Castle of Black Iron

What happened on the ground in the west of Weishui River was completely a holocaust.

After receiving the order, all the air cavalries just hovered above the east bank of Weishui River and monitored the movements of wing demons. Xuanyuan Fortress and the other human battle fortresses above air cavalries didn’t make any response to it as if they had not discovered what was happening on the ground.

Right under Zhang Tie’s gaze, tens of millions of Hua civilians were being killed. The death of these Hua civilians paved a “safety belt” with 6,000 miles in length and 24 miles in width for demons. All the landmines in this safety belt had been cleared by Hua civilians at the cost of their lives…

Except for Zhang Tie, the other air cavalries didn’t know what was happening on the ground.

Zhang Tie flew back to the base of no. 46 air cavalry regiment in a trance. Although being in the sky, his mind had been filled with that tragic scene of desperate tears, wails and exclamations of a mass of people on the ground where soil and human flesh had been mixed. Like a sharp saber, the scene tore apart Zhang Tie’s soul, almost suffocating him in the tide of despair…

That was the real hell.

That was the real brutal side of the holy war.

Zhang Tie operated the plane and had it land on an airstrip of the no. 1 camp adroitly in a daze based on acquired reflex and instinct. After parking it in the fixed stand, he turned off the engine and opened the cover of the cockpit before getting off the plane like a zombie…

The stand of Zhang Tie’s plane had long been surrounded by bystanders. The other air cavalries who had landed before Zhang Tie had long run over here as they would like to check whether their battalion commander was okay. Because Zhang Tie’s performance in the last hour of this flight task was very abnormal, which was far worse than the standard in usual training. Additionally, when they were called back, Zhang Tie seemed to have not received the decree of the regimental headquarters. Not until Xiang Yusheng the battalion commander of the 3rd battalion of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment superseded the regimental headquarters to pass the signal of return in the air did those air cavalries of the no. 1 battalion “escort” Zhang Tie’s aircraft back to the base in a protective formation…

Nobody knew what happened to Zhang Tie. Therefore, when Zhang Tie’s aircraft parked, all the other air cavalries of the no. 1 battalion swarmed up out of concern.

However, Xing Xiangtian the regimental commander of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment and two soldiers from the Law Enforcement Center had been waiting for Zhang Tie earlier than those fighters of no. 1 battalion.

Xing Xiangtian looked furious as if he was going to burn up. The moment Zhang Tie got off the aircraft, he had seen Xing Xiangtian’s bad look, which reminded Zhang Tie of a volcanic eruption.

At the sight of this scene, Fei Hao just stood aside in a daze.

“Colonel Zhang Tie, where’s you remote-sensing device? Why didn’t you receive the order from the regimental headquarters?” Xing Xiangtian questioned Zhang Tie loudly.

Zhang Tie watched Xing Xiangtian, pulsing his mouth.

Watching Zhang Tie’s pale face, dejected expression and strange silence, Xing Xiangtian became more irate. He threw a glance at one of the two fighters coming from Law Enforcement Center. The fighter then entered Zhang Tie’s cockpit. After checking it for a short while, he took out of a piece of metal in an irregular shape.

“Regimental commander, the remote-sensing device of Zhang Tie the battalion commander of the no. 1 battalion has been damaged…”

“Colonel Zhang Tie, do you know what crime have you committed by damaging remote-sensing device in wartime on purpose, leading to failure of contact between the superior and the junior?”

Zhang Tie still remained silent. However, after hearing Xing Xiangtian’s words, all the bystanders finally understood what happened. However, they didn’t know why Zhang Tie would damage the remote-sensing device which was used to contact the regimental headquarters. If Zhang Tie’s aircraft was brought down in wartime, damaging the remote-sensing device, the no. 1 battalion could initiate the corresponding emergency response plan and establish a temporary leadership and guidance mechanism of the no. 1 battalion in case of being flurried. However, Zhang Tie damaged his remote-sensing device on the premise that his aircraft was not brought down. This made people perplexed.

Of course, none of them knew what Zhang Tie felt when he pinched his remote-sensing device into pieces.

“Guo Haichao…” Xing Xiangtian roared.

“I’m here…”

“From now on, you will supersede Zhang Tie to be the battalion commander of the no. 1 battalion of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment for the time being…”

Guo Haichao threw a glance at Zhang Tie. When he saw Xing Xiangtian’s sharp eye light, he chested out and replied loudly at once, “Yes, sir…’

“You two, take Zhang Tie away. Put him in custody for one week. He needs to premediate it…” Xing Xiangtian told the two members from Law Enforcement Center out of fury.

“Colonel Zhang Tie, please follow us…” A soldier then talked to Zhang Tie icily.

Zhang Tie remained silent as his face looked very solemn. He just followed the two members from the Law Enforcement Center. Fighters of the no. 1 battalion gave way to them as they watched Zhang Tie getting on a vehicle being cuffed with complicated expressions…

Xing Xiangtian got on a vehicle too. Closely after that, the two vehicles left the base of the no. 1 battalion.

“Ahh, why would our battalion commander damage his remote-sensing device?” The moment the two vehicles left, the fighters of the no. 1 battalion had started their discussion as they didn’t believe that Zhang Tie could do such a silly thing in that case.

“Could it be that our battalion commander was a bit…a bit nervous as it was his first time to attend a fight?”

“Fart!” The team leader’s reason was immediately inundated by swears, “How could an anxious pilot penetrate through the narrow gap between two flagpoles? Additionally, wing demons were far away from us at that time. Even this father was not nervous, how could Battalion commander Zhang be nervous?”

“Even if you brat had peed in your pants, our battalion commander would not even blink his eyes…”

The team leader instantly shrugged as he dared not say anything anymore.

“Fei Hao, you were staying with our battalion commander, do you know what happened?” Guo Haichao asked Zhang Tie’s shooter about the reason.

“I…I have no idea…” Fei Hao scratched his head. After being hesitant for a couple of seconds, he added, “But battalion commander…battalion commander…”

“Cut the crap, what happened to our battalion commander?”

“When we arrived at the sky over Weishui River, I found that…battalion commander was dropping tears…” Fei Hao stammered.

“Dropping tears? Impossible!” Someone shouted, “We’re so happy to see those demons detonating land mines, why did our battalion commander drop tears? You must have an illusion…”

“No wonder our battalion commander’s eyes were red…” Someone else realized it at once.

“No way…”

“Is it because of heavy wind?”

“But the cover of our battalion commander’s cockpit is closed…”

Those fighters of no. 1 battalion were in an uproar…

…

In his vehicle, Xing Xiangtian was still angry as Zhang Tie’s performance in this move was too disappointing. Xing Xiangtian even doubted that Zhang Tie had falsified his CV. ‘How could a colonel behave so abnormally on the battlefield? Is it because that Zhang Tie has not seen any demon before?’

‘Impossible! I remembered that Zhang Tie even asked to launch a strike towards demons using his remote-sensing device. However, I vetoed his proposal.’

‘Is it because I vetoed his proposal that he damaged the remote-sensing crystal out of fury?’

When he recalled what Zhang Tie said in the conference, Xing Xiangtian felt this might be the very reason. ‘Zhang Tie is an able man; however, he’s too pretentious and ostentatious. He’s too self-centered. I should tackle his weakness so that he could be a qualified battalion commander…’

As he thought about Zhang Tie’s temperament, Xing Xiangtian fixated onto the wreck of that metal bracket as he slightly frowned. He could also break that metal bracket by pinching it; however, Zhang Tie’s strength seemed to be a bit too great as the wreck of this metal bracket seemed to have been fully glued together. Additionally, the edge of the metal bracket seemed to have melted slightly…

At the sight of that faintly melted trace, Xing Xiangtian’s frown intensified. However, a few seconds later, he became relieved as he muttered, ‘Impossible. He’s just a LV 9 fighter. I prefer that this remote-sensing crystal device was not well processed at the beginning…’

…

The two soldiers directly drove Zhang Tie to the guardhouse of the Law Enforcement Center of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment and closed him inside.

The guardhouse only covered about 2 square meters, which only contained an extremely simple camp bed and a toilet bowl. The camp bed was made of cold wire. There was neither a quilt nor a window. After the iron door was closed from outside, Zhang Tie sunk in darkness, coldness and silence at once.

Sitting on the camp bed, Zhang Tie lowered his head as he covered his face by palms. At the same time, he gripped his hair tightly. After a while, he roared in a muffled and painful manner like a lonely wild beast…

…

Two days later, Anxi City, Xinglin Prefecture, Military Province…

That day, the exclusive airboat of Weiji General arrived at Anxi City, causing the entire city to be boisterous, including local major clans and commoners.

Anxi City was an important agricultural town and the traffic hub in Xinglin Prefecture. ‘Zhang Tie’ came here to inspect the military equipment in Anxi City.

Zhang Tie had been pretty dignified in the theater of operations while his marvelous talent of touching stones and turning it into gold had long been spread across the country.

Wu Chunlai the prefectural governor of Xinglin Prefecture, Qiu Youjin the weiji envoy of Xinglin Prefecture, the other high-level officials in the prefecture, the mayor of Anxi City, some major clans in Xinglin Prefecture and some local tycoons and civilians in Anxi City had been gagging for Zhang Tie’s arrival out of excitement.

They accompanied Zhang Tie to tarry quite a while outside Anxi City by inspecting an airport, a granary for war preparedness, a Fiery-Oil production base and an arsenal near Anxi City. Noticing Zhang Tie to keep nodding satisfactorily on the way, those officials and heads of major clans of Xinglin Prefecture who had been accompanying Zhang Tie meticulously finally became reassured.

Zhang Tie arrived there at noon. They finished the inspection when the sun was going to set. With the insinuation of those heads of major clans of Xinglin Prefecture, Wu Chunlai the prefectural governor of Xinglin Prefecture pretended to cough twice as he asked ‘Zhang Tie’ meticulously, “General, where else do you want to inspect…”

“I’m very satisfied with the war preparedness and production in Anxi City. Therefore, I think the other places in Xinglin Prefecture should not be bad either. You really did a good job…” ‘Zhang Tie’ made a comment while all the others grinned.

“It’s owed to general’s strict guidance, meritorious services to the consolidation of the country. Without general’s Fiery-Oil airplane and good farming policies, we really couldn’t imagine about the current situation facing the theater of operations, not to mention Xinglin Prefecture. Given meritorious services, the general is worth to rank first. We just share the general’s glory in according with our commitment…” Wu Chunlai the prefectural governor of Xinglin Prefecture replied eloquently. Wu Chunlai was famous for being strict and selfless; however, his attitude also varied with people. He usually treated his subordinates and civilians strictly and selflessly while in front of Zhang Tie his eloquence made the other officials and local tycoons bashful.

A mass of civilians was onlooking them from far away as they were blocked by soldiers who were responsible for maintaining order.

“Yes…yes…” Someone else chimed in with Wu Chunlai immediately in case of an embarrassing atmosphere.

After Wu Chunlai finished his words, he threw a glance at Qiu Youjin the weiji envoy of Xinglin Prefecture stealthily.

Qiu Youjin had already met Zhang Tie in Kangzhou City. It was his second time to see Zhang Tie. Last time, he just stood far away and watched Zhang Tie. This time, he finally got a chance to stand on Zhang Tie’s side. Qiu Youjin didn’t feel that this ‘Zhang Tie’ was different than the one he saw last time, except for that this ‘Zhang Tie’ was more forbidding and dignified.

Of course, Qiu Youjin understood Wu Chunlai’s eye light.

“General, as you’ve been busy for a whole afternoon, you must be a bit tired. Right at the foot of Anshan Mountain in front of us, there’s a spectacular courtyard. We’ve made an arrangement for you to take some rest over there…” Qiu Youjin said. As he had met Zhang Tie before, it would be a bit intimate for him to suggest Zhang Tie to do that.

All those at present thought that at least they could entertain Zhang Tie with supper so that these officers and major clans could leave an impression in Zhang Tie’s mind.

“This humble man has already arranged my family members to prepare a simple banquet for general and the other officials in the spectacular courtyard.” A local tycoon of Anxi City said as he bowed his body.

“No need, I will go to other prefectures tonight. It would take me at least half a year to travel around all the prefectures in the four provinces, even one day for one prefecture. I will not waste time here…” ‘Zhang Tie’ said as he waved his arm, “Let’s apart here…”

As the airboat was right above them, Zhang Tie could leave at any time.

After hearing Zhang Tie’s reply, all the other officials and heads of major clans felt pitiful. However, they dared not urge Zhang Tie to do that; instead, they could only see Zhang Tie off modestly.

“General is worried about the national affairs. We really admire you. We will have to bid a farewell to general here. Bon Voyage…’

“It’s not easy for Xinglin Prefecture and Anxi City to get such a rosy situation. Hopefully, you could continue to work hard and avoid from being frivolous and restless. If you live up to Taixia Country, Taixia Country would live up to you too!” ‘Zhang Tie’ even mustered them up before leaving. After that, ‘Zhang Tie’ ascended into the air and entered his exclusive airboat…

Right under the gaze of so many people, Zhang Tie’s exclusive airboat flew towards the south…

However, before onlookers moved their eyes away from the airboat, a terrifying qi descended from the heavens and hit Zhang Tie’s airboat as fast as a lightning bolt after Zhang Tie’s airboat left for less than 6 miles. In a split second, Zhang Tie’s exclusive 600 m longer airboat had been cut into pieces by tens of thousands of battle qi.

At this moment, a purple-golden 4 m longer heavenly wing demon knight with a unicorn, a crown on head and 6 feather wings on back appeared in the sky. Only by waving its claw, a powerful battle qi storm lasting miles long had covered the broken pieces of Zhang Tie’s airboat completely. Closely after that, the heavenly demon knight entered its own battle qi storm…

At this time, Zhang Tie’s growls reverberated in the sky while a silver battle qi tornado rushed into the sky. However, in a split second, the battle qi tornado had disappeared…

The heavenly wing demon knight reappeared in the sky as it threw a glance at those officials and heads of local major clans icily like looking at ants. Even being about 10 miles away, its casual look could almost freeze the blood of those people below knight level, which felt overwhelming and breathless.

The heavenly wing demon knight then revealed a faint ignorant smile. Closely after that, it ascended and disappeared in front of everyone in terms of light.

Not until then did the pieces of the airboat fall onto the ground with blood rain…

Witnessing all this, everybody on the ground felt like being struck by a lightning bolt as they all turned pale and felt cold all over. Many of them almost fell down.

“Hurry…hurry up, go check…check…ge…general…” Wu Chunlai who was very eloquent just now stammered at this moment as he staggered forward.

There were various pieces over the crashing site, including metal pieces, pieces of human bodies. Among those pieces, someone discovered shredded flesh being covered by boa silk robe of Zhang Tie…

Half an hour later, the news that Zhang Tie the Weiji General of the Theater of Operations was ambushed and killed by a heavenly wing demon knight in Anxi City, Xinglin Prefecture had spread over the theater of operations…

…