Castle of Black Iron

”Thanks but I don’t want to join the army for the time being...”

”Tough man, may I know your name?”

”Cui Li, from Yongzhou Province!”

After having a brief conversation with the officer just outside the gate, Zhang Tie immediately entered the Lion Fortress with Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan.

The metal plates indicated their identities; besides, by punching a card, they could accumulate their effective service time in the fortress and gain earth-elements crystals as a reward.

”Young brother Cui, we have to say goodbye to you. We will meet in the Iron-blood Tower at 8 pm two days later!” Gong Ziyao told Zhang Tie.

”Yes, two elder brothers, I have to handle with these booties too, see you at the night two days later!” Zhang Tie nodded.

After cupping hands towards each other, the three people headed for different directions.

Over the past couple of days, the group of three had learned a lot about each other. Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan had made an appointment with Zhang Tie to meet in the Iron-blood Tower, the knights’ bar in the Lion Fortress 3 days later. They said that they had something to negotiate with Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie agreed with them.

Watching Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan leaving, Zhang Tie recalled the map of the Lion Fortress for a second before running towards the Knights’ Tower of Brilliance.

It was where tasks were released in the Lion Fortress and where knights could exchange their booties for resources.

The pair of ox horns on Zhang Tie’s back indicated that Zhang Tie had killed an ox-head demon knight, which could be used to exchange for many items.

By now, Zhang Tie was still a poor guy. Besides a residence in the Lion Fortress, he didn’t even have enough clean clothes. Besides that gold-eaten tri-edged dagger, Zhang Tie didn’t have any more weapon. Therefore, this pair of ox horns could greatly improve Zhang Tie’s ”dilemma”.

Besides being good-looking, the pair of ox horns also had a great medicinal value. Through the working of pharmacists, this pair of ox horns could clear heat, cool the blood, arrest convulsion, detoxify and collect qi. It was the most precious and the main ingredient of tranquilizer for fighters below knights when they were possessed by the devil. Tranquilizer was a very precious medicine of great value. Three pills of tranquilizer might save one human fighter from being possessed by the devil on average. However, the main ingredient came from the ox-head demon knight in the Earth-elements Realm.

Cups or kettles being made of ox horns were also expensive because they could detoxify and alleviate a hangover.

Demons and humans were eating each other. The winner must have sharper teeth.

As the portal for humans to enter the Earth-elements Realm, the Lion Fortress should not only be defended by humans but also serve as a base for humans to gain resources in the Earth-elements Realm.

Zhang Tie ran all the way towards the Knights’ Tower of Brilliance. On the way, at the sight of that pair of ox horns on Zhang Tie’s back, all the knights, logistical personnel and subsidiary fighters threw admiring looks at Zhang Tie.

The real powerful ones would gain respect wherever they were; especially those on the battlefields.

Even by now, less than 20% of the human knights in the Lion Fortress who had fought demon knights had ever killed a demon knight.

”What a tough man!”

”What a hero!”

Zhang Tie heard all sorts of praises on the way there.

Zhang Tie ignored the eye lights of the passers-by; neither did he feel conceited. Perhaps, it was very difficult for others to kill a demon knight. Actually, Zhang Tie had killed dozens of demon knights and knights of Three-eye Association. Therefore, he didn’t feel thrilled at all.

...

Being very eye-catching in the Lion Fortress, the Knights’ Tower of Brilliance was higher than 2,000 m.

Human knights were accessing to the Knight’s Tower of Brilliance. Besides Hua knights, Zhang Tie saw many other knights of different skins.

At the sight of the pair of ox horns on Zhang Tie’s back, all the knights accessing to the high tower threw a serious look at Zhang Tie.

After going up over 100 metal steps, Zhang Tie came to the task lobby which covered tens of thousands of square meters.

The moment he entered the task lobby, Zhang Tie had seen a metal curtain higher than 20 m which hung various task boards and clear introductions. On both sides of the metal curtain were counters and backrooms which were used to serve knights. It was similar to that of the Golden Roc Bank. Perhaps, the structure of the lobby of Golden Roc Bank originated from here.

Zhang Tie muttered inside as he strode towards a counter. After putting the pair of ox horns on the counter, causing a sound ”pah”, he shouted in a hoarse tone, ”Task delivered!”

”A pair of ox horns of an ox-head demon knight. Not bad, not bad, it’s not even 5 days old. Fresh enough. It’s not picked from the Far-ancient battlefield in the first abyss!” An old man in red uniform checked Zhang Tie’s booty seriously as he nodded and put it into the counter, ”This pair of ox horns weigh over 30 kg. A green-robed pharmacist could make over 800 pills of tranquilizer and save hundreds of human fighters’ lives with it...”

Zhang Tie grinned. As a human knight, he indeed felt a great sense of achievement at this moment...

”Show me your identity plate, please!” The old man’s tone turned politer.

Zhang Tie passed his identity plate to the old man. The old man took it and inserted it into a machine on his side. After a series of operations, the old man drew it out of the machine in a few seconds. After that, he took out 18 golden earth-element crystals from the counter and pushed them to Zhang Tie.

”Here’s your reward, 18 earth-elements crystals, 5 meritorious points and 1,000 consumption points in the Lion Fortress!”

Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie asked, ”What are the meritorious points used for?”

The old man threw a glance at Zhang Tie,”There are many resources in the Lion Fortress that could not be enjoyed by earth-elements crystals and consumption points. You could only exchange for them with your meritorious points, such as simulative training in the Heavenly Ball...”

’Heavenly Ball?’ Zhang Tie was shocked. He remembered that an elder of Huaiyuan Palace mentioned that there was indeed a Heavenly Ball in the Lion Fortress. It was not exclusive to the Heavenly Fortune Sect.

...

After taking his identity plate which had been recharged, Zhang Tie left the Knights’ Tower of Brilliance.

After that, Zhang Tie went to the latest supply point and received 7 days’ supply, which included 7 breadfruits, 3,500 grams of nutritious mushroom, 3,500 grams of watermelons. After loading all of them into a metal supply case, Zhang Tie carried the supply case and returned to his knight’s tower marked as No. 1607.

As for Zhang Tie, the supply in the fortress was not dispensable. However, after having been in the Earth-elements Realm for so many days, if he didn’t go to receive some supply, he would arouse others’ suspicions. Even knights required energy supply. Nobody could gain them out of nowhere without a space-teleportation equipment.

After closing the gate of his knight’s tower from inside, Zhang Tie found that everything remained unchanged in the knight’s tower, leaving no dust at all.

Although he couldn’t wait to experience the first achievement from the purgatory samsara in the cultivation room, Zhang Tie tried to recover his composure and prepare a supper for himself.

The ingredients of the supper were the supply that he brought back.

Actually, it was a bit exaggerated for him to make supper. As the three fruits could be eaten directly, they didn’t need to be processed at all. Zhang Tie just took out a plate, a knife and made an assorted fruit dish. After that, he took a seat and leisurely enjoyed them.

Since he got the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had always tried to be patient whenever he couldn’t wait to do something.

The greater the plan was, the calmer he needed to be.

The more anxious he was, the more relieved he should be.

This was also a sort of cultivation.

The breadfruit was indeed like a bread; however, it was more like a half-dried coarse bread. It was a food with thick fiber which didn’t taste good at all.

The nutritious mushroom tasted like a dried squid, which was fishy and salty. They didn’t taste good either.

The watermelons contained too much water and tasted a bit sweet. However, after eating them, Zhang Tie felt a bit sour.

Although knights had powerful nerves, Zhang Tie wondered whether he would be driven mad if he ate such a food consecutively for a few years.

After eating up the food on the plate and putting away the rest fruits, Zhang Tie recovered his composure. After that, he went upstairs and entered his cultivation room.

...

After sitting in the cultivation room cross-legged, Zhang Tie entered meditation while his perceptions gradually became sensitive...

The pure, golden earth elements were slowly rotating around the first chakra like satellites on the tracks...

Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy while those pure earth elements directly entered the first chakra. After being grounded by the first chakra, they poured into those mysterious, complex and huge geometrical patterns in the earth chakra, lighting those geometrical patterns one after another...

The efficiency of this method was dozens of times higher compared to that if Zhang Tie directly absorbed earth elements. Zhang Tie directly linked the main water supply pipeline to his own home.

When Zhang Tie was quietly fixing and absorbing the essence of the chakra of the demon knight, the 31st dragon scale on his dragon crystal plate was lit after one hour...