Zhang Tie started to control his flight speed like other wind immortal generals. He spent half a day in flying at a speed of 1,000 m per second and the other half a day in flying at a speed of about 200 m per second so as to "recover his physical and spiritual strength".

If he wanted to enter Mountain Ruins, he had to repeat this boring and monotonous flight process.

In this way, Zhang Tie believed that even Versatile Demon Emperor couldn't recognize that he was Zhang Tie even if Versatile Demon Emperor passed by him.

...

Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he would arrive at the bottom of Ice and fire Heavenly Wind Layer alone in this way; unexpectedly, on the 5th day since he entered the high airspace, he had met a partner.

In the beginning, that guy just flew at a speed of about 200 m per second hundreds of miles away. At this speed, that immortal general could take a rest and recover his mental and physical strength. Strangely, that guy just went around in circles horizontally; instead, of moving upward.

When Zhang Tie caught sight of him, that guy also noticed Zhang Tie. In the beginning, Zhang Tie just ignored him. However, after seeing Zhang Tie, that guy changed his route and slightly sped up towards Zhang Tie.

'Is that a trap of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace? Impossible! Those surging points at my shrine palace and spine have been mixed with some primordial energy with the effect of soul-washing pills. The small item that Versatile Demon Emperor develops couldn't sense my existence anymore; nor could he have people wait for me here...'

As some whims flashed by, Zhang Tie continued to fly towards Mountain Ruins silently; meanwhile, he kept an eye on that stranger who was approaching him.

The stranger was an old man in white beard and hair. With a red, healthy face, his hair was neat. Given his qi, he should also be a heavenly knight. Given his look, he was like a mortal being; yet in a colorful robe which looked like the ragged robe of beggars. He looked weird with individuality. Additionally, a black hairpin was inserted into his hair obliquely. Additionally, this old man's eyes felt very energetic... which looked a bit like... how Donder lay on his sling chair outside the gate of his grocery store and observed the passers-by on the street...

"Ahem... ahem... friend, are you also heading for Mountain Ruins?" The old man opened his mouth from 1,000 m away which was taken as a "safe distance" between the two strange heavenly knights.

"Yes, I'm heading for Mountain Ruins..." Zhang Tie took a look at the old man as he said in a muffled sound.

"Hahaha, what a coincidence. I'm also heading for Mountain Ruins. Friend, do you mind going there together with me? We could look after each other on the way..." the old man said as if he was familiar with Zhang Tie.

As Zhang Tie was confused about this old man's intention, he just flew silently.

After receiving no response, the old man appeared recalling something at a stroke as he continued with a smile, "Erm, do you think I'm a shadow demon? Friend, I've not imagined that you're so meticulous. It's good to be meticulous. You will not be cheated. If you recognize the wrong person in Mountain Ruins, you might lose your life," the old man muttered as he took out a demon-detector needle out of his sleeve and stabbed it into his finger. He then dripped blood onto his demon-detector needle. The demon-detector needle didn't make any response to it. After that, he continued to talk to Zhang Tie, "Friend, now you know I'm not a shadow demon..."

Zhang Tie just watched his performance silently. It was Zhang Tie's first time to see someone prove his innocence by dripping his blood on a portable demon-detector needle. Therefore, Zhang Tie became confused. It was like how those salesmen who knocked at your door and promoted their products or those liars nearby railway stations. Those people would like to prove their innocence the moment they started a talk with you for the sake of your trust.

To be honest, this was an odd trick.

Zhang Tie just felt weird about this heavenly knight who behaved that eagerly in front of a stranger.

"Alright, I believe that you're not a demon..." Zhang Tie opened his mouth like an innocent muscular guy, "But I was told that those being affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus couldn't be detected by a demon-detector needle. Don't try to cheat me..."

"You know Golden-Soul Rune Virus?"

"What? Why not?" Zhang Tie glared at the old man.

"Ahem, ahem, you must have misunderstood me. I mean you must know that Emperor NvWa Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace had already developed something that could be used to discover Golden-Soul Rune Virus. But I don't have that widget. So I can't prove my innocence by it even if I want to..." the old man shrugged while he said helplessly.

Zhang Tie kept flying upward silently. The old man then followed Zhang Tie upward silently too. When the old man sped up, he could also reach about 1,000 m per second as same as Zhang Tie.

At the same time, the old man started to glance at Zhang Tie's sturdy frame and face as he kept rolling his eyes. Nobody knew what he was thinking about. After over 10 minutes of silent flight, as he found that Zhang Tie didn't urge him to stay away, the old man opened his mouth again, "Oh, my surname is Jiang, my given name is Hu. May I know your name, friend?"

Zhang Tie just took a look at the old man as if he was still a bit vigilant. After a few seconds, he replied, "I'm Cui Li!"

"Hahaha, Li, at the sight of you, I've know that you're a tough man!" After knowing Zhang Tie's name, the old man instantly called him "Li" as he continued with a solemn look, "Look at you, you could even match an ox-headed demon. Li, don't blame me for having a big mouth, I was born to be talkative. I like to make friends. Don't worry, I'm not a bad guy. I used to stay in Iron Cloud Medium-sized Domain. I have a nickname Immortal Being in Clouds. Li, if you have any friends in Iron Cloud Medium-sized Domain, you could ask them about my popularity. I didn't cheat you..."