Castle of Black Iron

Three days later, at dusk, in the Knights' tent outside the valley...

"Elder Cologne, here are this month's earth-element crystals..." a 50-year old man in a brilliant silk robe took out a crate and opened it in front of Cologne. There were 3 golden earth-element crystals in the crate. "As the Class II warning has not been canceled off, these crystals arrived here a bit late, sorry for that!"

"Is everything okay with Bayon Kingdom?" The knight Cologne put away the crate as he asked.

"Everything is okay. Several days ago, the demon general traveled to Bayon Kingdom and didn't find nothing abnormal!" That 50-year old man replied respectfully.

"Hmm, please tell the head, Adam, to be more vigilant these days. When the Class II warning is canceled off, I will return to Salent City!"

"Yes, sir, thanks for your warning!"

Elder Cologne waved his hands. The 50-year old guy then moved backward and left the tent.

After seeing off that guy, Cologne rubbed the 3 earth-element crystals in his hands as he told Sessie with a smile, "Thank God, my February's earth-element crystals finally arrived. I will not waste time in the next few days. When will your earth-element crystals arrive?"

"Hoho, I've already received the February's earth-element crystals before I came here!" Knight Sessie smiled, "You can cultivate here, I will take a look outside for a while!"

"Okay!"

Sessie then left the tent. With two earth-element crystals in the left hand, one in the right hand, Cologne started to cultivate with closed eyes. The tent was gradually filled with knight's enshrouding battle qi...

After Sessie left, a little, black beetle threw a glance at Cologne before flying away from the bottom of the arm-rack to the outside of the tent through a tunnel that he had just dug these days.

As a knight, Cologne could maintain a powerful perceptive and protective ability even if he was cultivating in elements realm. The enshrouding battle qi over this tent was equal to his tentacles and armor. Anyone appeared in the tent would be sensed by him. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn't think this was a good chance to launch an attack on him.

However, Zhang Tie didn't waste time in the tent in the past three days as the one whom he was waiting for arrived just now.

The exit of the tunnel dug by the little, black beetle was right below a rock over 5 m away from the tent. After leaving the tent silently, the beetle appeared below that rock. After throwing a glance at Knight Sessie above the valley, the beetle set off too and flew towards a medium-sized airship which had landed in the far.

That man in a brilliant silk robe put on a bear-hide coat after leaving the tent. He directly strode towards that airship. After shaking off the snowflakes from his coat, he looked up at the cloudy sky before boarding the airship.

"Go back to Salent City!"

The man whose voice was humble in the tent became imposing at this moment.

The crew of the airship became busy right away. After 2 minutes, the airship set off towards Salent City.

Nobody found that one more person had boarded this airship.

Zhang Tie had determined his mind to have a fierce protracted guerrilla with demons and Three-eye Association in the demon's area across the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. As long as he was in the demon's zone, he would not let demons and Three-eye Association live well.

'As long as I could restrict the most part of forces of demons and Three-eye Association within the north of Blackson Humans Corridor, it'd be equal to saving numerous humans' lives.' Zhang Tie knew that what he chose would make his parents proud of him.

'It's just a soul-chasing butterfly. I don't think that I would be defeated by a butterfly. From today on, after doing each killing spree, this father will stay in Castle of Black Iron or wander in the outside in my incarnation for 2 months. Until the soul-chasing butterfly dies will I come out of Castle of Black Iron and do another killing spree. Even if the demon general has 10,000 soul-chasing butterflies, he's destined to eat my sh*t behind me. Although I was unable to defeat the demon general by force, as long as I don't collide with it, it would be useless.'

Zhang Tie didn't believe that the Class II warning across the demon's zone would not be canceled off.

By adopting this tactic, the only cost of Zhang Tie was 2 months' lifespan of soul-chasing butterflies, during which period, he could not cultivate to form his chakra in Castle of Black Iron or in the state of incarnation.

After promoting to a knight, the priority of Zhang Tie was to form his chakra. Therefore, Zhang Tie's next step was mainly targeting at earth-element crystals of Three-eye Association.

Those Three-eye Association clans with employed knights would provide some earth-element crystals to their employed knights per month. The earth-element crystals could not be gained from earth-element realm whenever they wanted; therefore, those clans must have some storage of earth-element crystals in confidential places.

Zhang Tie's next target was Lukas Clan in Bayon Kingdom.

Zhang Tie had enough time to discover the stored earth-element crystals of Lukas Clan. When he discovered them, Lukas Clan had to exterminate.

...

When the airship set off at dusk. After flying for less than 2 hours, it became completely dark. Besides the crew, all the guards and that 50-year old deacon of Lukas Clan who brought the 3 earth-element crystals to Cologne in Highcloud Empire went to bed after having some food.

At midnight, that airship was still flying in the heavy snow and the chilly, wuthering wind. By contrast, the berth cabin of that deacon of Lukas Clan was pretty warm. It was the only room connected to the boiler engine room of the airship.

The blinds of the window were pulled down, the crystal fluorescent lamp was shaded. As a result, the entire berth cabin was pitch-dark, except for the faint sounds caused by the friction between the chains and the gears that drifted from the boiler engine room.

Zhang Tie appeared in the deacon's berth cabin silently while his eyes radiated a weird light. After touching the head of the deacon who had fallen asleep, Zhang Tie disappeared at once. It took him less than 0.5 second to finish this action...

That deacon turned over on the bed and had good dreams one after another...

On the second day, when he got up, he found a little, black beetle lying on his stomach on the table. All in a sudden, the deacon who always hated insects, felt happy inside. He felt that little beetle was very cute. Coincidentally, he was thinking about feeding a special pet food so as to relieve his mood when he was free. This little beetle looked proper.

After putting on his clothes, that deacon carefully took that little, black beetle and put it in his sleeve. After finding that the insect just stayed in his sleeve, he burst out into laughter at once as he felt this little beetle was destined to be his pet...

'I have to keep this as a secret. If someone else finds out that I have a pet in my sleeve, those members of Lukas Clan may not feel that I'm reliable. In that case, I will end up losing my bright future.' The Deacon thought.

...

Two days later, this medium-sized airship finally arrived at Salent City, the capital city of Bayon Kingdom after accomplished its task.

Being close to Golan Empire and one of the earliest countries that were collapsed by demons in Blackson Humans Corridor, Bayon Kingdom was severely managed by demons, especially its capital city, Salent City.

Right outside Salent City, over 30 grave tower demons were standing, the number of which was larger than that in any place that Zhang Tie had ever seen.

Only less than 2 million of the former 6 million people survived in this city, which was once prosperous. All the remaining people had been converted into demonized puppets, who had surged towards the south 1 month ago.

Therefore, Salent City looked a bit deserted at this moment.

...

After getting off the airship, Prudden, the very deacon of Lukas Clan became spirited and hurriedly headed for the imperial palace.

In the car, Prudden watched the streets which looked emptier after the snow. He then touched the inside of his sleeve and found that cute, little, black beetle was still there. Therefore, he became happy at once.

After passing some checks, Prudden finally met Adam, the head of Lukas Clan and the king of Bayon Kingdom in a warm room with fresh flowers.

After reporting to the head, Prudden left the imperial palace.

Before he left the imperial palace, he touched the inside of his sleeve and found that little, black beetle had disappeared.

'Perhaps, that little thing went for food. It might come back soon!' Prudden thought...

...

Two days later, when Prudden came to the imperial palace once again, he saw the little, black beetle entering his sleeve directly.

Prudden was deeply moved...