Castle of Black Iron

When Zhang Tie along with Doug and Barley returned to the small square with a large amount of items, he found that the square was many times more boisterous than when he had left. In front of the several exchange points, there were groups of students standing in lines as they held onto the items they were planning to exchange with the stuff brought by the commercial transportation team.

Zhang Tie and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had mainly brought hides; they had brought five wolf hides, three of which were hunted by Zhang Tie, a hedgehog hide, and two rabbit hides. Although these hides were not too valuable, they could still be exchanged for a lot of food. Although the hides had been tanned, they still released a weird smell in the tree base, thus if they were able to sell off these hides this time, then it would allow their tree base to smell a little better.

“Bighead, what do you want to exchange your three wolf hides for?” Barley asked.

“Just exchange them all for rations.”

“Don’t you need money? These items could easily sell for more than 20 silver coins!”

“We don’t need money at the moment. What we need right now is food, which is why I prefer to exchange for food. As long as we pass this survival training, all is well!” Zhang Tie smiled.

Barley glanced at Zhang Tie with a strange look. He didn’t know what had happened to Zhang Tie; Barley felt that Zhang Tie had been more relaxed when dealing with things. His decisions carried a bit of laziness, but it was mixed with braveness and decisiveness. Could this be an effect of the Iron-Blood Fist? No, it’s not like that. Barley couldn’t convince himself at all, as they were all practicing the Iron-Blood Fist using the same book, so how could Zhang Tie improve so much faster than the others? Not to mention that Barley had also noticed that Zhang Tie was changing spiritually, but Barley was confused at how Zhang Tie, a guy who only dug in the mines and practiced the Iron-Blood Fist skill together with them every day, could make a spiritual breakthrough.

Is doing mining work that effective? Should I give it a try myself?

“Fine, then do whatever you want. Doug and I are enough to queue up here!” Hearing fatty Barley’s words, Doug, who was standing beside him, also patted his chest with a grin. During the past week, Doug had gotten used to flattering Zhang Tie.

There truly wasn’t a need for three people to line up here, so seeing that Doug and Barley were already standing in line, Zhang Tie then decided to wander around the small square. Seeing that there were many onlookers near the gate of Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie also moved there.

The moment Zhang Tie drew close, he heard several guys fervently talking about the missions on the notice board.

“If only I could get some Goose-neck Grass… One stick of Goose-neck Grass is almost worth more than one gold coin! That amount could be exchanged for a good machete or a sword!”

“There’s also the golden wolf. If one kills a golden wolf, then you could acquire the marrow in the spine of the wolf, which is even more valuable than a stick of Goose-neck Grass. Not to mention a good machete or sword, you could even exchange it for 3 kg of meat and 7 kg of rations! If I could kill a golden wolf, then I wouldn’t have to worry about my life for the next couple of weeks...”

“But, it’s not that easy to get those items. Haven’t you read the notice? We can only get them by the border of Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie, which is 30 km away. I have heard that there are dozens of times more wolf packs over in the Crescent Prairie when compared to Wild Wolf Valley. Facing dozens or even hundreds of wolves… we could easily be torn apart, leaving not even a single bone behind...”

Hearing their words, Zhang Tie slightly frowned before pushing his way through the crowd and arriving below the notice board. At the top of the notice board were the missions on hunting golden wolves and picking Goose-neck Grass. Aside from the notices, they had especially hung two large pictures, one of the golden wolf and the other the Grass-neck Grass, respectively to the left and right of the notice boards, ensuring that everyone knew what they looked like. A man with a silky hat that was as slim as a stick of bamboo was inciting the onlookers below the notice board as his saliva sprayed everywhere in the air.

“Master Abyan is the chief medicinal pharmacist of Blackhot City, and he needs golden wolf marrow and Goose-neck Grass since both are raw materials needed to concoct recovery medication. Do you know what recovery medication is? Recovery medication is a marvelous medicine that can allow the fighters of Blackhot City to heal and recover their strength as soon as possible after being wounded on the battlefield...” At this moment, the man with the silky hat raised his hands and exclaimed, “Brave, young men! Do you know what’s currently happening in Blackhot City? The evil Norman Empire has already been showing their machetes towards Blackhot City and your family. Soon, Blackhot City could very well end up in a bloody fight with the army of the Norman Empire. For the sake of Blackhot City and your relatives who may join the army of Blackhot City, please go and bring back golden wolf marrows and Goose-neck Grass! Every stick of Goose-neck Grass could possibly save your relative’s life. Master Abyan, the revered chief medicinal pharmacist of Blackhot city, is now in need of these two items. Brave young men, brave men from Blackhot city, take your machetes and swords and march on towards the Crescent Prairie! Use the corpses of the golden wolves and the Golden-neck Grass to display your braveness! Look! Those beauties are watching you present your braveness...”

The words from the man with the silky hat were extremely aggressive. Combined with his passionate voice and the mood, he had created a splendid performance. As a result, many people among the onlookers became excited and were ferociously discussing with each other, as it was the first time for everyone to hear about what was happening between the Norman Empire and Blackhot City.

“Tell us, what is happening between the Norman Empire and Blackhot City right now?” a young man among the onlookers asked loudly.

“You guys really don’t know? Haven’t your teachers told you about it? Several days ago, a very terrible incident had happened in Blackhot City. The northern border army of the Norman Empire have been grooming their war horses and training their troops in preparations to invade Blackhot City, your hometown. That’s why, Blackhot City is currently in its weakest state. This is the most critical moment for the brave men of Blackhot City to stand out and do something for the sake of their hometown...”

At this moment, the crowd became restless. Since they have stayed here for almost 20 days now, many of them truly did not know what was happening in Blackhot City. Having been incited by Samira, everyone became restless.

Within the crowd, Zhang Tie frowned, as he instinctively felt that there was something wrong with the words spoken by the man with the silky hat. Although the others didn’t know what recovery medication was, Zhang Tie certainly knew what it was, as he had worked in Donder’s grocery store for a long time and that store even had two of such items. According to Donder, in Blackhot City, even the price of the lowest quality recovery medication would never drop below 10 gold coins. This was simply something that was never meant to be available to the commoners and common soldiers. However, this bastard had lied to them and was inciting them to go get these two items in the Crescent Prairie, causing them to lose their mind. It was obvious that he had bad intentions towards them.

Sweeping his gaze over the flustered students, Zhang Tie instantly saw Zerom frowning and gloomily glaring at the man who was gritting his teeth and loudly inciting the student. Rolling his eyes, an idea came to Zhang Tie’s mind.

He silently retreated back into the crowd and lowered his body before shouting loudly.

“Everyone, don’t listen to him! That guy is telling a lie! He wants us to be cannon fodder in Crescent Prairie. Even the most common of recovery medication would cost more than 10 gold coins per vial and is simply something our relatives cannot afford. We should listen to our teachers. If something has happened in Blackhot City, then our teachers would let us know. Don’t listen to that strange fellow’s provocative words...”

Although these young, horny students were always impulsive, it wasn’t as if there was something wrong with their minds. Hearing Zhang Tie’s warning, many of the horny students realized that they didn’t have a reason to trust this strange fellow. At the very least, was there a relationship between a recovery medication that was worth more than ten gold coins and their relatives? Why should they have to risk their lives in the Crescent Prairie?

Standing below the notice board, Samira was so angry that his face had even begun to twitch. Earlier, he was waiting for a great number of students to help him make money, but unexpectedly, someone had jumped out to give him trouble and had exposed him.

“Who!? Who said that!? Come out!” Samira hysterically growled with a vicious expression while his eyes swept over the crowd of many students before him.

After stealthily moving to another place, Zhang Tie pinched his nose and shouted again, “That fellow gets exposed and now he’s infuriated. Brothers, look at his terrifying triangular eyes that are in the shape of a poisonous snake’s head. That’s definitely what a sinister person looks like! A kind-hearted person would not have such terrifying, triangular eyes. Tell your friends not to be cheated by that guy! Don’t help him make money by risking your lives! We will stay in Wild Wolf Valley and never go to the Crescent Prairie...”

Hearing Zhang Tie’s words, the horny students began to fervently discuss and many of them had even begun to study the shape of Samira’s eyes. Descriptive words like “terrifying triangular eyes”, “the shape of a poisonous snake’s head”, and “how a sinister person looks like” were really lethal. At this time, Samira became so furious that he jumped up from the ground and his face had turned purple. However, facing the doubting eyes, he had no other choice but to force a smile...

As the students were noisily discussing, Zhang Tie silently slid out from the crowd and went to meet up with Barley and Doug. Seeing what was happening in the crowd, Zerom’s expression was really resplendent. Since the moment Zhang Tie had spoken, he had already realized that it was Zhang Tie’s voice. What Zhang Tie had performed just now had really shocked him. He would never have expected that Zhang Tie could see through Samira’s lies and would alert the onlookers by shouting in public, all the while not being caught. Zhang Tie had done everything that Zerom had wanted to and had even done it perfectly. As Zhang Tie was leaving, those excited, horny animals had already begun to discuss Samira’s looks and his terrifying, triangular eyes...

Zhang Tie had exchanged his three wolf hides for a bit more than 4 kg of rations, though Barley said that Zhang Tie had suffered a loss, as the price of the three wolf hides were more than 20 silver coins and the commercial transportation team had only given Zhang Tie ten silver coins worth of rations. Seeing this, Doug had also become furious.

Despite this, Zhang Tie didn’t particularly care about it; instead, he placated Barley and Doug. As they were about to leave Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie had caught sight of Burwick. Surrounded by a great number of people, Burwick walked over high-spiritedly, while every person following him was holding onto several wolf hides. With a casual glance, one could see approximately a hundred wolf hides...

Everybody gave way to Burwick. At that moment, Burwick was extremely eye-catching. However, at the sight of Burwick’s calm face that hid his pride, Zhang Tie suddenly thought of the man with the silky hat.

“Could Burwick be working with Samira?”

A thought suddenly came to Zhang Tie’s mind!

“What is happening in Blackhot City? Has the letter I sent to the military of Blackhot been received? Did it catch the eyes of the management of Blackhot City ? Are mom, dad, and elder brother ok?”

What that guy had said still silently shocked Zhang Tie’s mind.

Soon after Zhang Tie, Barley, and Doug had left Wild Wolf Castle, the Temporary Supervision Committee, who was responsible for this survival training, posted a notice in the square of Wild Wolf Castle, which introduced what had happened between Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance in the past weeks. All the horny students learned that many big events had happened in Blackhot City and Andaman Alliance within the month they had attended the survival training. Knowing that the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty were baring their sharp fangs so quickly towards Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance, everybody was startled.

Could it be that a war between the Andaman Alliance, the Norman Empire, and the Sun Dynasty was waiting for their graduation?

A special atmosphere started to cover Wild Wolf Valley!

……