Castle of Black Iron

”Who’s he, grandpa?”

When Zhang Tie and Harley were looking at that pile of dung and soil beside that earthworm pond, a maiden came towards them from the grassland behind Harley’s house with a milk jug in her hand.

With sleeves rolled up, she wore a white shirt with patterns on it and a pale blue skirt. Outside the shirt was a blue skintight vest which covered her skirt with an apron. This was the favorite dressing of peasant maidens in Blapei and the Andaman Alliance as a whole.

The maiden was 18-19 years old and looked a bit older than Zhang Tie. She was very beautiful. With a string binding her hair, she had two golden braids hanging on either side, while her red face and shiny eyes were filled with vitality. Additionally, her skintight vest outlined the elegant curves of her waist and breasts.

These rural maidens’ bodies were even more amazing that of those girls of Rose Association due to better development. In addition, they were exceptionally beautiful.

Only with one glance at this maiden, Zhang Tie had become slightly ashamed. The maiden carrying a milk jug looked both energetic and capable. She was simply a heifer. Coincidentally, all the heifers were extremely attractive to Zhang Tie.

”Hanna, this is our guest, he’s here to buy our earthworms!” Harley explained.

”Buy earthworms?” Having just milked the cow, Hanna carried a milk jug as she walked towards them. At the same time, she peered at Zhang Tie several times before said straightforwardly, ”You must be a liar!”

”Of course not. I’ve negotiated with your grandpa, cash on delivery!” Zhang Tie smiled while peering at that girl’s breasts that were G cup size, which were even bigger than those of Sharapova and Alice. Based on his sharp eyes formed by the girls of the Rose Association, Zhang Tie instantly judged the size of Hanna’s breasts.

’That’s really a heifer.’

Zhang Tie silently swallowed his saliva.

”Are you that rich? Why do you buy these things that nobody would buy at all?”

”Dream and belief can not be measured by money!”

In the cave barbarian survival mode, Zhang Tie’s words and behavior were so perfect that nobody could find any fault with him at all.

The maiden glanced at Zhang Tie with a pair of dubious eyes.

”Hanna, this young man is a pious believer of Guardian God School...”

Standing nearby, old Harley repeated what Zhang Tie had fabricated to him.

This lie was truly believable. After all, these small things that existed everywhere, almost no other idiot would buy them at all.

Hearing old Harley’s explanation, Hanna’s eyes revealed a bit of interest towards Zhang Tie. At the sight of his granddaughter being interested in this black-haired lad, old Harley who had experienced love affairs hurriedly assigned Hanna with a job.

”Hanna, have you milked the cows just now? Hurry up and take the milk to the kitchen to filter it before boiling. If it keeps still too long, it will not be yummy.”

Old Harley didn’t want to sell his granddaughter at the price of only several silver coins. Before being f*cked by a man, the female had to be interested in that man at the beginning. Nobody knew how long an outsider like Zhang Tie would stay in Blapei. Therefore, old Harley didn’t want to assume the risk of allowing the lad to make Hanna pregnant before fleeing. Even though this lad was a pious believer of Guardian God School, there was no doctrine there on forbidding a believer to make a female pregnant.

Hanna then carried the milk jug away while turning back on her way to cast another glance at Zhang Tie.

Seeing Hanna going away, Zhang Tie continued to talk about earthworms with old Harley. Old Harley moved away a part of the straws covering the pile of dung and soil, then thrust a small wooden stick inside to open the dung. Zhang Tie then saw more than ten earthworms twisting under the dung, hurriedly worming and shrinking into the soil.

These earthworms were all fat and strong. If Zhang Tie didn’t came here to buy them, they were destined to become the fodder of chickens and ducks.

”How many earthworms are in this pit?” Zhang Tie asked old Harley.

”At least one hundred thousand. No one can count them. To tell the truth, this organism reproduces very fast, having a very strong reproductive capability. Each earthworm will lay eggs three-four times a year, giving birth to dozens of babies each time. So one earthworm can give birth to more than one hundred new ones a year. I usually take some from here as fodder for chickens and ducks. As long as you add some wastes and cow dung, they will give birth to some babies in a few days. So I’ve never seen their numbers decrease!”

”Do you have a vehicle? I cannot carry a pond of earthworms and dung in to the wild and bury them just by hand!”

”Of course I have, I have a wooden handcart used for carrying cow dung and a spade. If you can not do it by yourself, I can find two helpers for you if you can pay me another two silver coins a day!”

”Fine!” After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie directly pulled out his purse and counted out 25 silver coins before handing them to old Harley. ”21 silver coins are for earthworms, one silver coin is for renting your handcart and tools while the remaining three are for the helper you’ll find for me from the village!”

Taking the silver coins, old Harley instantly revealed a smile. After a short while, a human-driven wooden handcart smelling of cow dung, two spades, and a strong male youth appeared before Zhang Tie. That male youth was old Harley’s grandson, Hanna’s elder brother.

He hadn’t imagined that the pond of earthworms was worth 21 silver coins. Additionally he could also make three silver coins today. Even lending two spades would bring them a silver coin. Hanna’s elder brother and the other family members of old Harley became very happy.

Generous people would gain a warm welcome everywhere they went.

The moment the tools were brought over, Zhang Tie and Hanna’s elder brother started to work hard. They firstly moved away the straws off the earthworms; after that, they directly spaded the earthworms out of the pond and moved them onto the wooden handcart.

Zhang Tie was filled with excitement. He had never imagined it would go so smooth today.

With his physical condition much worse than before, Zhang Tie only worked for less than three minutes before starting to pant heavily. Supporting himself on the handle of his spade, Zhang Tie took a rest nearby while Hanna’s elder brother became more and more energetic.

”Hehe, you’d better take a rest. I can finish this work alone!”

Seeing Zhang Tie’s weak look, Hanna’s elder brother burst out laughing as he moved his spade faster. In only a few minutes, the wooden handcart was already fully loaded with cow dung and soil. It at least contained ten thousand earthworms.

Seeing those earthworms rolling on the vehicle, Zhang Tie hurriedly covered it with some straws to avoid the adorable earthworms from being shined on by the sun.

”Where are we heading to?” Hanna’s elder brother asked Zhang Tie.

”I’m not familiar with the neighboring topography. If you feel that there’s a suitable place somewhere around for these earthworms to settle down, you can guide me there!”

Finally, Hanna’s elder brother guided Zhang Tie to a riverside south of Chevli village. The river was dug a couple of years ago. Below its banks was silt which had been carried out of the river. Many trees were planted on the riverside. A bit farther away from there were vegetable fields. Many people piled the rotten vegetable leaves onto a concave land near the river, which had been covered with weeds. Zhang Tie decided that the environment here was really suitable for the earthworms to survive.

He opened the soil near the concave land using his spade and checked it. He found that the soil here was soft and had many earthworms. The moment Zhang Tie broke the earth, the earthworms had tried to hide into the soil from the sun’s light.

For the earthworms who lived in the small pond before and were destined to be fodder for chickens and ducks, this place, although not being paradise, was almost like a Shangri-la.

Now that Zhang Tie was determined to set free his earthworms here, the following steps were easy. He worked together with Hanna’s elder brother as they dug out a pit of 30-40 cm in depth. They then moved the dung along with earthworms into the pit with their spades. After that, they covered some fine land on it, making it ready for the earthworms to settle down here.

The process of setting free these earthworms was simply an engineering work. It took Zhang Tie and Hanna’s elder brother almost a whole day only to clean 95% of all the earthworms and dung from that pond at old Harley’s house. Finally, only a part of dung and soil the size of a dustpan in that pond which covered 7-8 square meters was left. According to old Harley’s explanation, they were left to reproduce. Only by adding some dung and wastes, the pond would be fully filled with earthworms again in less than a year.

For the whole day, Zhang Tie and Hanna’s elder brother pulled the wooden handcart and walked to-and-fro many times. At the same time, the message that Zhang Tie was buying earthworms also spread across the village. As a result, all the farmers in Chevli knew that a pious believer of Guardian God School came to Chevli, who wanted to set free their raised earthworms in to the wild. This person was not only pious, but also generous as he paid 25 silver coins to old Harley’s family today. It was admirable for local residents to make so much extra money in one day. How could those earthworms value so much?

Because of his generosity, Zhang Tie received a passionate treatment in old Harley’s house. He enjoyed a free lunch and a free supper. But because he was in too much hurry to go back to check his Fruit of Redemption, after supper, he didn’t stay in old Harley’s home any more, instead, he directly returned to his residence.

”Do you want more earthworms? I raise some too...”

”My earthworm pond is larger than that of old Harley. It contains more earthworms than his as well. I only want 20 silver coins for all of them...”

”I only need 19 silver coins!”

Seeing people arguing around him, Zhang Tie felt dizzy and shouted out loudly standing on the oxcart, ”Be quiet!”

Everybody then became quiet with their eyes fixed on Zhang Tie, who was standing on the oxcart. As Zhang Tie was a military officer of the Iron-Blood Camp, since he left the battlefield, he had a special, firm personality, which could definitely help him control the situation at this moment.

”Please go back home, I will return in a couple of days. I want all your earthworms. Don’t worry, I will come back to buy earthworms one house by another. I only buy those raised by you in your own pond. For the wild ones, I don’t buy them. The price of your earthworms will be the same as that in old Harley’s house today!”

Hearing Zhang Tie’s explanation, everybody left satisfied.

Standing outside her home, Hanna watched Zhang Tie standing on the oxcart, persuading all the other people to leave with only a couple of sentences. Her eyes then became shiny.

Zhang Tie didn’t know that as a handsome Chinese youth, who was utterly different from those muscled youths in the village, in many girls’ eyes in this village, he was filled with an exceptionally ”exotic” aura. What he did in this normal village aroused many girls’ interests, like Hanna’s.

...

When Zhang Tie returned to his rental estate, it was already dark outside. The sound of a violin still drifted from Mr. and Mrs. Green’s residence on the first floor; the noise of the kid still came from the residence of the young couple on the second floor; and it was still empty on the third floor, while on the door of Zhang Tie’s residence was a taped paper.

”I’m sorry for what happened last night. Thanks for your care. If I contaminated your clothes, you can take them downstairs and put outside my door. I will help you wash them all——Linda”

’It seems that woman is called Linda, and she came here to find me!’

Zhang Tie had almost forgotten this trivial thing. As she was just drunk, it was not necessary for him to be angry about her. Revealing a smile, he tore off the paper as he opened the door and walked inside.

At this moment, Zhang Tie’s heart had long been pounded like boiling water. He was just trying to recover his composure.

’Patience is virtue!’ he warned himself once again.

Because he had sweated too much today and the work today was not clean, Zhang Tie was still full of smell of dung and wastes. Before he entered the Castle of Black Iron, he spent ten minutes taking a bath and changing his clothes.

...

——Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!

When this line of words slowly disappeared, Zhang Tie took a deep breath as he walked towards the small tree.

The small tree or the true karma rule didn’t let Zhang Tie down. At this moment, on the twig in the middle of the small tree were quietly hanging two fruits.

The two fruits were both Fruits of Redemption: one was pale green while the other had become pink. They were like two peaches, one was already ripe while the other was not ripe yet.

The pale green one was ”golden uangs’ strength” which was not ripe yet. Zhang Tie didn’t pay much attention to it, instead, he directly stretched out his hand towards the pink heart-shaped peach.

——Fruit of Redemption, from earthworms’ appreciation, has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.

——This fruit can recover your wounds by 1.3%.

With more than twenty silver coins, Zhang Tie could improve his physical condition by 1.3%. After reading this, he became dumbfounded, then burst out laughing loudly. At this moment, Zhang Tie understood that money was very important, though it was not the standard to measure the value of everything. Without those earthworms, no matter how much he spent, he could not recover his body at all.

Maybe similar to the human kind before the catastrophe, people in this age were used to measuring the value of everything with money. He set free at least 70,000-80,000 earthworms today. Although those lives were only worth some silver coins in someone’s eyes, they didn’t knew that all the lives were the manifestation of the creator, whose value could not be measured by money. In the eyes of the creator, a live grass and a small earthworm might be more valuable than a magnificent palace.

Should the alleged wealth of a person be measured by the eyes of human kind or the eyes of the creator? In other words, a real rich man should be rich from the perspectives of both human kind and the creator!

The above enlightenment flashed across Zhang Tie’s mind.

The heart-shaped Fruit of Redemption brought people an exotic sense that made their pores expanded due to excitement. After picking the fruit and eating it, it started to worm through Zhang Tie’s body by creeping like an earthworm. Zhang Tie could obviously feel that the places where he felt uncomfortable before became comfortable after the warm flow crept through.

It was too nice eating this fruit. During the whole process, Zhang Tie felt like numerous small hands were giving him a massage both inside and outside. He was so immersed in that process that even after the fruit’s effect had long ended, he was still sitting on the ground and enjoying it’s memory for a long time before standing up.

After getting up, Zhang Tie made some movements to feel his current physical condition. Although it only recovered 1.3%, Zhang Tie could still feel a bit better than before. Because his physical condition was very bad, even with 1.3%’s recovery, he could still feel a very obvious improvement.

As long as he could insist on setting free earthworms, he would fully recover to a normal person in several months.

Zhang Tie let out a long breath inside...

At this speed, he knew that he would fully recover, as if by a miracle, in only 3-4 months. Perhaps when he had fully recovered, the reconditioning of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division would have not completed yet. After all, the loss for the Iron-Blood Camp was really big this time.

If he could fully recover, would he go back to the Iron-Blood Camp? When he thought of this question, Zhang Tie became hesitant inside. He knew that if he just went back like nothing had happened after being judged a disabled man by a lot of doctors due to his terrifying experience, he would then be truly ”well-known” in the entire Iron-Horn Army. He was afraid that if he did that, many people would start to doubt his lie about being struck by a lightning bolt. No matter how sharp a man with the Post-Lightning Stroke Savant Syndrome was, he could not do something like that.

Iron-Horn Army was not Blackhot City. If he aroused someone’s suspicions, Zhang Tie wasn’t sure whether he could keep the secret of the Castle of Black Iron.

Zhang Tie was really puzzled by this question. However, only after several seconds, he pushed it out of his mind. No matter what, whether he would recover or the Iron-Blood Camp would finish its reconditioning and reorganization, it would be at least 3-4 months later. He didn’t need to think about this question now.

Thinking this way, Zhang Tie relaxed.

Because he had enough free time tonight, he firstly cultivated in the Castle of Black Iron for a while, then continued to produce two more binding chains using his spiritual energy. After that, he practiced mental arithmetic by two abacuses at the same time so as to recover his spiritual energy a bit. After doing all the above things, he felt very satisfied and fell asleep.

Later on, Zhang Tie became the most popular person in the whole Chevli village...