Castle of Black Iron

In the evening, after two weeks of flight, the airship that set off from Kalur finally arrived at Yiyang City, Huaiyuan Prefecture of Jinyun Country. Huaiyuan Palace of the Zhang clan shared the same name with the Huaiyuan Prefecture as the whole prefecture was the Zhang clan’s territory.

For the first time, Zhang Tie felt the power of the Zhang clan. Through Zhang Zhitian’s introduction, Zhang Tie knew that over 200,000 members of the Zhang clan were of direct blood relation to Lord Huaiyuan. Strictly speaking, among the crew of the airship, captain, first mate, technicians in the engine room, Zhang Zhitian, and Zhang Tie were definitely related to each other. Because they were all of the same bloodlines as Lord Huaiyuan, although from different branches of Huaiyuan Palace.

Lord Huaiyuan had eight wives and over 40 sons and daughters. Each of his wife’s relatives had a city. The first wife’s relatives had Yiyang City, the second had Xince City, the third had Guanxing City, the fourth had Qihai City, the fifth had Fubo City, the sixth had Yunzhou City, the seventh had Jinhai City while the eighth had Taian City. After several hundred years, the eight cities developed to today’s scale.

Among the eight cities, Yiyang City was not only the capital city of Huaiyuan Prefecture but also the political, economic and cultural center of the Zhang clan in the entire Huaiyuan Palace.

Yiyang City was a coastal city, the prosperity and scale of which was 10 times that of the Blackhot City. Twenty-one million people were living in this city and its surroundings. Yiyang City was not only the largest port in Jinyun Country, even if it was in the entire Waii Sub-continent, the annual trading throughout Yiyang City could also rank within the top three.

Zhang Tie only learned about the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace through the introductions of others before; however, when the airship drew close to Yiyang City, the power and accumulation of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace instantly impressed Zhang Tie, making him feel trivial in front of his clan.

The dense steamers in the port far away and on the sea and those various airships coming and going in the air were like scenes in the drawings for Zhang Tie.

At the sight of this, the passengers who came together with Zhang Tie from Kalur City were also excited as many of them loudly shouted in poor Chinese, ”Yiyang…Yiyang…”

”Do you plan to settle down here in Yiyang City?” Zhang Zhitian asked Zhang Tie.

”I might go back to Jinhai City firstly. I’m not sure whether or not I will stay in Jinhai City later.” After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie told Zhang Zhitian.

”This time, I’ve built up enough accumulate points as I’ve been on the airship for three years. Therefore, I plan to apply to join the airship troop of the Zhang clan. I want to be a real soldier and a captain in the future!” Zhang Zhitian replied, full of ambition.

”I hope that you’re successful in your endeavors.” Zhang Tie smiled.

During this period, Zhang Tie had learned about something on the airship. Many young men below 18 years old on the airship were interns. They had to follow the talent training system of Zhang clan. For most juveniles of Huaiyuan Palace, between the ages of 15-18 were the most treacherous period for members of the Zhang clan as the greater part of them didn’t finish school but instead entered various industries to as interns. During this period, they would enter society in order to accumulate experiences and qualifications so as to confirm their later developmental orientation. After undergoing the coming of age ceremony at 18, they would become adults when they could enjoy numerous social rights and officially join the clan army as well as being entrusted with official titles and jobs.

Compared to the assembly-line talent education system in Blackhot City, the Chinese educational system in this age was much stricter. Juveniles like Zhang Tie who would be 16 in the new year were unable to join the clan army officially, let alone to be a military officer.

”I heard from the first mate that the talent that you used to shoot down those Iron-beak Ibises with bolts was an awakening of an ancestral bloodline, some sort of throwing skill?” Zhang Zhitian stared at Zhang Tie with sparkling and admiring eyes.

Zhang Tie forced a smile as he realized the difference in cultural backgrounds. This problem had long been puzzling him. However, in Huaiyuan Palace, it seemed that many people knew the reason. Only after performing it once, his talent had already been identified, ”It might be that. At the beginning, I didn’t know what was going on, as my throwing ability became very precise immediately. I didn’t know this was the awakening of Chinese ancestral bloodline before I came back to Huaiyuan Palace. Do any of your friends have the same talent as me?”

”Yes. He’s was a classmate at school. When he attended the sports meeting, he suddenly awakened his ancestral bloodline. Although being average in archery, he won the archery competition that year!”

”The ancestral bloodline that he awakened was in archery?”

”Yes!” Zhang Zhitian glanced at Zhang Tie with a weird expression, ”Don’t you know that one of the two main ancestral bloodlines in the Zhang clan is in archery?”

Zhang Tie felt embarrassed as he revealed a smile, ”I really didn’t know about that...”

...

The airship finally landed in a base of Changfeng Business Group.

After bidding farewell to some friends that he had made on the airship, Zhang Tie took his luggage and got off the airship with the other passengers who came to Yiyang City for the first time. When Zhang Tie was considering whether he would first buy a ticket to Jinhai City, he had already caught sight of his elder brother Zhang Yang, who was accompanied by two men in black uniforms. Behind them was a sedan.

”Elder brother!” Zhang Tie was thrilled as he hurriedly walked forward. The two brothers then forcefully hugged each other. Zhang Yang was also excited as the last time they met was several months ago. They felt like they had departed with each other during a life or death situation. Whether it was Zhang Tie or his family members, they had experienced too many troubles during this period.

”How’s father? Has mother recovered?” The moment the two stopped hugging each other, Zhang Tie had asked two questions.

Zhang Yang firstly looked over Zhang Tie before revealed a smile, ”Dad has been back home. Knowing that you’re going to come back safe and sound, mom has also recovered!”

Zhang Tie became so happy as his greatest concern had been solved during this period. This was the greatest happiness, ”Has dad come back?”

”Hmm, we will talk about the details when we get back home!” Zhang Yang looked at Zhang Tie as he started to introduce the two uniformed men to Zhang Tie, ”They are personnel of the Clansmen Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace!”

The two men nodded towards Zhang Tie in a kind way.

Through Zhang Zhitian’s introduction on the airship, Zhang Tie had already known the role of Clansmen Pavilion. This time, he would first declare himself innocent and mend things through the Zhang clan. Otherwise, he would definitely still be a murderer wanted by the secret police of Norman Empire in Jinyun Country.

After introductions, the four people got on the car. Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang sat in the back while the two personnel of Clansmen Pavilion sat in the front. After that, the sedan drove out of the airship base.

Sitting in the sedan, Zhang Tie told his elder brother about what had happened in the Kalur battle zone after he left Blackhot City as he widened his eyes to watch the scenery outside the sedan and exclaimed about the prosperity of this city.

There were so many vehicles on the road while passers-by were walking on the sidewalks and the high-rises were erected right next to each other. The two sides of the road were filled with Chinese ad boards. Additionally, the passers-by had various skin colors, although above 95% of them were Chinese with black hair and eyes. The frolic voices of Chinese kids drifted from the passersby. Seeing such a scene, Zhang Tie who had grown up in Blackhot City became relaxed as he suddenly felt a sense of belonging which originated from his bloodline.

Of course, the alleged Clansmen Pavilion was not that simple. It was the clan management headquarters of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Actually, it was a square plaza of more than 20 floors. The entrance of the plaza was safeguarded by guards. The reason that the two personnel of Clansmen Palace brought Zhang Tie here was to finish the final confirmation about his status. The process was so simple that Zhang Tie couldn’t have imagined it going so smoothly in his wildest dreams.

He was taken into a room in the plaza. On the table in the middle of the room was a weird black crystal, which was embedded on a silver base with strange runes. After that, under the supervision of the others of the Clansmen Pavilion, one personnel who had taken him here poked Zhang Tie’s finger using a needle, causing Zhang Tie’s blood to drop onto the crystal. Soon after that, the black crystal started to glow which symbolized the end of the authentication.

After finishing this process, Zhang Tie took a photo and filled in out two forms. Sitting in the lounge with his elder brother for less than 10 minutes, one personnel who had taken Zhang Tie in gave him a rectangular plate which was carved with sophisticated grains.

The greater part of this plate was made of metal, in the middle of its positive side was inlaid with a piece of translucent crystal, beneath which was the photo that Zhang Tie had taken just now. Below the crystal image was Zhang Tie’s name which looked very delicate and special. On the back of the plate were the characters——Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace.

”This item is your ID certificate. You have it preserve it well. If you lost it, the results would be very serious!”

”How?”

”You will be fined 100 gold coins and be punished to do labor work for half a year. Besides, 20 clan donation points would be deducted!”

Zhang Tie let out a sigh. 100 gold coins meant 2500 grams of gold. The 20 clan donation points seemed also to be hardly gained.

”Do you mean this item is more valuable than gold?” Zhang Tie asked.

That personnel who had given the plate to Zhang Tie revealed a smile, ”Your status plate contains 7 rare alloys, among which, Hailan iron and peacock copper are 10 times more valuable than gold. This status plate also contained several secret craftsmanships which could not be made anywhere except for within the Zhang clan. You can hardly destroy it. If you destroy it, you would hardly restore it. At least in Waii Sub-continent, nobody could imitate it. The secret grains on the status plate contain the metal identification bar code formed by the steam analyzer in the Clansmen Pavilion, which is the symbol of your unique status and access. Do you think it’s important or not?”

Hearing these words, Zhang Tie was so scared that he even became dumbfounded, ”What are clan donation points?”