Castle of Black Iron

At midnight, Zhang Tie flew out of the window of a luxury room on Floor 38 of the grand hotel on the bank of Swordswashing Lake as a little black beetle towards the third prince’s mansion in the center of Datang City…

In the daytime, the taxi driver had already shown Zhang Tie around the third prince’s mansion. Under his lotus flower eyes, Zhang Tie had already seen through the entire mansion and bore the location and routes of the third prince’s mansion in mind.

The entire Datang City had been in sound sleep. Besides the streetlamps and the lamplights in a few buildings, the entire city had been in silence, being utterly different than the bustling scene in the daytime.

It had been a long time since Zhang Tie used his little beetle as his incarnation last time. When he turned into a little black beetle again, Zhang Tie felt that sense of freedom coming back.

At above 100 m in the air, the little beetle loomed and flew towards the third prince’s mansion like a speck of dust after being applied with super hiding rune. It only took Zhang Tie over 20 minutes to meet the third prince’s mansion that he had seen in the daytime.

Located in the center of Datang City, the third prince’s mansion occupied 2.4 square miles or so. With a camp on one side, the entire mansion was on very strict alert. In the air, Zhang Tie saw all the road lamps outside the mansion bright as teams of soldiers were patrolling around the mansion, leaving no dead angles across the mansion at all.

Of course, in Zhang Tie’s eyes, these guards were nothing but decorations. What Zhang Tie worried most were those hidden powerhouses beside Xuanyuan Wuji. Given Xuanyuan Wuji’s deeds, Zhang Tie didn’t believe that this guy didn’t have high-level bodyguards or had not considered about being assassinated. Before the move, Zhang Tie had to get hang of these messages for the sake of sec-kill. The more messages he acquired about the mansion, the calmer he would be in action.

Right above the heads of a team of patrolling soldiers, Zhang Tie easily entered the high wall of the mansion. Then, he slowed down and flew towards the residential area of servants in the periphery of the mansion.

Only after a short while, the little black beetle had already arrived there and entered one bedroom.

Two servants were in sound sleep on two beds. It was pitch-dark inside. After entering the room, the little beetle flew around the bed for a short while before disappearing. Zhang Tie then appeared in the room like a looming spirit.

The two servants were both tough guys. Zhang Tie then put his hand onto the forehead of one of them while reading his memory in recent months.

Soul reading skill would bring a side effect to the one being read. If Zhang Tie read all the memories of this person, this guy might become an idiot. If he only read two months’ memory, the side effect of Soul Reading Skill could almost be ignored under his control. As for the person whose memory was read, he just made a bit longer yet spirit-consuming dream.

The first one being read was a gardener who had worked in the mansion for almost 2 decades.

After reading two months’ memory from this gardener, Zhang Tie gained a lot of useful messages such as the topography of the entire mansion including the location of the inner court, the residential area of waiters and maids, the residence of guards, the residence of the family members and trusted subordinates of third prince, the residence of Xuanyuan Wuji and who in the mansion usually touched Xuanyuan Wuji.

Additionally, this gardener had encountered Xuanyuan Wuji when pruning flowers and plants in the garden. When he was pruning withered twigs, Xuanyuan Wuji and some followers suddenly negotiated from the back parlor. At that time, this gardener was so scared that he instantly bowed towards Xuanyuan Wuji on one side and remained still. Before lowering his head, he even threw a glance at Xuanyuan Wuji and bore his face in mind.

——Being tall and strong, Xuanyuan Wuji wore a light yellow boa silk robe, which felt very oppressive. He looked like Xuanyuan Changying except for slimmer eyes, thinner lips and higher cheekbones.

The above was the look of Xuanyuan Wuji.

After acquiring these messages, Zhang Tie didn’t stay in this room any longer. As the other one was also a gardener, he would not gain more information from the first one. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn’t waste time anymore. In a split second, Zhang Tie disappeared like a spirit, leaving no trace in the room. Closely after that, the little black beetle reappeared and flew out of the vent through the window of the room.

A few minutes later, Zhang Tie appeared in a residential area not far from this room, where lived maids who could move in the inner court.

As these maids could encounter Xuanyuan Wuji more frequently, they must know more information about the inner court and the people beside Xuanyuan Wuji. Like tonight, even though many people had fallen asleep, some maids were still on duty in the inner court, waiting for orders at any time.

Only after ten more minutes, the little black beetle had flown out of the residence of these maids before heading for the residence of those guards.

Guards in the mansion were in three shifts. While some guards were patrolling at night, the others were sleeping.

All the guards of Xuanyuan Wuji were above LV 10. However, they were just commoners in Zhang Tie’s eyes. Each guard could have a single room like a dorm, which was much more advanced than that of gardeners. Zhang Tie easily entered those guards’ rooms. After reading two months’ memory of two guards and one LV 14 team leader of guards, Zhang Tie knew the mansion even better than elders who had lived in the mansion for dozens of years.

After integrating with this information, some problems that he had to face before killing Xuanyuan Wuji occurred to Zhang Tie’s mind.

First, Xuanyuan Wuji was not a weak literati; instead, he was a powerful knight who cultivated the emperor-level Xuanyuan God Sutra ; of course, an ordinary black iron knight was trivial in Zhang Tie’s eyes; however, a black iron knight who cultivated emperor-level secret knowledge must arise his attention. Zhang Tie was clear about that. Given his realm, Zhang Tie could defeat Xuanyuan Wuji in an overwhelming manner; however, he didn’t know whether Xuanyuan Wuji had mastered any trump card to protect himself in an emergency.

Second, there were also powerhouses beside Xuanyuan Wuji, two shadow knights and two earth knights who were called Four Kingkongs by the guards in the mansion. One of the two shadow knights was employed by Xuanyuan Wuji, especially for his safety. The other three knights were arranged by Xuanyuan Wuji’s mother, Madam Jiang in the Imperial Alliance of Emperor Xuanyuan, who was from the powerful Jiang Clan of Heavenly Stars Palace. Undoubtedly, the four of them were all loyal to him. When he launched a strike, he had to confront with these powerhouses.

The last but not the least, he had to consider the mysterious figure beside Xuanyuan Wuji——Xue Fucius.

This Xue Fucius had a strange background, which was also the hot topic of commoners in the city. According to the servants in the mansion, Xue Fucius’ background was as follows——After being awarded Datang City, Xuanyuan Wuji had started to build Talents’ Pavilion. After Talents’ Pavilion was completed, the trivial Xue Fucius who wandered across the country for learning came to Datang City and became famous for his essay The Hymn of Jianghe River in the Talents’ Pavilion. As a result, everyone across Datang City read it, raising the cost of paper. Because of this hymn, Xue Fucius directly became the VIP of Xuanyuan Wuji; he even became the latter’s clerk, who was responsible for approving all the letters in the mansion on behalf of the third prince.

However, in Zhang Tie’s eyes, the story of Xue Fucius could only cheat ordinary literati and servants in the mansion. Zhang Tie just took the legend as sh*t. It might be possible if Xuanyuan Wuji was a common prince who was interested in poems and essays; however, Zhang Tie was clear about Xuanyuan Wuji’s target. How could a prince who keeps thinking about fighting for the throne of Taixia Country favor an old man who only excels at pieces and calligraphy?

Was there any story more fabricated than this one in this world? If it was real, all the demons might be vegetarians.

As Xue Fucius was always with Xuanyuan Wuji, Zhang Tie realized that this old man might be the largest obstacle for him to kill Xuanyuan Wuji…