Castle of Black Iron

On the 15th day of the lunar November of the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, although people living in Xuanyuan Hill didn’t feel it was anything special, none of them could imagine that this day symbolized that Taixia Country was involved in the 3rd holy war between humans and demons in an all-round manner in the eyes of people dozens of years later.

Although the holy war had started so many years ago, the battle flames and smokes in subcontinents had not extended Taixia Country on the Eastern Continent. Besides the disappearance of Emperor Xuanyuan and the riots of the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church which were annoying, commoners’ lives were not affected by the 3rd holy war during the past years.

The 15th day of lunar November was an unusual sunny day.

After getting up in the morning and having a bow of decoction of medicinal ingredients, Uncle Zhong felt much better after so many days’ recuperation; especially today, he felt like he was untroubled by the witch parasites anymore. Uncle Zhong felt pretty happy as he finally saw a bit of hope in curing the broken-gold witch parasites.

When Uncle Zhong got up, Old Zhou, the boatman on the Golden Water River also got up. After cleansing up, Old Zhou stood in the courtyard which was planted with some peach trees and looked up at the clean, blue sky as he told his wife with a smile who was preparing breakfast for him, “It’s a good weather today. I guess more people would like to travel on the Golden Water River; if I’m fortunate, I could make another 2 gold coins!”

“Watch out your health. Come back earlier!” The woman prepared the breakfast rapidly in the kitchen as she said.

“As it’s the Treasures Meeting lately, I could make more than that I made in a week previously, it’s nothing to be a bit tired!”

“You have to watch out your safety. Liu Hui told me that one of your guests fought a woman on a gaily-painted pleasure-boat and made a great trouble on the Golden Water River…” The boatman’s wife told him out of concern.

“You don’t know that. Childe Cui and Miss Bai are dignitaries; especially Childe Cui. He’s like a river god. When the huge waves approached us, Childe Cui just stood on the prow. When I realized that the boat might be capsized, a water flow rose up and cupped the boat like a pair of hands steadily. I carried some knights before; however, it was my first time to meet such a great knight. 3 months later, I will have our 2nd son and his uncle go to Youzhou Province…”

“Do you really believe in their words? The traveling expense between Youzhou Province and Xuanyuan Hill is high; additionally, they have to spend much time on the way…”

Old Zhou touched that gold coin which was marked with Zhang Tie’s fingerprint in his pocket before saying, “This is a favorable fate, how could a man like Childe Cui play a joke with small figures like us? I think we could have a try. Our Zhou Clan might make our ancestors illustrious one day…”

After hearing the boatman’s words, the woman in the kitchen became silent.

After having breakfast with the peach bloom spirit and dried plums that were prepared by his wife at home, the boatman, with full of aspiration towards a bright future, left for a wharf on the Golden Water River where he fastened his boat to the cleats on the dock…

…

When the boatman arrived at the wharf, a customized top black Faerie-dragon limo was slowly driving out of the Finance Minister’s Mansion in Xuanyuan Hill. A flock of sparrows on those peach trees outside the Finance Minister’s Mansion were tweeting. Han Zhengfang was watching those jubilant sparrows on the tips of twigs on the roadside in the car with a glassy-eyed look.

Hearing the tweets, Han Zhengfang felt fretful unconsciously.

Of course, the Finance Minister who attended myriad affairs daily would not lose temper to those sparrows that could be seen everywhere daily outside his mansion. What he was fretful was that his 2nd son had been missing for many days. Additionally, his 2nd son’s airboat was also missing, leaving no trace at all. Therefore, Han Zhengfang felt something bad out of his instinct.

‘Did something bad happen to my 2nd son?’ Han Zhengfang had considered about this possibility; however, given the comprehensive intelligence, Han Zhengfang found Xuanyuan Hill was as normal as usual. The top 4 armies were still following the prescribed orders. The top three chancellors didn’t encounter any abnormal situations. Therefore, Han Zhengfang didn’t believe that his son could encounter any accident. ‘Who dares do harm to my son across Taixia Country? Additionally, my 2nd son is not a weak scholar, he has a great aptitude and has already promoted to an earth knight. Besides, he’s protected by an earth knight, a black iron knight and so many bodyguards. As long as he shows his identity, he will face no obstacle wherever he is. How dare anyone find him trouble?’

‘Is he having fun with a lot of women somewhere once again?’

‘It’s possible; it’s probable.’

However, even though Han Zhengfang convinced himself that his 2nd son was meddling with women somewhere, he still felt gloomy.

After promoting to a knight, one’s perceptions and aspirations would be exceptional. The higher level a knight was, the stronger his sixth sense would be. Han Zhengfang felt that he might have ignored something and something was going to happen. However, he couldn’t figure it out; therefore, he felt fretful unconsciously.

Being fretful, he didn’t feel good these days. Therefore, the entire Finance Minister’s Mansion in Xuanyuan Hill was repressed lately. All the officials and clerks in the Finance Minister’s Mansion behaved meticulously in case of any mistake.

‘After Yuantu comes back, I will have his subordinates carry remote-sensing communications devices for sure in case of such an annoying condition!’

The window of Faerie-dragon limo rose up quietly and blocked the vision from outside. Before the tweets disappeared, a whim occurred to Finance Minister’s mind.

‘Oh, the master of royal prince invited me for a drink in Sincerity Garden today.’

When Han Zhengfang thought about the old man on the back of the emperor’s imperial city, he tried his best to recover his composure.

Without this old man on the back of the emperor’s imperial city, the three top chancellors might not feel safe leaving Xuanyuan Hill for an inspection.

…

When Han Zhengfang went to the Finance Minister’s Authority for dealing with public affairs, the master of Sincerity Garden in the emperor’s imperial city was feeding carps leisurely on one side of the pond in his courtyard.

The master of the Sincerity Garden was Meng Shidao. Few people might have heard this name, because nobody had dared call his name directly for dozens of years. In Xuanyuan Hill, everybody called him Master of Royal Prince. In other places, the name of Meng Shidao sounded like an identity for the Gobbling Party which was growing increasingly powerful. Meng Shidao was the leader of the Gobbling Party. The members of the Gobbling Party called their leader Daoshi.

Daoshi, the master of universal laws.

It was unimaginable that there was a place covering 66,600 square miles like an abandoned rural courtyard in the emperor’s imperial city.

It was Sincerity Garden. There was no gardener, florist in the Sincerity Garden. There were only very few servants. Looking at it from outside, this garden was like an abandoned rural courtyard which lacked management. It was covered with weeds. There were only some wooden hedges around the garden. Some stray cats would drill into the garden through the gaps of the hedges and wallop in the weeds. However, all the people who were qualified to push open the hedge door and enter Sincerity Garden were influential figures in Xuanyuan Hill. Many dignitaries across Taixia Country were even glorious about having a chat with the master of Sincerity Garden.

The universal laws were in nature; the sincere minds were close to the universal laws.

When the master of Sincerity Garden told the royal prince about the source of Sincerity Garden, it caused a tide in Xuanyuan Hill. Someone meditated about it day after day; someone scrambled for it; someone was driven ecstatic.

At this moment, the master of Sincerity Garden was feeding the carps in the pond in a dedicated way.

After being dropped into the pond, the lifeless dough suddenly turned into vital white small fish, shrimps and insects swimming in the water in a split second like a magic, which could even dodge from the golden fish, making the shoal of carps boisterous.

With a sound of “Pah”, a 30-cm longer black carp slapped the water by its tail in order to chase after a small shrimp incarnated by a dough, wetting the master’s long gown with sprays. Closely after that, the black carp jumped into the gaps between stones on the side of the pond and was fixed there. The carp could only struggle in vain as it waved its tail and made the master’s clean cloth shoes and the lower hem of his long gown dirty with some mud.

The master stopped dropping dough into the water. Watching the black carp struggling in the riprap while its scales were being scraped one bit after another, the master of Sincerity Garden slightly frowned. He looked at the waterlogging and mud stains over his shoes and gown and the black carp which had lost its strength to struggle in the riprap as his face gradually turned gloomy…

At this moment, a huge stray cat suddenly charged out of the weeds on the side of the pond with sparkling eyes. It was attracted by the fishy smell and movements of the black carp. This huge stray cat was not afraid of people at all. It charged towards that riprap by leaps and bounds. Closely after that, it scratched the black carp for a few times, causing the black carp to struggle for a short while once again. The huge stray cat then bit the spine of the black carp before dragging it out of the riprap and darting towards the weeds nearby. As the carp was too huge, plus it was struggling, the huge stray cat couldn’t grip it by teeth and dropped it onto the ground. Then, the huge stray cat scratched it for a few times once again before biting its tail and slowly drawing it into the weeds far away from the pond…