Castle of Black Iron
Castle of Black Iron - Chapter 1988: Five Years

Starting from the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, after Zhang Tie destroyed the three major demon camps and killed four sage-level demon knights, the overall situation facing Taixia Country had been immediately reversed in an overwhelming manner like surging rivers. As a result, the armies in Taixia Country which were always in defense started to attack. They broke into the territory under the control of demons and started to recover their lost territory. Only after more than half a year, Taixia forces had already regained Ganzhou Province, Liangzhou Province, Yuzhou Province and Anzhou Province which were once occupied and managed by massive demon forces in order to threaten Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and humans’ defense line at Tongguan Pass.

Even historians considered it as a symbolic event which should be spoken highly off. As it was the first time for Taixia forces to resume its lost territory on a large scale and for demon forces and knights to retreat since the holy war broke out, it was a great turn for humans on the battlefields.

Like the great turn on the oriental battle fields, the north and south battle lines on the Western Continent also came to a turn.

Since the 932nd year of Black Iron Calendar, the allied forces on the Western Continent had suddenly found that those puppet forces of the Sacred Alliance Empire slowed down their offensive tempo. In the beginning, the Sacred Alliance Empire decreased its offensive tempo on the land along with the use of fiery-oil weapons. Then, the air cavalries of Sacred Alliance Empire became slow to respond to attacks of humans in the air; instead, more wing demons appeared. Through constant tentative attacks, the allied human forces on the Western Continent had already secured its advantage in the sky. Later on, through a holistic analysis of intelligence, the allied human forces on the Western Continent finally confirmed that Sacred Alliance Empire couldn’t produce fiery oil within its territory anymore.

As for armies that had been used to rely on fiery oil, as long as they lost fiery oil, it meant that their planes would not fly anymore. Besides, all the fighters would lack frightening fiery-oil weapons. On this occasion, even though the forces of Sacred Alliance Empire had demons on their backs, it was also impossible for them to maintain the previous offensive tempo.

Additionally, when demons’ three major camps were destroyed overnight in Taixia Country, people on the Western Continent could barely see major camps that gathered a large batch of demons anymore. Even the two major demon camps within the territory of Sacred Alliance Empire had disappeared overnight. On this occasion, the morale of allied human forces on the Western Continent soared. After stabilizing the north and the south battle lines, they finally started to launch counterattacks in some theaters of operations.

Through half a year’s preparation, on May 1, the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, also the same day when Zhang Tie took a mass pledge in Xuanyuan Hill, , the allied human forces in the south and the north battle lines on the Western Continent finally started a massive counter-attack. Meanwhile, human forces rapidly took the upper hand on both Eastern Continent and Western Continent. The forces of demons and demon lackeys started to collapse like avalanches.

In June, the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie arrived at the battlefield in Taixia Country. In the same month, hundreds of corps of top four armies like Black Armor Army, God’s Will Army and Forbidden Army divided into five main forces and respectively broke in demon’s territory from Tongguan Pass, Ganzhou Province, Liangzhou Province, Yuzhou Province and Anzhou Province which had already been resumed in an overwhelming manner like splitting bamboo. On the 934th year of Black Iron Calendar, the allied human forces continued to recover Xianzhou Province, Pingzhou Province, Jingzhou Province, Dingzhou Province and Luozhou Province. The whole country was in a festive atmosphere.

…

In April, Weishui River had long thawed. From the sky, the Weishui River was running like a green belt on the ground. At noon, the sun was hanging over the sky. The huge air-borne battle fortress of Taixia Country flew over here from the east, leaving a sliding huge shadow on the devastated land.

A 1,000 m high demon battle fortress was standing on the east bank of Weishui River like an odd-looking tree. Only after a short while, the shadow of human battle fortress had covered the demon battle fortress.

Many beetles with iron scales were looking up at the human battle fortress in the sky on the ground nearby the demon battle fortress. Apparently, some iron-scaled beetles appeared to be intense as they were running about. Some beetles were spurting out mucus towards the sky. However, the mucus that the beetle spurted out could at most reach dozens of meters high. Therefore, their attack could be ignored by the air-borne battle fortress which was at dozens of thousands of meters high in the sky. It was like how ants crawling on the ground wanted to drown an eagle hovering in the sky with their saliva.

The responses of those beetles were instantly transmitted to the demon battle fortress. At the same time, the demon battle fortress which looked like an odd-looking towering tree appeared to feel a danger as it started to spew black fog out of its mouthparts, which covered the air zone in the nearby.

However, all these were in vain.

As long as demon battle fortress completely transformed, it would not move anymore. Without the protection of other demons, its air-defense ability would almost become zero.

Pitifully, within 600 miles around that huge airborne battle fortress, they couldn’t see any demon knight at all. There were only a few wing demons.

When the demon battle fortress was spewing out black fog forcefully, a hot-white lightning bolt shot down from the human battle fortress in the sky, crushing the demon battle fortress on the ground immediately like a sandcastle encountering tsunami on the sand beach. In an instant, the ground within a few square miles around that demon battle fortress was swept over by the terrifying great heat and strong impact wave. Those beetles on the ground nearby this demon battle fortress were instantly vaporized and perished…

Only after a few seconds, the ground where the demon battle fortress was located left nothing but a huge pit. Meanwhile, some beetles over 10,000 m away from the demon battle fortress screeched with great grief and ran about on the ground like headless flies.

On the air-borne battle fortress, Zhang Tie slowly drew back his hand with a faint frown. When he watched Weishui River in front of him, he still felt fidgety out of no reason.

Hundreds of generals and knights of Taixia Country were watching his back. As a result, very few people noticed that Zhang Tie had just destroyed a demon battle fortress on the ground. In the eyes of these generals and knights, without the protection of demon knights, demon battle fortresses were destined to turn into ashes. Even the air cavalries behind them could easily destroy that demon battle fortress on the ground.

Just now, Zhang Tie might only want to enjoy himself just like how people who walked on the riverside would skip stones on the river occasionally.

These generals and knights of Taixia Country behind Zhang Tie had not seen him launch a strike for almost 2 years. Zhang Tie’s latest attack was in Ningzhou Province. At that time, a heavenly demon knight was in 600 miles away from this battle fortress. Zhang Tie then flew out of the battle fortress. Only after about 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had taken back the head of a heavenly iron-armored demon knight. From then on, there was no target on the battlefields which was worth Zhang Tie’s attack.

Nobody behind Zhang Tie spoke. Over these years, everyone behind him had formed a habit. As long as Zhang Tie didn’t send an order to have them stop. This air-borne battle fortress which worked as the vanguard of the five major forces of Taixia Country would keep flying forward and crush all the enemies that they could see on the way. Nobody could prevent them. All the obstacles on the way could be ignored in front of this airborne battle fortress. Everyone was deeply convinced that they could clean up demons all the way to the Realm of Disasters…

“Stop…” Zhang Tie opened his mouth. He didn’t turn around; instead, he just raised his hand. Closely after that, the airborne battle fortress which was slowly flowing in the sky came to a stop. “We will wait for the ground forces and the other major forces here. When Weishui River freezes in winter, we will cross the river. After that, we will pluck up our courage to drive all the demons back into the earth, end the holy war on the earth’s surface and resume the lost land of the whole country…”

After hearing Zhang Tie’s words, those generals and knights behind him instantly became thrilled as their eyes almost beamed. Right on the opposite of the Weishui River, demons were still occupying Yinzhou Province, Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province, Yezhou Province and the area from wild provinces to the Realm of Disasters. They would regain these areas sooner or later. However, the speed of recovery didn’t depend on these knights who served as vanguards, but how fast the army corps of engineers behind the five major ground forces paved railways and build roads. Only after they fixed railways and roads could the logistics personnel behind them transport materials forward constantly and stabilize the ground forces.

…

As the airborne battle fortress stopped in the air above the south bank of Weishui River, thousands of knights had already hurriedly flown out of the airborne battle fortress squads after squads and started to wipe out the region within thousands of miles. Generally, after they wiped out this region, the air cavalries of Taixia Country would carry out another round of search and attack here. After that, the vanguard ground troops would arrive, followed by the four major forces of the top four armies. Dozens of corps of engineers were following the four major forces and fixing railways, roads and airports for field operations at their utmost efforts. After that, provincial forces arrived. Finally, the first batch of local officials and officers and experts from all walks of life and business groups which had discovered business opportunities…

There were few demon knights within 600 miles in the sky. Therefore, those knights who were responsible for wiping out demons firstly swore inside. They knew that another batch of people had already penetrated through this region earlier than them——the knights of major sects and clans in Taixia Country.

When Taixia Country was in a poor overall situation in the holy war, these major sects and clans behaved more conservatively than regular troops of Taixia Country as they all hid somewhere for the sake of their own safety. When the overall situation started to reverse, these major sects and clans behaved more radical and dauntless than the regular troops of Taixia Country. As a result, all the conservative major sects and clans which hid themselves for the sake of their safety scrambled to assign their elites to the battlefields and served as the vanguards of the countries’ regular forces voluntarily.

It had almost been 5 years since Zhang Tie left Xuanyuan Hill and took a mass pledge. The overall situation facing the holy war had long been greatly reversed…

However, not knowing why, Zhang Tie always felt restless these days…