Lying under the rock mushroom, Zhang Tie silently watched the strange group. He really wanted to kill them all. There were 16 people over there, including that guy in black clothes.
Zhang Tie couldn't figure out the level of the man in black clothes, but he estimated that those with crossbows were at most LV 8.
If that man in black clothes was lower than LV 9, Zhang Tie was confident he'd be able to kill them all. Whereas, the only problem was that if that guy in black clothes was higher than LV 9, he would be a powerful fighter. Additionally, perhaps this batch of people were just a portion of a larger group. Their partners might be hiding in other places underground. If Zhang Tie exposed himself at this moment, it would be nothing different from committing a suicide. If they blocked Zhang Tie from escaping, when their more powerful fighters arrived there, Zhang Tie would be in a great danger.
Glancing at those guys and thinking about Liu Xiang whom he had killed, Zhang Tie started to make deductions in a split second in a very calm way.
'If Liu Xiang was assigned to screw me, it means that they don't have absolute confidence in killing me.
'If they had such a powerhouse, as long as I came into the Dragon Cave, they would have notified that powerhouse of my location to directly kill me. They wouldn't have dealt with me in this way.
'If Liu Xiang wanted to keep me alive, it would be more interesting.
'If they wanted me alive, they must have understood the huge value of my manufacturing method of all-purpose medicament. If so, before mastering and verifying the method to produce all-purpose medicament, they won't let me die easily.
'After capturing me, they definitely won't extract my secrets in here, and they won't do it on Hidden Dragon Island; instead, they will definitely escort me to a safe place.
'As Hidden Dragon Island belongs to the Zhang Clan, with the exception of the Zhang Clan's airships and ships, no other vehicles were allowed in. Therefore, the only way they bring me away is to disguise me quickly. If I was found lost today, they would have to take me away from the Dragon Cave on the same day. If not, when Zhang Clan and Hidden Dragon Palace realize what happened, those people would be surrounded and have no chance to leave Hidden Dragon Island any more.
'However, it would be very difficult to bring a live person away from Hidden Dragon Cave. This could not be done by one person.
'If it was the second situation, although more powerful guys might move secretly, Liu Xiang made his move alone as it was the most cost-efficient method. If so, Liu Xiang was their first card, but not the only one. The following cards might be sharper.
'Since they're not afraid of irritating Huaiyuan Palace, they must have made full preparations and considered all the possibilities.
'If it was the first situation, they would only assign a LV 9 fighter here at most to deal with me, who's only LV 6-7 and formed the Iron-Blood Battle Qi.
'If it was the second situation. they would have more powerful guys to catch me; but they would not kill me at once.
'As for the first situation, I don't need to be worry about it; as for the second situation, I will have a chance to negotiate conditions with them and figure out their true purpose.'
In a split second, Zhang Tie had figured out his current situation and determined his next step at once.
As the Iron-Blood Fist was a fist cultivated by a dauntless person and Zhang Tie was born to be adventurous and dauntless, he really couldn't stand it by and just watch those guys come and go in front of his eyes.
Additionally, this was Hidden Dragon Island, the territory of Zhang Clan; it would be especially shameful if he was that timid even on the Hidden Dragon Island!
With a quick thought, a special equipment from the Castle of Black Iron had already appeared in his hand.
That was a leathered container of hidden weapons. After completing the advancement of his awakened bloodline, Zhang Tie had built such a weapon in the Items Department. Besides practicing with them in the Trouble-Reappearance Situation, Zhang Tie had not attacked anybody using them.
What was placed in the container were the extremely common hidden weapons with great power
— handbolts.
It was said that this hidden weapon originated from flying needles which was popular among some warriors or fighters before the Catastrophe. Those powerhouses could even break through thick glasses using flying needles.
Certainly, handbolts were not flying needles, at least in size. They were much larger than flying needles but similar to mini spears.
Each handbolt was 26.4 cm in length and 438 grams in weight. They were made of common steel and iron. Each handbolt was both like a mini spear and a super large flying needle. Zhang Tie made special modifications on their tails according to the laws of aerodynamics he'd learned, making them look a bit flat. In this way, these handbolts could fly faster, more stably, and more powerfully.
When Zhang Tie was LV 6, the effective shooting range of this handbolt was 90 m. The power of this hidden weapon was similar to that of common spears that he'd used before as they could easily pierce through a huge wolf.
Because of simple design and common materials, these handbolts were excellent low-value consumables. The price of each handbolt was only 2 silver coins in the Items Department of Hidden Dragon Palace. Zhang Tie had customized 2000 bolts in palm. Now, all these handbolts were piled inside Castle of Black Iron, and were available at any time.
Being fastened on his waist, the container contained 12 handbolts. Certainly, if Zhang Tie liked, the number of handbolts could be 120, or even 1200. With the exception of Zhang Tie himself, nobody else knew that Zhang Tie was a movable arsenal with his Castle of Black Iron.
Sometimes, the container of hidden weapons were just props. Like now, after securely fastening his container, Zhang Tie instantly had 10 more handbolts in his left hand like holding a handful of chopsticks.
With gleaming eyes, Zhang Tie held one handbolt in his right hand as he silently changed his position from lying prone into a half squatting stance. In a split second, he had locked onto that leader in black clothes 50 m away.
...
"Leave a small team to clean up the dead body and stay in the area. Any single person you see, whether from the left cave or the right cave, should be killed!" that man in black clothes said in a merciless tone, as he glanced over the surrounding people icily, "The rest of you will accompany me to get Zhang Tie. He only escaped a short while ago; he can't be far away!"
After ordering his subordinates, the man carefully looked at the trace left by Zhang Tie on the ground as he led a team towards the open area of the karst cave where they were. At this moment, Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes and forcefully shot a bolt towards the leader...
His bolt reached the man's forehead at a speed quicker than sound...
When the bolt was only 6-7 cm away from that man, Zhang Tie thought that a headshot would definitely happen; betraying his expectations, that man suddenly grabbed that bolt at an amazing speed.
Not until then did the piercing sound of the bolt drift into the ears of everyone else, shocking them.
Zhang Tie's bolt was easily caught by him. Watching that blood stain on his hand, the leader's eyes shot out gleaming light. Raising his head, he cast his sight towards that hill where Zhang Tie lurked.
Seeing this, Zhang Tie gradually stood up from underneath the rock mushroom and took a deep breath. Without any fear, he kept fixing his eyes onto that man. It was his first time seeing his hidden weapon, which was flying faster than sound, being grabbed by a hand. Zhang Tie estimated that the leader was at least LV 10. The two people's furious gazes collided in the air, with a distance of 50 m between them.
"Zhang Tie..." That man squeezed out Zhang Tie's name with a cold expression.
Standing on the hill, Zhang Tie smirked as he stretched out a middle finger towards that man.
The corners of that man's eyes then twitched...
Before the man issued any orders, the other guys had already surged towards Zhang Tie.
If this man could grab Zhang Tie's bolt by hand when being ambushed, in face-to-face fight, no matter how many bolts he threw towards that man, it would a waste; but, it would be different if he threw his bolts towards the others...
Zhang Tie sneered. When those enemies were closer than 30 m, he shot out the second handbolt...
'This father doesn't think that another one of you can grab my sonic-booming bolt by hand. If I saw a second one among you catch it, this father would escape away right now.'
"Bang...", one guy's head exploded like a water melon breaking.
Zhang Tie rapidly moved away to evade some bolts. While he was running, he kept throwing out his handbolts. He had thrown out 5 handbolts in 2 second, "Bang...bang...bang...bang...bang...", the front 5 people's heads were exploded consecutively 30 - 40 m away from him.
In a split second, half of those people on that man's side were cleared. Nobody could have imagined that Zhang Tie's handbolts would be that terrifying. Compared with Zhang Tie's handbolts, those guys' crossbows were really too poor.
"Retreat..." Realizing that his men could not even evade Zhang Tie's handbolts, that leader shouted furiously as he accelerated towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then directly rushed towards him from the hill without any fear.
They then collided in the air. Seeing that man punching him, Zhang Tie soared as he also punched towards that man.
The moment their fists clashed, Zhang Tie felt an unstoppably powerful strength surging towards him. At the same time, he felt that his Iron-Blood Battle Qi had fallen into a dark mire and was torn, melted, and engulfed by a strange strength...
With only one move, the opponent's huge strength had already sent Zhang Tie fly backwards in the air.
If he hadn't cultivated any fundamental movements, Zhang Tie would have been very embarrassed. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie made some beautiful rolls backward to counteract a greater part of the opponent's strength. As a result, he landed steadily 10 m away.
Although he looked no different than before, Zhang Tie felt his throat warm blood surging upward and his qi roiling; yet the blood was swallowed back down by Zhang Tie.
Compared to Zhang Tie's embarrassing appearance, that man just descended onto the ground steadily.
"A LV 10 powerhouse fighter?" Zhang Tie watched that guy in black clothes in an extremely gloomy way. He had seen LV 9 fighters. He even had fought 2 LV 9 fighters today; however, this man in front of him felt much more powerful than those LV 9 fighters.
"Good!" That man revealed a distant smiled, "If you surrender now, you can still live!"
Zhang Tie burst out a laughter. What he said next irritated the opponent so much that the latter almost spat out blood, "Are you daydreaming? So what if you're a powerful fighter? You are in the Dragon Cave of Hidden Dragon Island. It belongs to Zhang Clan. The powerhouses of Hidden Dragon Palace will arrive soon. By then, they will easily kill you like killing an ant. I urge you to surrender to me and flatter me. Perhaps then, I will save you!"
Hearing Zhang Tie's words, that man's face revealed his killing intent. Zhang Tie made him very uncomfortable. With a cold expression, he fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie, "Although my primary objective is to take you away from here; if I can't, I can also kill you. Personally, I think I'd prefer to kill you!"
Hearing this, Zhang Tie's heart raced, 'Truly as I predicted, this guy is much trickier than Liu Xiang. I really wonder which power is willing to take me down by assigning a LV 9 fighter and a powerhouse to me. That's really a great honor.'
Thinking of this, Zhang Tie then looked at that man's back with a surprised expression.
Noticing Zhang Tie's surprised expression, that man naturally looked back; yet found nothing. However, at the same time, he felt a sharp qi reaching in front of his chest. Knowing that Zhang Tie's handbolt was unusual, he didn't dare to grab it directly by hand; instead, he jumped away while patting Zhang Tie's bolt, causing it to change its flight path.
As a result, that bolt hit a guy with crossbow 20 steps away, and penetrated through his chest, causing a shriek.
When the leader looked back at Zhang Tie, he found Zhang Tie had already dashed dozens of meters away like an arrow.
"Haha, good shot! You don't need to put on such a performance if you want to kill your man by my bolt..." Zhang Tie joked as he ran.
"You are dead!" That man angrily gritted his teeth as he immediately chased after Zhang Tie.
"Look at my bolt..." Zhang Tie shouted loudly. That man then hurriedly jumped out of the way. After changing direction twice, that man realized that Zhang Tie had not even thrown out a handbolt.
"Haha, you really are as timid as a rabbit. You actually want to catch me? Wait until your afterlife..." In a short while, Zhang Tie had run dozens of meters away again.
Being tricked by Zhang Tie twice consecutively, that man was really driven furious as he sped up to chase after Zhang Tie.
"Look out for my bolt..." Zhang Tie shouted once again.
Thinking that Zhang Tie was tricking him once again, he didn't evade at all; however, he suddenly felt a sharp qi close to his lower body. Being frightened a lot, that man realized that Zhang Tie had already shot another bolt towards the location under his left knee. He had no enough time to pat it away by then; instead, he could only change his moving direction by jumping away.
As a result, Zhang Tie's handbolt flew by his left shin. Although it didn't hit the right place, it bruised him, causing a hot pain on his shin.
In such a short while, Zhang Tie had already gotten 100 m away in the twisting karst cave.
"I will kill you..." That man growled with bloodshot eyes as he continued chasing after Zhang Tie...