Castle of Black Iron

“Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, why didn’t I hear about it?”

Sitting on the main chair in Yangxin Palace, Zhang Tie watched the 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace with a faint frown.

At this moment, Luo Yunshang, Xia Yanmging, Shi Zhongyu, Hou Moyuan, Wang Laisheng, Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng were all watching Zhang Tie. From Zhang Tie’s look, none of them could discover any loophole. Zhang Tie’s performance was absolutely like as if he had heard this news for the first time.

“When I was on duty with Elder Wang and Elder Ying in Qinji Agency, we received the emergency message from the Military Department. As we felt it was of great significance, we report it to His Majesty and called all the other elders here to discuss the countermeasures!” Luo Yunshang who looked dignified with a round face, beautiful eyes and a tall bun said as all the other elders nodded solemnly.

“Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is related to demons and demon emperor. They have great ambitions. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace must pay attention to it!” Ying Gucheng opened his mouth.

“How’s the Si Clan in Woods Medium-sized Domain?” Zhang Tie asked solemnly.

“Since the event in Cyan Lotus City broke out a few days ago, all the backbones of Si Clan have either disappeared or escaped. Force Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa’s Palace have already dispatched large batches of powers to Woods Medium-sized Domain to investigate and confiscate the properties of Si Clan and chase the immortal generals and backbones of Si Clan. Besides, the other clans and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace in Woods Medium-sized Domain are involved in. The entire Woods Medium-sized Domain is in chaos…” Wang Laisheng said in a muffled voice.

“Why did Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace respond so fast?”

“It’s said that some disciples of Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace were caught by Si Clan and imprisoned in the dungeon under Si Clan’s castle. They suffered all kinds of tortures. On the same day when Si Clan broke out the event, these people were saved by a secret power who unveiled the background of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Si Clan. After escaping away, the disciples of Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace contacted their bases at once. After hearing that, Force Emperor and Star Emperor were both furious and shocked. Force Emperor immediately assigned a deputy head and a lot of immortal generals to Woods Medium-sized Domain, closely followed by the powers of Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Si Clan has great undertakings and deep foundation in Woods Medium-sized Domain. Even though some backbones of Si Clan could escape away in a short period, many members of Si Clan couldn’t. Therefore, after catching some members of Si Clan, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace discovered more and more dirty deeds of Si Clan in Woods Medium-sized Domain. It was said that they found some quirky places like sacrificial altar under Si Clan’s castle. Therefore, the existence of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was proved. Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace have already sent wanted circulars to the backbones and immortal generals of Si Clan…”

‘Is there any follower of His Majesty among the 7 elders? If there is, who on earth is he?’

Hearing their words, Zhang Tie glanced over the solemn looks of the 7 elders calmly.

According to Qian Changqing, Zhang Tie knew that His Majesty might have already made Golden-Soul Rune Virus many years ago. The earliest Golden-Soul Rune Virus was applied to some senior figures of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace by that His Majesty. However, it might have some defects. The latest Golden-Soul Rune Virus, also the perfect kind of Golden-Soul Rune Virus was made 7 months ago. If anyone among the 7 elders at present were subordinate to that His Majesty, his mind sea must contain Golden-Soul Rune Virus, whether it was new or old. However, Zhang Tie couldn’t see it by eyes; instead, he had to penetrate through his mind sea by his spiritual energy to check it. Whereas, this behavior was nothing different than asking these elders to give up resistance and take off their clothes for investigation. It was not an easy job as they would be averse to it instinctively. In the worst-case scenario, it would cause Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to split. As for the details, Zhang Tie had to make a considerate plan.

As Zhang Tie thought about that, he asked another question.

“Why did Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace receive this major news 4 days later?” Zhang Tie glanced over the 7 elders with a dissatisfied look.

“Your Majesty, you’re crystal clear about the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. In recent years, especially after Dragon Emperor Immortal shrunk its power to Dragon Emperor Big Domain, our external forces and channels of information have been much worse than before. Those intelligence agents always respond a bit slower than branches…” Wang Laisheng coughed twice as he explained in a bit embarrassed way, “The Military Department didn’t know the event about Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Cyan Lotus City until one day later. Additionally, we didn’t know the details. Your Majesty, because this news was too shocking and was of great importance, before proving it, we dared not report it to you recklessly. Not until Force Emperor Immortal Palace assigned large batches of powers to Woods Medium-sized Domain and we proved the event from all aspects did the Military Department report the complete news to you…”

After hearing Wang Laisheng’s explanation, Zhang Tie looked a bit better as he said, “According to your explanation, it’s not your fault. But this intelligence is of great significance, we have to pay special attention to it. Despite Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn’t endure any more tortures, we should spend more efforts on intelligence collection. We couldn’t save money on this aspect. On the aspect of intelligence collection, Military Department, Immortal General Department and Supervision Department have their own systems. I suggest organizing a new agency being subordinate to Qianji Agency. The new agency will be mainly responsible for collecting intelligence. After a short while, elders, please work out a plan to fix this shortcoming. Although Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doesn’t have other branches outside, we could be flexible in solving this problem…”

All the 7 elders nodded.

As a person from the other world, nobody was clearer about the significance of intelligence than Zhang Tie. Sometimes, the weaker the party was, the more it should pay attention to intelligence. Because this was a natural law——fiercer and powerful beasts could live on their sharp fangs and teeth without any concern; the weaker ones have to be sensitive about intelligence.

Previously, Zhang Tie might think that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace’s slow response indicated the poor abilities of the elders or poor internal coordination. Now, he got another possibility——someone just wanted it. Because a weak, overstaffed and disunited Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was a piece of fat for someone which could be easily gulped down.

Watching these elders, Zhang Tie’s eyes gradually turned profound. “Have you proved the existence of Demon Emperor on the back of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace?”

“We’ve not proved it yet. However, according to intelligence, there probably is a top power behind Dark Emperor Immortal Palace!”

“What about Golden-Soul Rune Virus? Could it really control human immortal generals?”

“We don’t know that for the time being. The intelligence was unveiled by the secret power who knew the details of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace have not caught the major figures of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Si Clan yet. Therefore, we still don’t know whether it’s true or not…”

Closely after Luo Yunshang, Shi Zhongyu said, “I think there’s no Golden-Soul Rune Virus in Motian Realm at all. If human immortal generals could be controlled like puppets, they could be easily identified by others. I suggest to not fully believe in the words of the secret power who unveiled the background of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. That person is unknown in Motian Realm. Nobody knows him at all. He might just want to create chaos across the Motian Realm for other purposes. In that case, everyone might be in danger…”

The other elders looked serious too as they took a deep look at Elder Shi and nodded, saying, “Elder Shi sounds reasonable. However, as Woods Medium-sized Domain is in chaos, we can’t just wait here. I think we should assign powers to learn about the latest situation facing Woods Medium-sized Domain. On the other hand, we need to contact Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace and ask them about other relevant intelligence. If Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is really related to demons, it would be a common problem facing all humans. The two immortal palaces would never hide such an important intelligence…”

After discussing about it for 1 hour in Yangxin Palace, the elders finally left there.

Through discussion, they summarized their attitude on the existence of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and what had happened in Woods Medium-sized Domain——keep out of the affair; keep a close eye on it; adjust to the changing atmosphere…

What was happening in Woods Medium-sized Domain was completely within Zhang Tie’s prediction. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not curious about that at all. As for the development of this event, he insisted on observing it slowly and adjusting to the changing atmosphere. The preoccupation was to ensure the safety of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace internally. He had to pull the venomous spines out of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace at the least cost.

Sitting on the main chair, Zhang Tie stroked a space-teleportation finger ring as whims occurred to him. Not until Leng Manxue entered Yangxin Palace again did Zhang Tie raise his head.

“Call in Commander-in-Chief Huang here tonight. I will invite him for a drink!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Oh, help me check whether there’s a place called Redmountain City in Motian Realm. I wonder whether something unusual happened there recently!”

Zhang Tie had to do that in order to explain to Ji Yuelan. Zhang Tie had even prepared well an excuse for avoiding from being embarrassed when he met Ji Yuelan again——I was in secluded cultivation these days. Therefore, I didn’t notice her message until today. Therefore, I asked my subordinate to investigate it…

On the premise that Zhang Tie couldn’t tell Ji Yuelan that he was Donder and couldn’t let Ji Yuelan feel that he didn’t care about her, this was the best lie that Zhang Tie could think about.

After doing such a good deed, he couldn’t tell her; instead, he had to lie to her. Zhang Tie didn’t know what it was called. He could only reveal a bitter smile out of self-mockery.

All of a sudden, a popular advertising slogan before the Catastrophe occurred to Zhang Tie…

Men should have more than one side!