Castle of Black Iron
Castle of Black Iron - Chapter 2011: Aftermaths

Zhang Tie moved too fast!

He appeared in the Nine-Heavens Palace of Xuanyuan Hill and killed Meng Shidao all of a sudden. Closely after that, he arrived at the Gobbling Province and destroyed the Far-Ancient Morality Stele. Then, he came to the Western Theater of Operations of Taixia Country and wiped out demon camps and two routes of main demon forces. After that, he returned home. During this period, none of the parties being involved was able to make a timely response to it, including demons, the Gobbling Party and all parties in Taixia Country.

When the news that Meng Shidao the premier of Taixia Country was killed by Zhang Tie in Nine-Heavens Palace was spread, the entire Xuanyuan Hill entered a state of emergency.

In an instant, all the streets across Emperor Xuanyuan’s royal city were in hubbubs when it was raining heavily. All the knights and troops of Zodiac Guards in Xuanyuan Hill had been mobilized and started to carry out curfew in Xuanyuan Hill. All the troops of Top Four Armies outside Xuanyuan Hill started to enter Xuanyuan Hill. As a result, the bleak streets in Xuanyuan Hill were covered with fully-armored fighters and armored vehicles.

So many disciples, butlers, interest spokesmen, ears and eyes of major clans in Xuanyuan Hill started to ask about the details of the assassination in Nine-Heavens Palace. All the ambassadors and envoys in the other countries’ embassies in Xuanyuan Hill had made full use of their relationships so as to acquire more genuine details.

After hearing the dreamlike information from Emperor Xuanyuan’s Royal Palace, everyone became petrified as they couldn’t identify whether it was true or not. Zhang Tie was said to descend from the sky with an earth-shaking thunder. When he appeared, the entire royal palace seemed to have frozen. All the knights of royal guards and maids of honor, even all the officers and officials inside the royal palace were frightened by that great power. They could neither speak nor move. Zhang Tie just walked in the Nine-Heavens Palace and turned Meng Shidao, who could neither speak nor move, into ashes with one punch.

Meng Shidao the premier of Taixia Country probably promoted to a sage-level knight. Additionally, there were a large number of knights among those officers and officials in the palace. Who could control tens of thousands of knights inside the royal palace and kill them at his will? This sounded like a myth fabricated by a kid. Zhang Tie couldn’t become such powerful even though he had promoted to a sage-level knight. This news posed a great challenge to the intelligence and nonsense of the listeners.

Many senior guild halls, boites and clubs inside Emperor Xuanyuan’s Royal City which were bleak just now immediately became as boisterous as markets while many limos started to drive out of those large mansions or ambassies and appeared on the streets of Xuanyuan Hill.

After hearing the gossip that Meng Shidao was killed by Zhang Tie, a large batch of backbones of the Gobbling Party; especially students of the imperial college gathered outside Emperor Xuanyuan’s Royal Palace and urged to meet Meng Shidao with high spirits…

In the forum of Mountain of Brightness, a passage written by Mr. Knoweverything called “Did Immortal Qianji come back and kill Meng Shidao inside Emperor Xuanyuan’s Royal Palace?” became the hottest post in the forum. In the blink of an eye, over 100,000 people had viewed it…

Even though Crown Prince Changying had been ruling the country for so many years, it was his first time encountering such an emergency. Therefore, he also felt helpless.

All the officers and officials were still quarreling aloud inside Nine-Heavens Palace.

“Lord Meng is one of the three top chancellors of Taixia Country. Even though that man is Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie must be killed as he violated the majesty of the royal palace in the public. He’s nothing different than demons. Your Highness, please issue Zhang Tie’s crime and assign people to catch him at once…” Some imperial officers who had joined Gobbling Party roared exhaustedly in the palace and urged to claim for Zhang Tie’s responsibility.

“Immortal Qianji has disappeared for so many years. His whereabouts are always mysterious. We’re not sure whether that man was Immortal Qianji or not. Perhaps he’s disguised by a shadow demon. Even though he was Immortal Qianji, now that he killed Meng Shidao the moment he arrived, he must have his reason…” Some officers of the top four armies refuted those imperial officers aloud.

Those imperial officers were not knights; therefore, they urged to kill Zhang Tie. However, all the knights inside the Nine-Heavens Palace had already sensed the terrifying power of Zhang Tie. Who could catch him? Who could kill him? If anyone of them wanted to catch Zhang Tie, they might face the same tragic outcome as Meng Shidao when Zhang Tie appeared in the palace next time.

Compared to the quarrels between those imperial censors and some officers, most of the officers and officials inside Nine-Heavens Palace were in silence. Some looked solemn; some’s eyes were full of fear; someone looked thrilled; some were in meditation; some were as dumb as cicadas in the winter…

The only common point between them was that all the officers and officials and those who carried portable remote-sensing devices immediately noticed those people who had great stakes with them about what happened in Nine-Heavens Palace.

Zhang Tie returned and killed Meng Shidao. This was a great event that definitely shocked the entire country…

At this moment, Xuanyuan Changying still felt contradictory and puzzled.

His Highness didn’t know why Zhang Tie would appear in Nine-Heavens Palace; neither did he know what Zhang Tie had experienced over these years. However, he could feel that man was indeed Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie killed one of the top three chancellors of Taixia Country in front of His Highness, he had already committed a capital crime. However, would His Highness send an order to catch Zhang Tie?

‘If not catch Zhang Tie, the laws of the imperial court would be useless? How do I deal with the Gobbling Party? If I send an order to catch him, it would bring us more terrifying trouble…’

‘Why did Zhang Tie kill Meng Shidao? How did he know that item was suppressed beneath Emperor Xuanyua’s Royal Palace?’

These questions always lingered in Xuanyuan Changying’s mind, making him upset.

Since he became the crown prince, Xuanyuan Changying had almost not been in such a tricky dilemma.

“Your Highness, a large batch of people of Morality Agencies in Xuanyuan Hill have been gathering outside the royal palace and are urging to meet… meet the premier…” When Xuanyuan Changying was upset, an armored guard rushed in and reported to him loudly at the gate of Nine-Heavens Palace.

As for Xuanyuan Changying, this news was like pouring fuel on the fire.

When Xuanyuan Changying asked people to pacify those members of Morality Agency of Gobbling Party outside the Nine-Heavens Palace, he received a message from a finger ring which had been silent for dozens of years…

All the officers and officials in the imperial court found that Xuanyuan Changying suddenly became stunned. One minute later, Xuanyuan Changying’s face flushed. After that, he sent an order in a wobbly voice, “Let Zodiac Guards catch all the rioters outside Nine-Heavens Palace and put them into jails. Seal up the Morality Agency in Xuanyuan Hill. Any member of the Morality Agency who dares resist must die!”

All the officers and officials in the imperial court were in a daze as they didn’t know why His Highness wanted to deal with Gobbling Party all of a sudden. In this case, shouldn’t His Highness reassure the Gobbling Party?

However, it was not an end. Closely after that, Xuanyuan Changying took a glance at those officers and officials in the imperial court and sent an order to those commanders of the top four armies, “Meng Shidao and Gobbling Party collude with demons. All the forces of the top four armies across the country should ban all the morality agencies and catch all the presidents and backbones of those morality agencies. If anyone of them dares resist, kill them, even though they’re involved with local major clans and sects. You have to right to kill them before reporting it to me!”

All the moguls in the military of Taixia Country had been complaining about Gobbling Party over these years, including Zuoqiu Mingyue and those influential figures in the top four armies. They had long been disgruntled about Meng Shidao. After hearing His Highness’ order, those armored commanders of top four armies immediately walked out of the team of officers and took the order.

“Your Highness…” Li Yunji, the president of the supreme court screamed.

After taking a look at Li Yunji, Xuanyuan Changying directly pointed at him as he sent a merciless order, “Arrest him!”

…

When such a sharp reversal happened in the Nine-Heavens Palace, some ambassadors of some big countries on the Western Continent were gathering in the room and exchanging intelligence with each other in a secret small parlor of a club in the diplomatic quarter of Emperor Xuanyuan’s Royal Palace.

The event that Zhang Tie killed Meng Shidao with one punch in Nine-Heavens Palace also touched the nerves of all the ambassadors in Taixia Country.

All the big changes that happened in Taixia Country would influence the battle situation facing Taixia Country in the holy war. The changing battle situation was also related to the future of all the humans on the Western Continent. Therefore, these ambassadors had to figure out what had happened in Emperor Xuanyuan’s Royal Palace and Nine-Heavens Palace as fast as possible.

When Mr. Knoweverything wrote that passage in the Mountain of Brightness, all the ambassadors had already received the strictest decrees from their own countries.

There were too many unbelivable, magical gossips.

As those ambassadors had different agents, they might get the complete intelligence through exchanges.

After analyzing it together for a short while, almost nobody believed that the gossip from Emperor Xuanyuan’s Royal Palace was true. They all believed that Meng Shidao was already dead; however, the murderer might not be Zhang Tie.

“Does anyone in Xuanyuan Hill want to stage a coup?”

“If it true, it must be the military of Taixia Country. However, Zuoqiu Mingyue is still in the frontline. It doesn’t seem true.”

“Perhaps His Highness has already been tired of his current role. Meng Shidao has already become the stumbling block on his way!” Francia Empire’s ambassador shook the wine in his glass as he squinted his eyes and said, “We’ve got intelligence. In recent years, the relationship between Meng Shidao and His Highness has long deteriorated. Although being the former master of His Highness, Meng Shidao couldn’t win any trust from His Highness any longer…”

“If it’s true, Immortal Qianji might be disguised by someone else at the request of His Highness. There’s an employed sage-level knight in the royal palace. It’s not hard to do that. I think the gossip is hyperbole. It probably is the conspiracy between His Highness and the military of Taixia Country…” the ambassador of Rhesa Republic said as he nodded with a solemn look.

“Probably. If the gossip is true, Zhang Tie’s power must be out of our imagination. I’m afraid that even sage-level knights are not able to resist his strike. That’s amazing and absolutely impossible…” the ambassador of Barbarian Alliance said as he raised his chin and joked, “If there’s really such an amazing guy among humans who could match a god, Zhang Tie should be in the Western Theater of Operations of Taixia Country at this moment and kill all the demon knights over there. If possible, he’d better destroy the entire encampment of demons in Military Province. Apparently the gossip from the royal palace is just a lie, hehe…”

Crackle…

Soon after the ambassador of Barbarian Alliance finished his words… the ambassador of Francia Empire had already dropped his glass of wine onto the carpet, leaving an area of deep wine stain on the expensive carpet made of camel’s hair.

In an instant, all the other ambassadors in the room fixated onto the ambassador of Francia Empire.

The ambassador who was talking with confidence widened his mouth like an idiot, pupils expanded. After a short while, he forcefully swallowed his saliva as he rolled his eyes once before watching the ambassador of Barbarian Alliance, saying “Demons… demons’ encampment in Military Province and the two routes of main forces of demons… were… just destroyed by someone…”

The entire room was in dead silence at once…

Right then, a terrifying qi came from Emperor Xuanyuan’s Royal Palace as a light&shade suddenly rushed into the sky from the royal palace with a powerful sword qi and flew far away in a streak of golden light…

…

“Old Man Taiyi, come out and see me!” A majestic voice suddenly sounded above the base of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, which rocked the ground over 600 miles.

All the knights and disciples in the base of Taixia Fantasy Sect were stupefied by this sudden voice.

After getting out of the Morality Stele in Gobbling Province, Emperor Xuanyuan didn’t return to Xuanyuan Hill right away; instead, he came to the base of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.

Soon after his voice, that streak of golden light came to Emperor Xuanyuan’s hand. It was Xuanyuan Sword.

Xuanyuan Sword in hand, Emperor Xuanyuan’s qi soared many times in an instant, Closely after that, he slashed towards the main palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.

——The main palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect which had just been restored for a couple of years was smashed again…

…

In Lord Guangnan’s Mansion in the southwest of Taixia Country…

Only after half a day, the entire Taixia Country had been in uproars because of news one after another.

Lord Guangnan even wanted to fetch all of his trusted subordinates to analyze the overall situation and discuss the countermeasures.

At this moment, Fang Xinyi, as Lord Guangna’s concubine entered his study room. Despite Lord Guangnan’s brothers and subordinated generals were there, Fang Xinyi directly knelt down in front of Lord Guangnan and kowtowed towards him, urging, “Lord, please save Qionglou Pavilion given that I’ve been serving you sincerely for so many years…”

“Heaven may be forgiven for its iniquities, but man shall not live for his sins!” Lord Guangnan sighed as he shook his head. “I could only save you. As for the future of Qionglou Pavilion, it’s out of my control…”