Castle of Black Iron
Castle of Black Iron - Chapter 2008: Killing the Craftiest Man

At this moment, those imperial guards outside Nine-Heavens Palace appeared to be frozen. One knight had just left the ground and was going to charge at Zhang Tie; the other had already drawn out his long sword and tilted his body forward as he wanted to block Zhang Tie; however, when Zhang Tie strode in Nine-Heavens Palace, the two knights were both fastened by an invisible force. The knight in the air maintained his gesture when he left the ground; the other knight who wanted to block Zhang Tie was also holding high his long sword still.

A force that was similar to that of one’s private realm yet was greater than it had already covered the entire royal palace.

Not only the two imperial guards outside the gate, besides Xuanyuan Changying, everyone else in the Nine-Heavens Palace was being frozen by that great force. They could neither utter any voice nor make any movement besides moving their eyes and head.

Zhang Tie’s sudden arrival greatly shocked all the major officials and officers in the palace. They also found that they couldn’t make any movement anymore at this moment as they were frozen by a terrifying qi including their spiritual energy, battle qi and bodies.

They could see, hear and move their heads; however, they couldn’t do anything else including uttering a voice.

So did Meng Shidao. He just watched Zhang Tie with great shock and disbelief on his face.

Being thrilled, Xuanyuan Changying found the weird behaviors of all the others in the palace immediately. Although Zhang Tie appeared, those officers and officials in the palace didn’t have to stay still and remain silent at all.

‘What happens…’

Zhang Tie remained unchanged; however, his qi felt a bit strange.

Zhang Tie didn’t feel powerful; instead, he felt pretty leisure and comfortable like a teenager; instead of a knight.

“You’re really… Zhang Tie?” Watching Zhang Tie walking over here calmly, Xuanyuan Changying stammered. Even though Zhang Tie had already walked to the front of him, Xuanyuan Changying still didn’t believe that this man was Zhang Tie.

Immortal Qianji had disappeared in the space crack in the battle at Yinhai Desert. How could he suddenly appear in the royal palace all in this way? All these were weird and hard to understand for Xuanyuan Changying. Therefore, he had a lot of questions about that.

‘Is this Zhang Tie disguised by a wing demon?’ Xuanyuan Changying was ready to take precautions against Zhang Tie when this whim occurred to him.

“Brother Changying, I am Zhang Tie. Please take it easy. You will know everything in the future…”

Zhang Tie had already predicted the responses of everyone in the palace; therefore, he instantly controlled the entire royal palace the moment he arrived. Besides Xuanyuan Changying who was still able to move to a certain degree, all the others could only watch Zhang Tie and listen to his words at this moment. Zhang Tie was especially here to kill Meng Shidao and cleaning the biggest threat facing Taixia Country; instead of holding a public hearing with those major officials and officers in the palace on revealing the crimes of the premier.

Although Xuanyuan Changying always missed Zhang Tie, he found that he didn’t know what to say in front of Zhang Tie; instead, he could only watch Zhang Tie walking towards Meng Shidao calmly.

Watching Meng Shidao’s amazed look, Zhang Tie slightly shook his head. In his “dream”, Zhang Tie saw Meng Shidao leaving Nine-Heavens Palace. After that, the entire country faced a great catastrophe. Who knew that the most insidious and dangerous enemy facing Hua people were not Abyss Throne and tens of thousands of demon knights who ate humans’ hearts and dug out humans’ brains in the frontline, but the premier whose power was closely next to Crown Prince Changying?

“Do you want to say something to me?” Zhang Tie asked Meng Shidao.

Closely after Zhang Tie’s words, Meng Shidao found that he could open his mouth.

After hundreds of whims occurred to him, Meng Shidao asked Zhang Tie as he pretended to be calm in front of so many officers and officials in the palace, “What do you want?”

“I want to kill you!” Zhang Tie replied. Almost at the same time, he punched at Meng Shidao and shattered the entire person, one of the three top chancellors in Taixia Country, in front of those officials and officers in the palace.

Watching that blood mist in front of him, Zhang Tie flicked his finger. Closely after that, a terrifying chakra flame appeared out of void and burned up the blood mist, leaving nothing at all.

Although those officials and officers in Taixia Country couldn’t move, almost all of them had been petrified by this scene, including Xuanyuan Changying…

As one of the three top chancellors of Taixia Country, the leader of the Gobbling Party and a sage-level knight, Meng Shidao was talking about national affairs with the others just now; however, in such a short period of time, Zhang Tie had suddenly appeared and killed him in front of them like killing an ant in the Nine-Heavens Palace. They might not even see such a crazy scene in their dreams. However, it truly happened right in front of their eyes.

After killing Meng Shidao, Zhang Tie suddenly felt that a mountain in his heart was moved away. All of a sudden, he felt relaxed. Although Meng Shidao was just a semi-sage level knight, it felt even cooler than killing an immortal emperor for Zhang Tie.

“That thing being suppressed by Xuanyuan Sword beneath the royal palace is too dangerous. As for the royal households, that thing is a gold ore and rarity which could be explored and a bottomless abyss and source of disaster. That thing couldn’t be left in this world any longer!”

After killing Meng Shidao, Zhang Tie left some words to Xuanyuan Changying secretly. After that, he turned around and walked out of the palace in one step. Then, he disappeared in front of Xuanyuan Changying.

Everything in the palace was still frozen. The rain that fell off the eaves were still in the air. All the humans and things in the palace were still too. With only one step, Zhang Tie had entered the Imperial Ancestral Temple inside the royal palace. In a backroom that was designed for Emperor Xuanyuan to meditate in, a secret tunnel leading to the underground space had been opened.

Zhang Tie then walked in frankly. The tunnel was full of traps and thick metal doors. Even the walls were made of alloy steel and heavy lead which could isolate sound and spiritual strength. However, these things were useless in front of Zhang Tie. All the doors had been fully opened before Zhang Tie approached them. Of course, those traps were useless for him.

At the end of the tunnel, Zhang Tie saw the two items in a backroom at the deepest place of the royal palace which he saw in “dream”: the bright Xuanyuan Sword which was suspending in the air and the huge heart under the sword.

That heart was almost like a human heart. However, it was many times bigger than that of a human heart. The entire heart was giving out crimson light. Its surface looked like being covered with magma which was cooling down. Additionally, that heart would jump once per 10-odd seconds. Additionally, it was releasing a qi which was even much more terrifying and powerful than that of a sage-level knight.

Zhang Tie tried to move the heart into his portable space-teleportation equipment; however, he couldn’t. Zhang Tie wondered when Emperor Xuanyuan or Dragon Emperor acquired this heart. However, evidently, Emperor Xuanyuan and Dragon Emperor must have treated this heart as the key and tunnel leading to the greater power. Therefore, they didn’t destroy it. Otherwise, with the power of Xuanyuan Sword and the emperor-level secret method, even though Emperor Xuanyuan was only a sage-level knight, he could also destroy this heart at his full efforts.

Zhang Tie guessed that this heart belonged to a substitute of Demon Overlord who arrived here hundreds of millions of years ago. Given the qi of this heart, Zhang Tie knew the substitute of Demon Overlord who arrived here had already formed 4 immortal chakras. Fortunately, at that time, people killed his substitute through common efforts or a superhero appeared and killed him, leaving his heart alone.

Last time, in his “dream”, Zhang Tie remembered that Demon Overlord would like to arrive at this world again through this heart. It might be the most important task for Meng Shidao to protect this heart in Xuanyuan Hill.

The small tower of Infinite Immortal Prison directly flew out of Zhang Tie’s mouth. Feeling the existence of Demon Overlord’s heart, the small tower started to fly around the heart fast as if it was very happy. Before Zhang Tie sent an order, the small tower had opened its portal and absorbed in that heart. Closely after that, Zhang Tie opened his mouth and allowed the small tower to flow into his mouth.

After taking another look at Xuanyuan Sword, Zhang Tie didn’t move it; instead, he turned around and left this backroom.

After Zhang Tie left there, all the portals in this tunnel closed themselves.

Zhang Tie then reappeared in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. With one step, he had come to the air above the royal palace. Closely after that, Zhang Tie walked towards the Gobbling Province, 60 miles per step.

After Zhang Tie left Nine-Heavens Palace for more than one minute, all the officials and officers in the palace could move and speak at once.

In an instant, the Nine-Heavens Palace was in hubbubs.

Almost at the same time, the news that Zhang Tie suddenly appeared in the royal palace and killed Meng Shidao with one punch had spread over the country.

As hundreds of officers and officials in the royal palace had seen it, of course, they couldn’t cover this news.

In their eyes, Zhang Tie’s battle force had reached an unpredictable level and was far greater than a sage-level knight. What a semi-sage level knight to Zhang Tie was what a baby to a knight! Meng Shidao didn’t even have a chance to launch a counter-attack…