Castle of Black Iron

The fierce battle lasted for 6 hours...

In the final collision, Zhang Tie forcefully broke the other hand of the demon general. With a ground-breaking howl, the demon general skewered through Zhang Tie’s left chest by its single horn, picking up Zhang Tie and threw him away...

Before Zhang Tie was sent flying backward, Zhang Tie rammed the demon general’s face with his knee due to his experienced, powerful battle skills and fast responsiveness.

The two knights sprayed their blood while their "aiding strength" halos disappeared at the same time. They then fell onto the dry and hot lava from 100 m in height.

A large area of blood stained the rocks beneath their bodies and was further evaporated by the rocks...

...

Zhang Tie even thought that he was dead because he lost his senses and consciousness. When his senses and consciousness returned to his body, he felt extremely painful all over like being torn apart.

Zhang Tie even didn’t know how many of his bones were still intact.

It took Zhang Tie 2 minutes to kneel down with one leg. Being soaked by the blood flowing down the wounds on his forehead, Zhang Tie’s sight turned completely red. He almost could not open his eyes. Panting heavily, Zhang Tie felt that the air which carried the smell of sulphur also dried up and turned hot. Each time he took a breath, he would feel like eating a handful of hot red sand.

Compared to the scorching sense in his throat and lungs, Zhang Tie felt that his left half of body turned wet like being soaked in water.

Lowering his head, Zhang Tie took a look at his left chest. There was a bloody hole of about 3 cm above his heart, causing his left half of body to soak in the gurgling blood from there.

If he didn’t lower his left shoulder just now, his heart must have been penetrated through.

The demon general’s single horn penetrated through the point which was close to Zhang Tie’s heart and left lung. As a result, Zhang Tie’s left hand could not move at all.

Zhang Tie attempted to control the blood vessels, muscles and tissues on his left shoulder; however, it became extremely difficult for him to do this, which was very simple in normal times. Zhang Tie felt that this body didn’t belong to him anymore.

Finally, he hardly pressed the blood vessels around the hole by his right hand. After slightly recovering his abilities and senses, Zhang Tie slowly prevented his wound from bleeding.

Kneeling down on the ground by one knee, Zhang Tie could hardly pick himself up.

He had not imagined that the demon general who had suffered from the attack of six alchemist’s bombs and stayed in magma for half an hour with one broken hand could still have such a terrifying battle force.

’Is this the battle force of a senior black iron knight who has almost promoted to a earth knight?’

’If not because of my strong body, my powerful strength and my emperor-level secret skill’s restrictions about the weird, poisonous battle qi in my body, I would have long died. Perhaps, any other black iron knight would have been killed.’

Zhang Tie wanted to force a bitter smile; however, before he twitched his facial muscles, he had spurted out blood once again...

After spurting out blood, Zhang Tie felt like he lost all of his strength. Feeling kneeling on a bunch of cotton, Zhang Tie vacillated to the left and to the right and almost fell down.

This was a response that his body made when his physical strength, spirit and will were overdrawn.

At this moment, a faint sound drifted from afar. Zhang Tie raised his head and found that the demon general was struggling to pick himself up. However, he failed. After swaying for a while, its hands could not keep balance for it, causing it to fall down once again.

After over 10 seconds, the demon general struggled to pick himself up once again. Finally, it knelt down on the ground by one knee as it panted heavily with rising and falling chest.

Being over 100 m away from each other, the two knights ferociously gazed at each other.

The demon general was more shocked than Zhang Tie. It didn’t believe that Gorath could break his hands and make it so embarrassed. It could not believe that Gorath would match it on the battle force in the close combat.

It was the demon general’s first time to see such a human knight.

Even though the demon general’s two hands were broken, if it could only move one foot, it could continue fighting.

The two knights were both severely wounded. They could barely stand up. In this case, they were not matching their battle forces, but their recovering abilities. As long as one of them could recover the standard of a LV 6 fighter, the one would be able to determine the other’s fate.

The two knights just gazed at each other tightly. At the same time, they started to pant heavily and gradually recover their physical strength...

...

Only after 10 more minutes, a loud sound reverberated around this space, which originated from outside. After hearing this loud sound, Zhang Tie and the demon general both became stunned.

The demon general watched Zhang Tie as it sneered with a hoarse sound, "It’s my...subordinate...one more knight...you...you’re dead!"

Zhang Tie’s heart pounded.

There were two points that he had not imagined today: first, he could kill over 10 knights with this fatal trap; second, there was one more demon knight left, who would appear at this moment.

Zhang Tie realized that all of his spiritual energy had been overdrawn while hopelessness occurred to his mind...

’Is this my destiny?’

’No, no way, no way...’ Zhang Tie roared inside.

The combat of aiding strength between two knights was very abstruse. It was not a pure comparison on isolated strength. It was more like how two huge bells compared with their resonating strength. When the two bells of different sizes sounded, their resonating strength and invisible soundwaves would not only influence themselves but also influence the other opponent.

The smaller bell had to avoid from being influenced by the bigger one with a greater energy at a higher frequency.

Due to the difference in battle force and level, if he wanted to resist the demon general’s aiding strength, Zhang Tie had to consume 10 more times’ spiritual energy than the demon general.

Additionally, they had to consume their spiritual energy to maintain the calculation and perception of their powerful knight’ consciousness. As they were heavily wounded, their spiritual energy was also sharply weakened.

Zhang Tie didn’t know how much spiritual energy did demon general have, he only knew that his spiritual energy had been overdrawn. He felt empty in his mind.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie tightly gazed at the wall where the loud sounds drifted from. He hoped that those walls could stand a bit longer or a guy whom neither Zhang Tie nor the demon general knew would appear...

...

Only after a few minutes, Zhang Tie had been nearly hopeless. After the last loud sound, a rock wall in the distance was blown up into pieces while a figure rushed out of the dust.

At the sight of that guy, the demon general burst out into laughter, making Zhang Tie completely hopeless.

That guy was a knight of Three-eye Association. Zhang Tie even knew him. Zhang Tie met him in Tokei City, the capital city of Titanic Duchy last time.

Zhang Tie remembered that that guy was Quintin, the employed knight of Senel Clan which had been exterminated by him. After the extermination of Senel Clan, this guy directly became a subordinate of the demon general.

Suspending dozens of meters high in the air, Quintin was holding a longsword and watching the underground space with a dumbfounded look and a brilliant battle qi. He looked both shocked and vigilant. It seemed that he had not imagined about such a scene before.

"Demon general, what happened?" Quintin asked with a shocked voice.

"Hurry up, kill Gorath..." The demon general barely stood up after recovering some physical strength and spiritual energy. It seemed that it didn’t want its subordinate to see it kneeling down on the ground by one knee.

The moment it stood up, the demon general had gazed at Zhang Tie and issued an order to him.

The demon general just kept its eyes on Zhang Tie. It didn’t pay attention to the weird look that flashed by Quintin’s eyes when Quintin noticed its weak look.

Zhang Tie became silent completely at this moment. Since Quintin flew in, Zhang Tie had been keeping his eyes on this new visitor...

Quintin hurriedly descended to the side of the demon general with a concerned look, "Where are other knights? What happened to your hands, demon general?"

"Other knights have already died. It was a trap. My hands have been wounded by alchemist’s bombs. I’m okay. Hurry, kill Gorath. This guy has a very terrifying recovering ability. Kill him right now..." The demon general urged.

A shrewd light flashed across Quintin’s eyes as he replied, "Yes, sir...". He camouflaged to rush towards Zhang Tie; however, it slashed at the demon general...causing the latter’s head to fly off. Spurting out 30-cm high blood from its neck, it fell onto the magma with widely opened eyes. It seemed that the demon general had not imagined that its head would fly off. Neither did it believe that its subordinate human knight could kill it at this critical moment...

After swaying a short while, the tall figure of the demon general finally fell down, causing a loud "bang". Its head was sent flying dozens of meters high. Before it landed, Quintin had punched it into blood mist. After that, it slashed the demon general’s body into two halves...

Two blood points sprayed onto Zhang Tie’s face.

Zhang Tie kept his eyes tightly on Quintin without a blink...

After killing the demon general completely, Quintin let out a deep sigh. After looking around, he moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie before finally bursting out into laughter "Hahahaha..."

In the laughter, Quintin lowered its body and tore off half of the demon general’s clothes and took a necklace with a plate from its neck. After that, he stopped his movement. After being still for a few seconds, it burst out into louder laughter...

Zhang Tie had never imagined that the demon general would be killed by its subordinate knight of Three-eye Association.

However, Zhang Tie knew now that a greater crisis was coming.

...

"You’ve long arrived outside there, right?" Zhang Tie asked calmly as he struggled to stand up.

Quintin stopped laughing. Narrowing his eyes, he watched Zhang Tie with a complacent look, "Right, Gorath is indeed smart. Then, guess why I killed the demon general?"

"Of course it was because of me!" Zhang Tie barely twitched his facial muscles and forced a smile, "But I don’t understand what do you want from me?"

"Cause you have one thing that I need!" Quintin replied as he slowly walked towards Zhang Tie. At the same time, he started to scan over each place on Zhang Tie’s body with greedy eyes, especially Zhang Tie’s fingers and neck where pendants or rings would always be worn, "I remember that we met in Tokei City last time, right?"

Zhang Tie quivered all over as he watched Quintin with an unbelievable look. At the same time, a big question mark occurred to his mind, ’How could this guy know that?’

"Last time, you induced me away from the airport and transferred all the wealth that Senel Clan had gained from Tokei City. From then on, I have been seeking for you. I thought that I would not see you ever. Heh, heh, I’ve not imagined that you reappeared after a few days. You must be curious about how did I know that was you, right? It’s simple, you’ve exposed that you had a space teleportation equipment when you moved all the wealth of Senel Clan away in such a short while. After a few days, the black-robe Gorath appeared on this sub-continent, who killed and plundered Three-eye Association clans. However, those Three-eye Association clans’ wealth always disappeared. From then on, I had confirmed that Gorath was you, the very person who robbed away the wealth of Senel Clan outside Tokei City. There should not be two guys who possessed space teleportation equipment and were hostile to demons and Three-eye Association on this sub-continent at the same time. Therefore, I knew you must be a cunning one. You must have many tricks. Therefore, I came here a bit later on purpose, wanting to see whether I could make some profits from your battle. As I’ve imagined, here it is." Quintin explained with a complacent look.

Zhang Tie had not imagined that Quintin had been looking for him since Tokei City and had figured out that he was the very person who teased Quintin outside Tokei City. Quintin looked bad-tempered. In fact, this guy was especially thoughtful.

Although Zhang Tie looked calm, he was actually extremely anxious. He was trying his full effort to squeeze out the last bit of spiritual energy in his mind sea.

With a bit of spiritual energy, he would be able to return to Castle of Black Iron and survive himself.

However, no matter how hard Zhang Tie tried, his mind sea was like a lemon which had completely squeezed out its juice or had been dried up under the sunshine which could never provide any more juice...

Zhang Tie didn’t give up. He kept squeezing while striving for more time.

"Are you afraid of being revenged by demons after killing the demon general?"

"Haha, why? All the other knights have been killed by the black-robe knight Gorath, including me and the demon general. After killing all of us, Gorath had disappeared. They would revenge Gorath, not me, if they want!" A smile appeared on Quintin’s face. He had been only 10 m away from Zhang Tie. He raised that necklace he got from demon general and pointed at Zhang Tie, "I serve Three-eye Association only for their cultivation resources. Now, the best cultivation resources and most wealth were in the hands of you and the demon general. As long as I get your space teleportation equipment, I will find a new place and restart my life in a strange face and status. I will have everything that I want. All the responsibilities will be shouldered by you. Thankfully, both you and the demon general were severely wounded. Why do I miss such a good chance?"

Fine sweatdrops oozed over Zhang Tie’s forehead.

Watching Zhang Tie’s embarrassed look, Quintin sneered as he asked jokingly, "Do you want to strive for more time so as to recover your spiritual energy? Hahaha, very good, I will give you some time then. You have 10 seconds. If you presented your space teleportation equipment in 10 seconds, I will promise you an easy death; otherwise, I could only cut you off one piece after another. But you would have a great pain."

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

Quintin slowly narrowed the distance between him and Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie’s sweatdrops had started to drop off his forehead while gazing at Quintin tightly...

’Come out, come out, my spiritual energy, come out...’

Zhang Tie roared inside while he gathered all the will, strength from all the cells and blood drops and turned them into an unyielding fist intention of iron-blood fist before striking onto his mind sea.

Zhang Tie determined to squeeze oil out of rocks in magma, not to mention dried lemon. If not, he would die. ’As for Quintin, he could kill the demon general without any hesitation, not to mention me...’

"Four..." Quintin had already raised his longsword...

"Five..." Quintin had just been 5 m away from Zhang Tie...

"Six..."

Right then, Zhang Tie heard a faint sound of "cracking glasses" in his mind sea. Closely after that, his mind sea experienced an unimaginable, great change like when the universe came into being...

Zhang Tie became stunned for a second, which period was like passing by a distant time tunnel...

After this second, the entire world had become utterly different, including this karst cave. Zhang Tie felt that he existed everywhere.

He recovered his composure in a split second. Because he knew that Quintin had missed his last chance to kill him.

"Seven..."

Zhang Tie just watched Quintin with a strange look while his autumn-frost gold sword which was inserted into the rock wall hundreds of meters away suddenly radiated a golden luster. At the same time, it left the rock wall just like drawing out a piece of bean curd. After leaving the rock wall silently, it floated in the air like a piece of plume...

"Eight..." A fleer appeared on Quintin’s face.

The autumn-frost gold sword changed its direction and targeted at Quintin in the air...

"Nine..." Quintin moved to 2 m ahead of Zhang Tie while he was going to slash off his longsword.

"Thank you. You told me that I should not belittle any small figure in this world. There might be no small figure in this world!" Zhang Tie suddenly opened his mouth.

Quintin became stunned as he launched his attack...

...

However, Quintin’s head flew off. In the next 0.1 second, his head and body were split into blood mist over the ground by tens of thousands of sword qi...

The blood mist evaporated at once while a stink started to fill the entire space, leaving osseous ashes on the ground...

Quintin disappeared. That necklace that he got from demon general also floated in the air in a weird way. It suspended in front of Zhang Tie like being pulled by an invisible hand.

Zhang Tie stretched out his hand. The necklace then fell onto his hand.

After injecting a bit of spiritual energy into the necklace, Zhang Tie had sensed what was inside it.

A space teleportation equipment, whose length, width and height were 3 m respectively. A lot of resources were piled inside it...

"Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...

Being influenced by his laughter, Zhang Tie’s wounds ached once again. He then frowned and couldn’t stand to take a breath...

Before entering Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie took the final look at the demon general and sighed——Alas, humanity...

...