More than three years had passed, yet Lion Fortress was still the same as ever. If not for the three airborne battle fortresses hovering above it, having returned from the battlefield and seeming to carry the scent of bloody battle, no one would have guessed that many of the knights within the fortress had just gone through a great war.
Zhang Tie assumed Cui Li's appearance once more and calmly entered Lion Fortress without hindrance.
The knights guarding the fortress gates were still Hua Clan knights, but they were unfamiliar faces; none were known to Zhang Tie. From the meticulous uniforms and solemn expressions of those young knights, Zhang Tie knew that they were knights who had only recently come to Earth Element Realm for rotational duty.
Knights who had just begun serving in Earth Element Realm carried the air of newcomers. Everything they did was rigid and by the book, somewhat like fresh recruits who had just entered the army.
After more than three years—especially after enduring a string of battles and killing nearly half a dozen Earth Knights of the Devil Race—Zhang Tie had unknowingly acquired the aura unique to Earth Element Realm veterans: indifferent, yet razor-sharp.
"Was that person an Earth Knight just now?"
"Ah, he's too young..."
"Maybe he's an expert from one of the seven great sects!"
"He carries the killing aura of someone who has lived through great battles. Perhaps he just returned from Iron Enclosure Mountain..."
"Ah, a Black Iron Knight? Did I see wrong?"
Amid the faint murmurs and reverent gazes of several young knights, Zhang Tie swiped his identity card through the machine at the gate and entered Lion Fortress.
Zhang Tie still had the same Lion Fortress identity card he had once used to enter and leave the Knights' Tower;