Castle of Black Iron

The duel would take place on Yinhai, Gobi Desert in the west of Taixia Country between 3 pm and 5 pm on January 29, the 907th year of Black Iron Calendar…

Located in the west of Taixia Country, Gobi Desert precisely referred to the vast unpopulated zone in the north of Bingzhou Province and the west of Suizhou Province. This place belonged to a wild province within the territory of Liaoan Military Region of Taixia Country. It was so barren and desolate that only sands could be found here, it had a special name——Sand Province (Shazhou Province).

Yinhai in Gobi Desert was not an ocean, but a huge basin covering 600,000 square miles. Long long ago, Yinhai was a vast inland lake which faced Yinshan Mountain. This lake existed at least before the Catastrophe. However, after the Catastrophe, nobody knew why the huge inland lake suddenly disappeared overnight, leaving a barren, concave basin. Now, shells and trace of water erosion in the withered region could still be seen in the basin. Whereas, no water existed here anymore.

Yinhai’s sudden disappearance aroused many bizarre, terrifying legends; plus the desolate and hot environment, this region had become a real, unpopulated zone in Taixia Country. It was one of the most desolate regions among the wild provinces across the country. Even in the former two holy wars when Military Region deteriorated to a battlefield, the demon army still didn’t feel like crossing the vast Gobi Desert for opening another battlefield so as to fight Taixia Country in two lines at the same time.

Nobody could cross this vast desert except for knights. Over 6,000 miles from east to west and from south to north, water was more precious than gold. As it was in summer, high temperature, sandstorm, thirst, hunger, despair, endless sands and those dangerous scorpions and insects in sands could easily eliminate any lives. This was the land of loneliness of Taixia Country.

However, this lonely land was not alone anymore since January 20 as so many airboats, airships and knights arrived from all directions. Gathering above Yinhai, they all waited for the earth-shaking fight, which was going to happen here in a few days.

Some knights would like to support Immortal Qianji; the others were just curious about the coming duel.

Even those famous actors or actresses’ concerts or performance in a Class A city would attract numerous visitors and supporters, not to mention the duel between the most powerful human knight and the sage-level knights of three of the top six sects which might not be watched in hundreds of years. As a result, the whole world was shocked as knights and fighters were all longing for eying this top-level duel.

Since the black invitation cards were delivered 100 days ago, those knights or fighters had come here from all directions out of curiosity.

As a result, the space above Yinhai became unprecedented, boisterous.

Between January 20 and 25, thousands of airships and airboats and over 10,000 knights had arrived there. Starting from January 25, more and more knights arrived, some came alone; some came in units; especially those knights from major clans or sects who came here in teams. Some knights came here by airboat, some by airship; the others even took enough water and dried grains here…

On January 27, the airboats of super clans and top six sects also arrived there one after another three days in advance…

…

Hair as dark as knight and eyes as blue as the ocean, Pandora in black longuette was standing on the highest deck of her airboat facing the strong wind at tens of thousands of meters high as her long hair swayed like a waterfall and black flame behind her.

The airboat moved so fast that the rising and falling sandy area flashed backward. Relatively, the sand dunes turned turbulent.

Pandora was watching the ground calmly with her blue eyes as she was as turbulent inside as the sand dunes below.

As the princess of Demons-killing Valley, one of the top six sects of Taixia Country, Pandora’s identity was more distinguished than many secular princesses. Besides, she could own many things that many worldly people couldn’t even imagine.

Today, her qi was not as same as that of the black iron knight in Earth-elements Realm anymore; instead, a looming qi was surrounding her, making the strong wind at such a high altitude tender.

However, no matter what, Pandora still wore that black seal finger ring on her right third finger.

At this moment, Pandora lightly stroked the black seal finger ring as her mind went back to the unknown railway station in Blackhot City on a heavily rainy knight many years ago, where a young man and a young woman made a pledge while dropping tears…

That night, Pandora kept one sentence in mind——She hoped that she could marry him one day; she hoped not to see the man going to the battlefield alone. No matter where that man was going, she wished to go together with him, hand in hand, even if he was going to hell. She hoped that she could always stand on his side decisively. Even if he died, she still expected him to die in her arms and see her face in the end…

Over these years, whenever she stayed in the tower of time alone, Pandora would stroke this finger ring, in which way she could pluck up her courage with warm expectations.

As for Pandora, the greatest loneliness in this world was not the long periods in the tower of time, but the sadness caused by the separation of two beloved ones.

Hopefully, there was no more.

In this world, some things would change every day; the others would remain unchanged forever.

At this moment, Pandora heard footsteps from behind as she turned around, calling, “Grandpa…”

A powerful old man with convex forehead and silver hair in black robe appeared on the highest deck, causing the strong wind within hundreds of meters to disappear at once.

The old man watched Pandora with a favorable yet concerned look as he asked, “Are you sure? You know, the felicity blessing skill of Wu Clan’s Heavenly Wish Bloodline could only be applied once in your life. If you apply it to yourself, you would make progress in your cultivation base smoothly by conquering all the difficulties. It’s just a matter of time for you to promote to a sage-level knight…”

Shaking her head, Pandora smiled as she answered, “It’s meaningless if I only live for myself. I feel he needs me for real this time. Therefore, I came here. No matter what, I won’t regret. Grandpa, I think you must have not applied felicity blessing skill to yourself either, am I right?”

After hearing Pandora’s question, the old man became silent for a second as a complex look flashed by as if he was recalling. After a short while, he burst out laughing, causing wind and clouds to surge, saying, “Good, that’s my granddaughter. Your temperament is as same as me. Seize your love even if you step on blades…” The old man heaved a sigh slightly after a short silence as he continued, “But Zhang Mushen has already married so many women. He’s not as innocent as before. Are you sure he would still treat you as same as before? Is he worthwhile?”

“He told me there was a legend in Hua people. If a man really loves a woman, he would appear in front of her by colorful clouds. He had promised to appear in front of me in this manner when I could marry him one day. This time, he must know that I would come and he would definitely appear in front of me in this manner and tell me that he remains unchanged…” Pandora said with a strong belief as she blinked her blue eyes.

Watching her eyes, even as a sage-level knight, Wu Dingtian could only sigh inside. ‘How could she believe in such a naive appointment? It was not performance. Even if Immortal Qianji is something, I don’t think he could display the naive, fairytale scene in legend. Could Zhang Tie fire colorful crackers for her at this moment…’

“Here come the representatives of Heavenly Fortune Sect…” Wu Dingtian suddenly turned around and looked at the left side of the airboat with a shrewd eye light as he heard the notice…

Hundreds of miles away, another magnificent airboat was approaching from another direction…

…

Some people were also standing on the highest deck of the airboat of Heavenly Fortune Sect and watching the vast yellow sandy dunes…

In front of the group of Heavenly Fortune Sect were three handsome, vigorous young men. Due to protective battle qi, strong wind also detoured around their bodies. The corners of their garments didn’t even move.

“Senior fellow apprentice Feng, is that Yinhai in front?” A young man with a resolute look turned around as he asked Feng Cangwu on his side.

Feng Cangwu looked more mature with a beard over his lips. Given his qi, he was already an earth knight. After hearing that young man’s words, Feng Cangwu heaved a sigh full of frustration as he said, “Hmm, it’s Yinhai in front of us. When you see your dad in a couple of days, you’d better not call me senior fellow apprentice in front of your father. Although you’ve promoted to black iron knights, if you call me senior fellow apprentice, I would lose face in front of your father as we’ve got acquainted with each other for so many years…”