Castle of Black Iron

”Sorry, give way please; I haven’t eaten breakfast yet. Can you allow me in...” Zhang Tie wanted to detour from those girls like he hadn’t seen their faces at all.

”Bastard, stop!” Those girls who were still blocking Zhang Tie’s path directly surrounded him.

”What are you talking about just now? Who wants to propose to you?”

”That’s it! Are you dreaming? This sister could fall in love with you?”

”This guy is really lecherous, narrow-minded and presumptuous!”

”He’s more like a lunatic!”

...

Zhang Tie was instantly drowning in the girls’ curses.

”Listen, now that you don’t want to propose to me, why are you surrounding me?” Zhang Tie looked around at the girls who were condemning him on purpose while crossing his hands in front of the chest like being afraid of being violated, ”If you dare to attack me in public, I will shout loudly to ask for help from others!”

The girls were so infuriated that they almost passed out.

The girl who initiated the interaction with Zhang Tie really wanted to smack his face which pretended to be in a panic. However, given her purpose here, she restrained her impulse.

”We are looking for you, not for any other reason than to bet with you!”

Bet? Zhang Tie suspiciously looked at those girls, ”What will they bet with me?”

”I heard you have bet with a senior brother in Breaking-Heavens Department for 300 gold coins that you can form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. All the girls in Zhixing Department also want to bet with you for that. Dare you bet with us?”

”Ha, your zodiac is truly a spinning top. If I don’t ferociously whip you, you might not be happy. Look, you’re coming for me.”

After thinking for awhile inside, Zhang Tie stopped to be cynic as he seriously looked at this girl, ”I have nothing but boldness, go ahead, bet what?”

”Each of us girls will bet with you for 30 gold coins. We think you can’t form Iron-Blood Battle Qi in 2 years. If you lose, you should pay each of us 30 gold coins, how about that?”

”These girls are here to rob me when I am in trouble. This must be the treatment as the public enemy of girls. Look at the 12 girls who were surrounding him, Zhang Tie smiled, ”You are here to add 360 gold coins’ debt to me. let’s see it...”

”You are really good at scheming. The odds between others and I is always 1:3. I want 1080 gold coins if I win. Why do I have to make a concession to you by 3 times the odds? Are we familiar with each other?” Zhang Tie refused them at once.

”What do you want then?”　

”It’s very simple, the odds will be 1:3 as usual. Don’t think that I will make a concession for you because you’re female. I will not make a concession for you with even 1 copper coin!” Zhang Tie glared at them.　

The girls gritted their teeth as they looked at Zhang Tie,”This bastard is really narrow-minded. Didn’t his cousin bet with the other one for 1:1?”

After short whispers to each other, the girls instantly reached an agreement.

”Fine, we’ll bet 1:3. Each of us will pay you 90 gold coins if you win. We don’t think you can form Iron-Blood Battle Qi in 2 years!”

The girls then believed that Zhang Tie would definitely fail to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. If they don’t fear that the total amount would scare Zhang Tie away, they might pay more.

”As we have no money now, how will we deal with the wager then?” Zhang Tie pretended to be serious.

The girls seemed having long prepared for this question.

”We can sign an agreement at first. When the result comes out, if one doesn’t have the money to pay it off, one could use an IOU, but one has to pay off the interest first!”

”Do we need to sign an agreement. I think it’s needless as my words always count.” Zhang Tie pretended to be serious.

”Humph...we’d better sign an agreement. What if you repudiate the debt at a critical moment?” The girl who was talking with Zhang Tie seriously looked at him.

”Fine, I will sign it.” Although acting like he was helpless, Zhang Tie had actually long been very happy.

...

As Zhang Tie was surrounded by the girls of Zhixing Department, it arose the attention of many boys. When they heard that these girls were going to bet with Zhang Tie, they all cast their sympathetic eyes on Zhang Tie. When the girls mentioned signing the agreement, the sympathy in the boys’ eyes almost turned into condolence.

Nobody felt that Zhang Tie could form Iron-Blood Battle Qi.

Ten minutes later, in the canteen of Zhixing Department, under the gaze of the onlookers, Zhang Tie signed an agreement with each of the 12 girls, each party had one copy, totaling 24 copies.

If the girls won, Zhang Tie had to pay 30 gold coins to each girl. If Zhang Tie couldn’t afford that, he had to calculate the interest in terms of a compound interest of 10% monthly.

However, if Zhang Tie won, each girl would pay him 90 gold coins. If they weren’t able to pay it off, they would also pay off the same compound interest.

At the end of each agreement was a paragraph——These wagers and the interests accrued from them could only be paid by the personal income gain on Hidden Dragon Island. If the losing party could not complete the payment, they could choose to reduce the debt by finishing tasks appointed by the creditor.

When he read the last paragraph of the agreement, Zhang Tie shook his head as he could almost imagine the group of girls’ excited look when they were discussing the last item. In their opinions, he would definitely not win this bet and would finally be their slave. This was how those girls treated their public enemy. They really were narrow-minded!

After taking these signed agreements, those girls started to look at Zhang Tie pleasantly. They looked so high-spirited and seemed as though they had won a battle. It was like to they could see Zhang Tie’s poor air when he lost the bet and begged for their forgiveness.

Zhang Tie also revealed a sinister smile as he carefully took the 12 copies of agreements, on which were the graceful names of the girls——Du Yuhan, Li Shasha, Zhang Shaoyun, Zhang Wanjun, Li Yurou, Zhang Caiwei, Zhang Ya, Guo Miaolu, Zhang Li, Zhao Shihua, Qu Liangying and Dong Yan.

Among those girls, there were only five coming from Zhang clan while the other seven came from other clans. That girl who looked like an elder sister called Guo Miaolu. It was also Zhang Tie’s first time finding out the names of the girls who lived in the same department with him.

The first battle between Zhang Tie, the public enemy of all girls, and the other girls in Zhixing Department started to become the hot topic in Zhixing Department during breakfast.

...

”Zhang Tie, aren’t we brothers?” While eating breakfast, Wei Wu righteously asked Zhang Tie.

”Of course!” Zhang Tie nodded.

”Shouldn’t brothers should help each other?”

”Yea!”

”Shouldn’t brothers share profits with each other?”

”Certainly!” Zhang Tie watched Wei Wu as he didn’t understand what Wei Wu wanted to say, ”Just say what you want.”

”Okay, I will then put it straight...” After taking a deep breath, Wei Wu’s righteous face instantly turned into a big obsequious smile as he rubbed his hand, ”I also want to bet with you. Just like what’s written on the agreement between you and the girls, but I’m not as greedy as those girls. I only bet for 10 gold coins. If you lose it, you can pay it for me at any time. I will not ask for interest from you. How about that?”

Zhang Tie...

...

When he left Zhixing Department and headed for Iron Ore Beach, Zhang Tie encountered Zhang Haige and his younger brother Zhang Haixin outside the memorial archway of the Hidden Dragon Palace.

”Zhang Tie, I heard you could only carry 100-200 kg of navy-blue iron ores a day. At your speed, you couldn’t even pick up 300 tons in 2 years, let alone 300 gold coins. Young man, you know it ’s hard to make money in Hidden Dragon Island now. Remember that before you want to boast, you’d better acknowledge your own strength. You’d better not let me win too easily, otherwise, I will have no sense of achievement, hahaha...”

After teasing Zhang Tie for awhile, Zhang Haige burst out laughing loudly and walked away in front of Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie then shook his head. As he was always being familiar with diving skills and the special ability of the Castle of Black Iron, he didn’t pay too much attention to picking up navy-blue iron ores; however, he hadn’t imagined that he was despised by others because of this. Fortunately, he had been familiar with diving and could move more flexibly underwater. Additionally, he just took an Iron-Body Fruit yesterday and could dive deeper than 150 m now. It was the right time for him to become outstanding in Hidden Dragon Palace...

”Zhang Tie, don’t be concerned about his words. As you’ve only been the Palace for 10 days, you’ve done pretty well.” Zhang Keliang comforted Zhang Tie.

”It doesn’t matter, I won’t care about his words.” Zhang Tie revealed a sunny smile...

...

One hour later, after staying in the water for less than 20 minutes near Iron Ore Beach, Zhang Tie had shown his head above the seawater. After taking another breath, he took the wire, one end of which was fastened onto the reef, and dived into the water once again. After Zhang Tie dived for two minutes, Zhang Yunfei showed his head above the seawater. The moment he prepared to dive once again, Zhang Yunfei caught sight of that wire which was fastened onto the reef, ”Who’s that fast? How could he be that fast? It’s only been 20 minutes since we came here, yet he’s fully loaded a sack with navy-blue iron ores.”

In the sea...

At this moment, Zhang Tie was no different than a fish. Being upside down, he was twisting his body with a wire in hand. Like a javelin that was thrown into the sea, he kept diving deep into the sea.

He passed by the first layer of the oceanic trench...

He passed by the second layer of the oceanic trench...

He passed by the third layer of the oceanic trench...

Zhang Tie kept diving deep into the sea until the sixth layer of the oceanic trench. With the exception of Zhang Tie, no one else could reach such a deep place. In this oceanic trench, there were iron ores whose sizes changed from as big as head to as big as a millstone. They radiated faint blue light in the seawater and irradiated the undersea world, making it very mysterious.

Zhang Tie found the wire sack that he had filled with navy-blue iron ores and buckled up the wire onto the sack. He then lifted it up in water. At this moment, he was already able to move rapidly upward while carrying a sack. But, it would be too amazing if he did that. Therefore, Zhang Tie still chose the old method to lift the sack out of the water.

Zhang Tie directly surged upward from the oceanic trench at a speed twice that of what he dived in with.

With a bustling sound, Zhang Tie showed his head above the seawater near the reef.

On the reef, Zhang Keliang and the other guys had stopped their work as they were waiting for someone to come out of the water.

”How could you be that fast? We just started, yet you’ve already got enough navy-blue iron ores?” Zhang Hongsheng watched Zhang Tie with an amazed expression.

”Hoho, it’s truly faster than usual!” Zhang Tie smiled as he started to climb onto the reef.

”That’s really him!” After exchanging glances with each other, the other guys started to move and help Zhang Tie pull the wire. They were excited to see how many navy-blue iron ores did Zhang Tie get today. They all didn’t believe that Zhang Tie could find a sack of navy-blue iron ores at such a fast speed.

”Wow, it’s too heavy...”

”Almost half of 300-m long wire has been put in the water. Zhang Tie, did you really dive deeper than 100 m? My god! How many days have you been here? How could you have such a great diving skill!” Wei Wu signed.

Zhang Tie smiled and kept silent. He kept forcefully pulling the items out of the sea.

2-3 minutes later, that wire sack that was buckled with the wire was pulled out of the seawater. Soon after Zhang Tie put the sack onto the reef, Zhang Yunfei and the other guys had already surrounded up and directly opened the sack.

There were only 2 smooth navy-blue iron ores in the sack which were radiating faint blue light.

”Wow, what huge navy-blue iron ores! Each of them will weigh 200-300 kg. This sack will at least weight 500-600 kg...” Zhang Yunfei exclaimed, ”Zhang Tie, where have you got such huge iron ores?”

”You can see such iron ores everywhere in the sixth layer of the oceanic trench!” Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he said this. 　　

”Sixth layer?” Everybody watched Zhang Tie like watching ghost, ”You mean you got these iron ores in the sixth layer of the oceanic trench?”

”Of course. The deeper you reach, the easier it is to find larger navy-blue iron ores you will find. Don’t you know about that?”

”Oh, my god, I’m going to go die now. Comparisons are just...” Wei Wu uttered a weird voice, ”I could only reach the second layer of the oceanic trench to find some small navy-blue iron ores to survive myself. How could anybody reach the sixth layer?”

”People who could reach the sixth layer of oceanic trench have not been seen for many years!” Zhang Keliang slightly touched that huge navy-blue iron ore and let out a long sigh.

The sixth layer of the oceanic trench is deeper than 140 m, which was almost like an abyss for the other students of Zhixing Department. The most of the people in Zhixing Department could only reach the third layer of the oceanic trench. Only very few of them could reach the fourth layer of the oceanic trench. The fifth oceanic trench was already 100 m deep, which was like a natural chasm that could not be stridden over for the juveniles in Zhixing Department. However, this chasm was like a paper that could be easily broken through by Zhang Tie.

”You gain such abilities later on. I’m just lucky right now. Well, I have to carry them back. After that, I will come back to carry some more today...”

After carrying the navy-blue iron ores to the bank, Zhang Tie carried the entire 600 kg sack and started to head up on the mountainous path, which stunned all the other guys once again. 　

On that very day, Zhang Tie submitted 3.2 tons of navy-blue iron ores, which shocked the entire Zhixing Department. They hadn’t seen such a great figure for many years in Zhixing Department...　

After 10 days since his arrival on Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie started to be outstanding on Hidden Dragon Island in such a manner that was unheard of at the age of 16...

　　...