Castle of Black Iron

Sometimes, Hidden Dragon Island was too isolated a place as Zhang Tie didn’t hear any news about Stars Viewing City in the whole day. Therefore, he enjoyed a tranquil day and just recovered in Jinwu Castle.

All-purpose medicament was effective to both interior and exterior wounds; however, it was a bit inferior compared preliminary recovery medicament which was more focused on healing wounds. Two vials of all-purpose medicament would be a bit more effective than one vial of preliminary recovery medicament.

However, all-purpose medicament had one advantage over the other kinds of medicament — it had no side effects no matter how much you drank. In contrast, if you drank too much of other kinds of medicament, you might suffer from an ’adverse drug reaction’.

In the same day, Zhang Tie had drunk more than twenty vials of all-purpose medicament like drinking water. Benefiting from so much all-purpose medicament and his preliminary recovery body, Zhang Tie’s interior wounds were almost completely healed in one day.

It was tranquil as usual on Hidden Dragon Island on July 5th as no news came from Stars Viewing City. Zhang Tie became a bit amazed, ’It should have been revealed by now, how can it still be so tranquil here?’

If not afraid of arising others’ doubts, Zhang Tie really wanted to go to Stars Viewing City to see what was going on there.

For Zhang Tie, it was like not hearing the explosion after igniting the fuse of a bomb, causing Zhang Tie to be anxious.

’Could it be that another batch of Zhen Clan members came to that Mansion after I left there and rapidly cleaned the evidence? Or, are those people lurking in Huaiyuan Palace much more powerful than I imagined and they have covered up this event after it broke out? Or Huaiyuan Palace is waiting for something...’

Zhang Tie thought too much during the daytime of July 6th...

On the evening of July 6th, after coming back from the wharf after setting free sand scales, Zhang Tie circled around Jinwu Castle to check the defense situation in Jinwu Castle. Lan Yunxi had pointed out many loopholes in the defense and patrols of Jinwu Castle for Zhang Tie. If he wanted to make Jinwu Castle impregnable, he had to fix all the loopholes. Besides raising the strength of the Spirits soldiers to a higher level in a short period, he had another shortcut — to buy another batch of slaves to be guards.

Enough people could fix the shortage in fighting strength and experience. For instance, if there were three shifts of guards on the walls of the castle around the clock, even a fly entering the castle would be noticed, let alone a person.

Zhang Tie estimated that he only needed to purchase 100 LV 2 slaves as guards at most to fix the defense loophole of the castle basically. When at war, at least 1000 guards would be used to defend a castle. Jinwu castle could at least hold another 100 to 200 guards easily.

When the sun set, Zhang Tie stood on a flat roof of the castle. Drinking alcohol, he watched the sunset glow on the horizon and mumbled inside, ’If there’s still no news tomorrow, I will go to Stars Viewing City in the name of buying slaves.’ With this doubt, Zhang Tie always felt a bit uncomfortable.

”Lord, supper is ready!” called Sonia, the docile and able head of female servants in the internal castle of Jinwu Castle as she appeared behind Zhang Tie.

Although this batch of female servants were not superior, they were better than average. At the moment, all the female servants wore new clothes, styled like those of the Blapei women, and looked pretty good and enchanting. Especially Sonia, who looked more mature and attractive.

”Fine!” said Zhang Tie as he peered at Sonia’s plump breasts. Within a split second, he’d started to imagine like any other man, except for apologists and ascetics.

Zhang Tie then scanned his eyes over Sonia’s body from her breasts to her waist and bottom. At the same time, the image of Hanna and Linda with tight buttocks and sexy legs instantly flashed across Zhang Tie’s mind.

’Perhaps, I should prepare that kind of working uniform for each of them.’ An evil thought appeared in Zhang Tie’s mind, ”even if I just watch them walking in front of me with tight buttocks, it would still be very comforting.’

Under Zhang Tie’s unscrupulous gaze, Sonia’s face slightly blushed. She then lowered down her head bashfully and said in a quivering voice like a buzzing mosquito, ”If... if Lord needs, I can arrange two people to serve you in the evening!”

’Serve me?’ Zhang Tie cried as he found the coy head of female servants being very funny. Therefore, he directly patted onto her plump buttocks and smiled, ”No need! Is this suit of clothes suitable? I thought about another proper suit of working uniform for you!”

”It’s very suitable. Now, each of us have three suits; we’re already very happy!” Sonia said.

”Never mind, the tailors on Hidden Dragon Island are not very good; when you come to a couture on the continent, you can choose another beautiful suit of working uniform for them. Oh, and cosmetics. I don’t know much about cosmetics, but it seems that all of you girls like that. You can buy some proper cosmetics tomorrow and deliver them to all the girls. If you need anything else, just tell me...”

”Thanks, Lord!” Sonia replied happily with her shiny face.

”Haha... no need for thanks; the more beautiful you look, the happier I will be!” Zhang Tie put it straight as he waved his hand casually.

When Zhang Tie prepared to leave the flat roof of the internal castle together with Sonia, a blue smoke suddenly exploded in the air. After that, it turned into a blue arrow which hung in the air for a long time. Along with this pattern were seven crisp bell chimes from the Hidden Dragon Palace at the top of the mountain.

At the sight of this, Zhang Tie was shocked inside. ’This is the urgent order to summon all the students of Hidden Dragon Island to go back to Hidden Dragon Palace. Since Zhang Tie came to Hidden Dragon Island, he had not seen this used at all. He was told that only when big event happened would Hidden Dragon Palace use this method to summon students.

”I will go to the Hidden Dragon Palace now. No time for supper!” After saying this, Zhang Tie darted outside of the castle.

Zhang Tie didn’t know what happened. He only felt that it must be a big event.

Before leaving Jinwu Castle, Zhang Tie called Lenox, the head of guards in Jinwu Castle and delivered an order, ”Ignite the main defense boiler of the castle and prepare for the coming emergency!”

On the way from Yunju Mountain to Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie met so many students rushing towards Hidden Dragon Palace. They asked what happened from each other; yet nobody knew.

”Zhang Tie, you’re here...” When he was close to Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie met Yang Yuankang. After greeting each other, they rushed forward together.

”What happened?”

”No idea. The blue arrow order has not appeared for many years! I was in White Dragon Town just now; at the sight of the blue arrow signal, I instantly rushed towards here.” Yang Yuankang frowned as the two of them kept running forward.

When they arrived at the front of the decorated archway below the Hidden Dragon Castle, two rows of fully-armored soldiers were standing over there. The whole Hidden Dragon Palace looked pretty solemn, ready for an incoming enemy. A robust military officer was standing under the decorated archway with his hand on the long sword on his waist and his gleaming eyes gazing at those arriving students.

When he went through the decorated archway of the Hidden Dragon Palace and came to the lower fort, Zhang Tie raised his head and looked at the position of the main air-defense artillery on the blockhouse of this castle. This time, Zhang Tie was shocked again as the cover of the main air-defense artillery had been opened, revealing a shiny muzzle of the steam-driven ballista tilting towards the sky like a sword pointing at the heavens.

After showing their clan plates, everybody entered Hidden Dragon Palace.

The moment Zhang Tie entered Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie saw the girls and fellows like Zhang Keliang leaving Zhixing Department with weird looks and walking towards the Middle Castle.

”Senior brother Zhang...”

”Senior brother Zhang is coming...”

”Senior brother...”

”Zhang Tie...”

At the sight of Zhang Tie, a great number of students in Zhixing Department, male and female, greeted him, which surprised the other students walking along with Zhang Tie. They glanced at Zhang Tie several times, curious as to why he was so popular in Zhixing Department.

”Where are you going?” Zhang Tie asked.

”I don’t know. When we were eating supper just now, some personnel from Hidden Dragon Palace told us to gather in the Middle Fort and stay there tonight, yet they didn’t tell us why,” Zhang Hongsheng explained.

”Senior brother, do you know what happened?” Li Yurou asked Zhang Tie. Hearing this, all the other junior sisters fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie. After the party with Zhang Tie in Jinwu Castle the day before yesterday, these girls had become more intimate to Zhang Tie. This time, their eyes were full of reliance, respect, and kindness.

Of course, someone among them were bashful. Every time she thought about how she kissed this douchebag that night and threw him into the swimming pool, Lyu Shasha would feel a fever on her face. Therefore, she silently moved to hide behind a girl next to her. Although that was a crazy night, she was very relaxed as she had released all the stress that had been accumulated in the half year since she came to Hidden Dragon Palace.

Zhang Tie glanced over those girls who were looking at him with different expressions. Two girls among them were silent; yet their looks made Zhang Tie’s heart pound — Du Yuhan, being usually open, was a bit bashful now, while Qu Liangying, who was usually shy, looked a bit open now.

”I don’t know what happened either. Just wait for their orders. If war happens, we’d better stay in the fort, it’s much safer than Zhixing Department!”

Of course, forts and castles were much safer than open courtyards like the Zhixing Department.

”You’re right, senior brother!”

”You’d better practice hard so as to form your battle qis as soon as possible. The more powerful you are, the more chance you will survive in front of enemies. Perhaps, we will know the importance of this very soon!” Zhang Tie said in a solemn way.

The holy war was coming. Glancing over these young faces, Zhang Tie wondered how many among them could still stand in front of him, alive, in one or two decades.

...

Entering Breaking Heavens Department, Zhang Tie found that, not only students in Zhixing Department, even all the students in Breaking Heavens Department had moved. Zhang Tie saw many strange students one after another. All of the 700-odd students were gathering in the Fight Performance Hall of Breaking Heavens Department.

Liu Xu, Zhang Feng, Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie all arrived. At the sight of Zhang Tie and Yang Yuankang, they all gathered there.

Besides those friends, Zhang Tie caught sight of two familiar people — Zhang Haige and Zhang Haixin, who had been doing tasks since they lost 900 gold coins to Zhang Tie. It was really out of Zhang Tie’s expectations to see them back.

At the sight of Zhang Tie, Zhang Haixin looked a bit ill-affected; he even responded with a cold harrumph; in contrast, Zhang Haige was much more mature than half a year ago as he nodded towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie also greeted him by nodding his head.

Besides the two guys, Zhang Tie saw another two guys — Zhang Qingguo, who was beaten so ferociously by Zhang Tie after he insulted Zhang Tie’s dad and Gu Bai, who was taunted by Zhang Tie. What was out of Zhang Tie’s imagination was that these two guys got along well with each other.

At the sight of Zhang Tie, Gu Bai looked a bit stiff while Zhang Qingguo lowered his head. They both took a detour around the crowd and disappeared from Zhang Tie’s vision.

Seeing this, Zhang Tie slightly frowned his forehead as his heart slightly pounded.

”Argh, here comes senior brother Yu Xiaotian,” one girl exclaimed. Zhang Tie then looked at the entrance of the Fight Performance Hall and found a twenty-or-so year old, handsome guy walk inside. He was born to be attractive. The moment he entered the Fight Performance Hall, a lot of girls peered at him with a fascinating look.

Seeing Ma Aiyun and the familiar girls were all looking over there, Zhang Tie slightly asked Liu Xu, ”Who’s that guy?”

”Yu Xiaotian (TL: 啸天 means soaring towards the heavens), whose nickname is Xiaotian Sword, ranks third on the Hidden Dragon Clan Fighting Strength Rank and second on the Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution Rank. He’s the Mr. Right in Breaking Heavens Department. It’s said that he’s already LV 9. How haven’t you heard about such a famous person?” Liu Xu asked out of curiosity.

Zhang Tie thought for a while and finally remembered him.

”Argh, here’s senior brother Zhang Wumu!” It was Yang Yuankang’s turn to yell.

A guy who was almost two times the weight and 1.5 times the height of Zhang Tie walked inside. Bare chested, he was carrying a huge and terrifying war bow and a huge and terrifying war ax which was longer than two meters. Like an armored vehicle, he walked in step by step, causing a quake on the floor. Some guys standing outside the entrance were affected and were sent flying through the air due to carelessness.

Seeing such a guy in, everybody hurriedly moved three meters away from him.

That guy called Zhang Wumu walked in the Fight Performance Hall; then, he placed his war ax onto the ground, causing a loud noise, ”bang”; at the same time, the cracks on the bluestone-made floor started to radiate like a spider web.

After putting down the war ax, Zhang Wumu crossed his arms and stood there like a wall with his eyes closed.

At the sight of his war ax, Zhang Tie’s pupils slightly contracted. Based on the experience of using the ”Man’s Certificate”, Zhang Tie instantly identified that the war ax weighed at least 600 kg.

’F*ck! There’s such a freak in Hidden Dragon Palace!”

”The nickname of senior brother Zhang Wumu is Fiery-Flame King Kong. He ranks second on the Hidden Dragon Clan Fighting Strength Rank and third on the Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution Rank. He’s a brave warrior. His father is the master of Fubo City!” Knowing that Zhang Tie was not familiar with these people, Liu Xu decided to introduce them to Zhang Tie.

Hearing this, Zhang Tie nodded. ’These guys ranking top on Hidden Dragon Ranks are truly special; these guys are the elites of elites.’

”Why haven’t I seen them before?”

”These senior brothers all possess high levelled fighting skills. They are always cultivating by themselves or executing clan tasks outside the island. Therefore, we cannot see them easily! Although senior brother Zhang Wumu is still on Hidden Dragon Palace, he has long been settled on by Hurricane Army; as soon as he leaves Hidden Dragon Palace, he will become a head in a division. He has a bright future!” Liu Xu said with an admirable tone.

Zhang Tie smacked his lips as he sighed with feeling inside, ’If not for that small tree, I would not even be a fart in front of these guys...’

In the following minutes, more and more people crowded in the Fight Performance Hall. Figures on the Hidden Dragon Ranks arrived one by another, causing bustling sounds one time by another. A greater part of the top ten guys had arrived.

”Here comes senior sister Xi...” As someone exclaimed outside the entrance, everybody became quiet in the Fight Performance Hall...