Castle of Black Iron

In the deep evening, Stars-picking Pavilion, Xuanyuan Hill…

In long robe, Xuanyuan Changying was standing on the top of Stars-picking Pavilion which was higher than 200 m. Hands on back, he had been looking up at the stars for two hours without moving.

Not until his trusted bodyguard said in a low tone with footsteps, “Your Majesty, Mr. Fang has arrived…” did he let out a long sigh and turn around abruptly. Being as silent as before, he strode towards the study room…

In the study room, a literati in green robe was waiting there. Xuanyuan Changying opened the curtain, causing jade beads quiver like how rain beat plantain leaves. Closely after that, Xuanyuan Changying strode forward with the wind as he said, “Mr. Fang…”

“Your Majesty, you’re going to be the emperor of Taixia Country and rule humans and the universe. As an emperor, you should not change your face even when Mount Tai collapses in front of you. However, Your Majesty has already lost your mind due to the event of the black invitation cards. This is a taboo for the emperor. The greater the event is, the calmer Your Majesty should be…” the literati in green robe watched Xuanyuan Changying in an extremely conscientious and unprecedentedly stern look.

“I know my fault, but it’s great urgency. Therefore, I have to call Mr. Fang back from Cangzhou Province for the countermeasure…” Xuanyuan Changying explained as he bowed towards that literati.

“After 4-5 hours’ trip by airboat, I’m a bit hungry and thirsty. It’s said that Your Majesty’s teaism is great in the royal palace and once won the favor of the former Emperor Xuanyuan. How about performing your teaism for Qingming first, Your Majesty?” Mr. Fang said as he took off his boots and sat down quietly beside the tea table. Watching Xuanyuan Changying calmly, he continued, “In such a beautiful day, it’s elegant for us to drink tea in Stars-picking Pavilion and listen to the blow of wind…”

Xuanyuan Changying instantly got Mr. Fang’s meaning as he took in a deep breath and took off his shoes too. Sitting on the opposite of Mr. Fang, teapoy in between, he clapped his hands, having maids serve tea set.

The teaism of Taixia Country was extensive and profound. One hour flashed since Xuanyuan Changying started to perform his teaism.

The anxiety of Xuanyuan Changying slowly faded away as the scented tea water entered his mouth. As a result, his blue face slightly turned kind after Xuanyuan Changying had a cup of tea.

In the process, Mr. Fang remained silent. He just saw Xuanyuan Changying gradually slow his movement and pour tea water into teacups on the teapoy as fluently as flowing clouds and water like how blossoms opened and fell. Then, Mr. Fang gradually revealed a faint smile.

‘In teaism, human and tea control each other. Although I work for a royal prince. In my opinion, everything in the world is a piece, including Emperor Xuanyuan and royal prince. If I want to use the royal prince as a piece, I should be involved in the game too. There’s actually no border between player and piece. It’s just a matter of realm. If I could have a fight in the big game and remain famous forever, I would live up to my learning and ambition.’ Fang Qingming thought inside.

After having two cups of tea, Mr. Fang put down the teacup as he slowly opened his mouth, “It’s a deadlock!”

The moment he heard Mr. Fang’s words, Xuanyuan Changying, having just recovered his composure, had quivered his hand, sprayed some tea water over the teapoy. Watching the bit of tea water on the teapoy, His Majesty heaved a sigh inside as he lightly put down the teacup and asked, “Why do you say so, Mr. Fang?”

“These black invitation cards are definitely not the products of the whim of top three sects; nor do they send them because of the event of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, although top three sects couldn’t bear their losses. There’s only one reason——the top three sects have been scared of Zhang Tie too much as they don’t want to spare time for Zhang Tie to grow up anymore. In my opinion, when Zhang Tie killed the heavenly demon knight at the bank of Weishui River, they had already prepared the three black invitation cards!” Mr. Fang said calmly as wise light flashed across his eyes.

Xuanyuan Changying was shocked at a stroke as he appeared knowing something, “But why now?”

“There’re two reasons——first, after the battle at the bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie made a great contribution to Taixia Country and humans and won a great prestige. Besides, he was severely injured. At that moment, the top three sects had intended to launch a challenge to Zhang Tie; however, they couldn’t find any excuse; otherwise, they would become the target of the public. Therefore, they kept bearing it since then. However, there was one more important reason, which is because of Your Majesty!”

“Aah, because of me?” Xuanyuan Changying became startled.

“Yes, because of you. If not Zhang Tie instantly expressed that he would like to stand on your side and make Your Majesty more popular among people and closer to the throne, I think the powers of the top three sects should try to contact Zhang Tie and persuaded him to join them. By contrast, now, as long as they seized a bit chance in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, they had intended to kill Zhang Tie. If they succeeded, they would break one arm of Your Majesty. Their fast and fierce move is equal to admit their disguise…”

As Xuanyuan Changying was smart, he instantly understood what Mr. Fang meant. He was shocked so much that he didn’t make a response until a few minutes later, “Mr. Fang, you mean…”

“Yes, the top three sects have already been involved in the war for the throne of Taixia Country. Additionally, Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou who sent black invitation cards to Zhang Tie must not root for Your Majesty; instead, they must support third prince or ninth prince…”

“Audacious…” Xuanyuan Changying was irritated as he slapped onto the teapoy. Giving out light weirdly, the tea set disappeared in the eyes of Mr. Fang due to the great battle qi of Xuanyuan Changying; instead of being broken into pieces.

‘Is this the power of Xuanyuan Deity Sutra ? If it was used for a commoner or an ordinary knight, that person might have been crushed into sh*t by such a palm. As it was Mr. Fang’s first time to see Xuanyuan Changying lose his temper, Fang Qingming’s heart raced as he thought, ‘But…the tea water, what a pity…’

Watching the empty seat in front of him, Mr. Fang shook his head helplessly…

“How dare they do that? How dare they do that?” Xuanyuan Changying was driven mad as he sprung up and walked here and there in the room like a mad lion while giving out his killing intent, “Top six sects are forbidden to intervene with internal politics. It’s the rule fixed between my father and the top six sects. After my father disappears, they become so rebellious. Besides, they even join the war for the throne of Taixia Country and intended to abolish me and advocate another royal prince. That’s too audacious! That’s too audacious! I will summon the top four armies along with Military God to annihilate those bandits. I will chop off their heads; chop off their heads…”

“Your Majesty, do you really want to call back Military God?” Mr. Fang heaved a sigh as he continued, “If Military God is fetched back, the first one being beheaded would be me; instead of the knights of the top three sects as I would be accused of bewildering the royal prince so that Your Majesty would do such a stupid thing. As a result, the country as a whole would be in chaos. By then, Military God would definitely have Your Majesty send my head to the top three sects for their forgiveness. Besides, Your Majesty shall at least send a notice of self-condemnation and admit your fault to the rest of the world. It’s not an end yet. After that, Your Majesty’s reputation would decline greatly while all sorts of gossips that Your Majesty is not suitable to take the throne would be popular across the country. Advocated by someone, the one who was rooted for by the top three sects might return to Xuanyuan Hill and take the throne aboveboard…”

After hearing Fang Qingming’s words, Xuanyuan Changying who was furious instantly became petrified like being poured with a basin of water. At the same time, he recovered his composure.

“Mr. Fang, you mean…”

“But we have no evidence. Your Majesty, do you think that the top three sects would reveal any evidence to us if they root for a prince? Even if we could find some evidence, do you think the evidence would be important or not?” Mr. Fang said as he watched Xuanyuan Changying calmly, “There’s a proverb on Western Continent——Being furious when you’re weak is meaningless. As Emperor Xuanyuan has disappeared, who in Taixia Country could crack down the sage-level knights of the top three sects?”

“We could combine with Heavenly Fortune Sect, Demons-kill Valley, Elder Liu who’s on the back of the imperial palace and Military God…” Xuanyuan Changying said with hope.

“Haha…” Mr. Fang burst into laughter. Closely after that, he let out a sigh, saying, “Your Majesty, have you forgotten how you blamed Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion just now? If Your Majesty wants Heavenly Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valley to assist you, it’s nothing different than having them transfer their powers to Your Majesty. Your Majesty, do you think Heavens Holding Pavilion and Demons-kill Valley would die for you? Even if they agree, someone would blame Your Majesty for having top sects involve in the war for the throne of Taixia Country. By then, Your Majesty would be the one who violated the law regulated by the former Emperor Xuanyuan. What would you say then…”

After standing there still for a while, Xuanyuan Changying finally sat down in a bit frustrated manner as he said, “Mr. Fang, you mean, I could only watch the top three sects break my arm this time. As Zhang Tie helped me in Xuanyuan Hill; if I couldn’t keep him alive this time, who would favor me in the future? Who would regard me as a reliable person…”

“That interprets the evil of the three black invitation cards. Besides defeating Zhang Tie and occupying Iron-Dragon Sect, they also want to ruin Your Majesty’s reputation!” Mr. Fang said as he watched Xuanyuan Changying seriously. After being silent for a short while, he continued, “I’m just a literati; instead of a knight. I don’t know about the battle strength of the sage-level knights of the top three sects; however, I know that Your Majesty must know their powers. Your Majesty, do you think Zhang Tie could escape from the chase of sage-level knights when he used his ability as a divine dominator? Do you think he could carry out longlasting combat with sage-level knights in this way? If he could, I have a method to help Zhang Tie reverse the battle situation…”

Shaking his head, Xuanyuan Changying heaved a sigh, “It’s impossible. Mr. Fang, you might not know that my father told me that the sage-level knight Taiyi Old Man of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had already promoted to a sage-level knight for over 300 years. His aiding strength is Great Power Sun Flame. This aiding strength is unrivaled. Within hundreds of miles, as long as he glanced at the target, he would be able to have his Sun Flame cover the opponent. Even a heavenly knight couldn’t stand too long facing Sun Flame. Despite Zhang Tie’s fast move, he couldn’t match the transmission speed of the Great Power Sun Flame. Additionally, the site is in the vast Gobi. In that case, the power of the Sun Flame would be greater. I don’t think Zhang Tie could survive the combat…”

“It still doesn’t work even though Zhang Tie promotes to a heavenly knight in the tower of time within 100 days?”

“It doesn’t work. Unless he could promote to a sage-level knight within 100 days, he could never resist the aiding strength of a sage-level knight!”

It was almost impossible for a person to promote to a sage-level knight from a shadow knight. Actually, Zhang Tie couldn’t promote to a sage-level knight even if he stayed 100 years in the tower of time. The key to promoting to a sage-level knight was to form one’s sage chakra. It was the largest obstacle facing all the cultivators who were going to promote to sage-level knights, which couldn’t be broken through in a short period. Someone might still not be able to find the way to promote to a sage-level knight even after promoting to a semi-sage knight for hundreds of years.

“It’s just the individual power of Taiyi Old Man. I wonder whether the sage-level knights of the other two sects have mastered aiding strength or not?”

“Not yet in the last holy war between humans and demons; however, this time…” Xuanyuan Changying said as he shook his head, “My father had been paying special attention to the sage-level knights of top sects. However, he couldn’t get any intelligence from the sage-level knights of the other two sects over these years even in Xuanyuan Hill!”

“According to you, Zhang Tie is doomed to die this time?”

“Yes!” Xuanyuan Changying replied with a regretful and furious look, “I was too careless. If I’ve long known this, I would have appointed Zhang Tie as the commander-in-chief of air cavalries in Taixia Country when he was in Xuanyuan Hill even if he disagreed. At least, we don’t need to worry about receiving black invitation cards…”

“Nobody could predict the future in this world. If there is, the holy war has long come to an end. After hearing Your Majesty’s words, I feel pretty self-condemned…” Mr. Fang answered with a bitter smile, “At that time, I thought Immortal Qianji would live free after leaving the officialdom; I thought he would concentrate on managing Iron-Dragon Sect and develop his reputation and influence among the people, which would definitely be more helpful to Your Majesty than being in the officialdom. Therefore, I didn’t persuade Your Majesty to keep him at that time. I didn’t imagine that Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion dare to intervene with the war for the throne of Taixia Country when Your Majesty is still supervising the domestic affairs. It seems that they have long combined with each other; instead of choosing their stance temporarily…”

“The preoccupancy is the black invitation cards; I wonder about your countermeasure, Mr. Fang.”

“The opponent put down a perilous and powerful piece this time. However, my countermeasure couldn’t solve the problem essentially…”

“Aah, Mr. Fang, hurry, tell me about that!”

“Isn’t Your Majesty investigating the case of the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect? We could pin down the top three sects to a certain degree from this point…”

“But even if we could do something, we wouldn’t have the top three sects withdraw their black invitation cards!”

“Of course, the top three sects couldn’t withdraw their black invitation cards even if we do that…”

“If so, does this countermeasure work?”

After being silent for a while, Mr. Fang slowly opened his mouth, “It depends on the choice of Immortal Qianji. Although it’s very hard to make such a choice at a high price, as long as Immortal Qianji makes this choice, Your Majesty could help him solve the rest things…”

Xuanyuan Changying was almost confused as he asked, “Mr. Fang, you mean…”

“Black invitation card is the regulation fixed between top sects in Taixia Country. It’s not from Taixia Law. To tell the truth, it’s just an unwritten rule in folklore. Anyone who receives black invitation cards should attend the combat as requested by the top sects.

Widely opening his mouth, Xuanyuan Changying understood it at a stroke, “I see…”

“It’s hard to make such a choice. Additionally, he has to suffer a lot. His reputation might be ruined. Your Majesty, if you agree, I will pay a visit to Zhang Tie in Iron-Dragon Sect tomorrow on behalf of Your Majesty…”