Castle of Black Iron

“Ah, haven’t the two elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promoted to supreme-level immortal generals the other day? I’ve heard this news a couple of days ago. Why did you say it happened yesterday?”

Soon after the loud voice, another guest at the other table had instantly refuted out of curiosity.

The boites and hotels in Motian Realm used to be like forums and bars. When guests ate food here, they would also exchange news with each other. When someone talked about something, the others in the surroundings would join the discussion.

“The two elders who promoted to supreme-level immortal generals the other day were Long Jiutian and Luo Yunshang. Those who promoted to supreme-level immortal generals yesterday were Ying Gucheng and Hou Moyuan…” A guest at a table beside them rectified him at once.

“Does it mean that there’re four more supreme-level immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palaces in only a few days?”

“You got it!”

“It’s so strange. The four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were once fire immortal generals. How could all of them promote to supreme-level immortal generals in such a short period? Does Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace really have the favor of God?”

When they talked about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor City, all the other guests in the boite were involved in this topic. When they ate and drank, they started to discuss this topic with strong interest. More people pricked up their ears and focused on the others’ talks.

As they were in Dragon Emperor Big Domain, of course major events in Dragon Emperor Big Domain could influence their lives. For instance, when Zhang Tie returned to Dragon Emperor Big Domain and entered secluded cultivation one month ago, the prices of all the ingredients of various herbal medicines and finished drugs in human regions across Motian Realm started to surge. Some even increased by a few times in one month. The rise was stunning. Many drug dealers, who had stockpiles, had made a big fortune in the past one month. When Zhang Tie finished his secluded cultivation, the prices of bulk medicines and various finished drugs started to fall back on the same day. In over half a month, the prices of many ingredients of medicines and finished drugs had reduced to their previous levels.

The reason for the rise and fall of the prices of ingredients of medicines and finished drugs afforded much food for thought. As commoners, their lives were greatly influenced inevitably. Those big drug dealers who had some stockpiles at the beginning had made a big fortune; by contrast, those who rushed in later on and intended to stockpile more ingredients of drugs and finished drugs had suffered great losses. As the participants in this line, of course, these guests in the boite had the deepest feelings.

“It’s hard to say whether Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is blessed by God or not. If it was blessed by God, it would have not deteriorated to such a poor situation!”

“Right, right!”

“It’s said that His Majesty Dragon Emperor has just finished his secluded cultivation a few days ago. What a coincidence! Soon after His Majesty Dragon Emperor finished his secluded cultivation, the four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had promoted to supreme-level immortal generals.” A smart drugdeal instantly realized the contact between the two events.

“All the four fire immortal generals promoted to supreme immortal generals in 10-15 days due to different cultivation bases. Given the time, soon after His Majesty Dragon Emperor finished his secluded cultivation, the four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already started to promoted to fire immortal generals consecutively. What a coincidence! Four fire immortal generals who had not promoted to supreme immortal generals in hundreds of years suddenly broke their bottlenecks in the same short period of time. There must be some relationship between the two events.”

“Yea, yea, you got that!” the one who said aloud just now instantly burst out laughing again as he continued, “The other day, when Long Jiutian and Luo Yunshang promoted to supreme immortal generals almost at the same time, many people in Dragon Emperor City had been discussing it. They all thought it was such a coincidence. After Ying Gucheng and Hou Moyuan promoted to supreme immortal generals in such a short period of time, the entire Dragon Emperor City became quiet. Of course, it’s just a superficial phenomenon. Actually, the entire Dragon Emperor City is filled with the gossip that His Majesty Dragon Emperor helped the four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promote to supreme immortal generals by secret methods…”

“Impossible, nobody in Motian Realm could do that!”

“Everything is possible. Before His Majesty Dragon Emperor came back, who could imagine that His Majesty Dragon Emperor could kill two demon emperors and inflict heavy losses to the army of 100,000 demon generals alone. His Majesty Dragon Emperor is absolutely the No. 1 powerhouse in Motian Realm!”

“It’s said that His Majesty Dragon Emperor might not be born in Motian Realm. Perhaps,” a person whispered. After hearing his words, the entire boite became quiet in a split second.

However, only after a few seconds, someone had started to refute him,

“Nonsense, of course, His Majesty Dragon Emperor was born in Motian Realm. But you could never imagine where His Majesty Dragon Emperor was born.”

“Where?”

“It’s said that His Majesty Dragon Emperor was actually born in the core region of Mountain Ruins. His Majesty was different than commoners since young. He almost had started to form his chakras when he was still a fetus…”

“Ah, impossible…”

“Nothing is impossible. It’s said that if a pregnant woman could drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, her fetus would be able to cultivate and be different when it comes to this world. It has infinite strength and could tear apart tigers and cheetahs by hand. Additionally, it would never be drowned by water and hurt by fire…”

Just now, they were talking about the major events in Dragon Emperor City and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. When they transferred the topic to Zhang Tie, they all started to talk nonsense. Their talks could even be listed as myths or legends. Zhang Tie couldn’t stand that anymore.

Hearing their words, Zhang Tie who was drinking beside them didn’t know whether he should cry or laugh. He had not imagined that he had been said to have drunk Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring and stated to form chakras when he was a fetus in Dragon Emperor Big Domain only after such a short period of time. To be honest, when he was young, he even felt reluctant to drink a bowl of rice brew which could be sold at the price of 3 copper coins. If he drank too much, his mother had to work harder to make the 3 copper coins that he had drunk.

What a familiar trick! When he heard the gossips about him, Zhang Tie immediately remembered those legends about ancient emperors in his world. All the emperors were said to be distinct from others since they were born, such as they were born with glow, their mothers dreamed about the reincarnation of a deity or embracing a meteor, etc…

Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could also become the potagonist of such a story.

Of course, smart ones could discover the subtle relationship between the events that the four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promoted to supreme immortal generals in such a short period of time and Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie didn’t want to care about the affairs in Dragon Emperor City now. There were only four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace whom he could apply the Supreme Enlightenment Method to as of now. He didn’t care about whether the others could promote to higher levels or not; neither was he committed to help all of them do that. He only wanted to find those women of Yin-Yang Sect and press Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong who dared leave him alone onto the ground; then lift their skirts and… slap… their butts ferociously!

According to Zhang Tie’s understanding of Yin-Yang Sect, only Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong could make such a decision. Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin would never do that; especially Ji Yuelan who must have charged at Zhang Tie if she knew that he had come back. She would never hide herself; because it was not what her personality usually went. Perhaps Jiang Ruoxin wanted to play hide-and-seek with him. Zhang Tie really wondered what were these women thinking of.

Before Zhang Tie finished his supper, the waiter had already come back. After taking a look at the blue crystal coin under the bowl of soup, he swallowed his saliva. Then he became a bit hesitant to say something.

“Just go ahead. I will not blame you even if the message is not precise!”

“Erm, I’ve had a friend ask about it in other boites and inns just now. We’ve got a message. There’s indeed a place being related to Naturesound Valley in Clouddragon Mountain Range. However, it’s not called Naturesound Valley…”

“Hmm?” Zhang Tie put down his glass as he slightly raised his eyebrows and asked, “Go ahead, why that place is related to Naturesound Valley; yet is not called Naturesound Valley?”

“Yes, sir!” the waiter nodded as he plucked his courage and continued, “According to a guest in another hotel, there’s a place called Naturesound Cave in Clouddragon Mountain Range. Naturesound Cave is a marvelous place. There’s a river under Naturesound Cave. On the first day and the 15th day of each month, the water in the subterranean river will surge and run back into the cave. When water surges in the cave, it will hit stalagmites and stony walls and produce metallic sounds and string music at a fixed rhythm just like the sound of nature. Therefore, local people call it Naturesound Cave. Outside Naturesound Cave, there’s indeed a valley; however, it’s not called Naturesound Valley. Actually, that valley doesn’t have a name. Because of Naturesound Cave, local people used to call it Cave Valley or Fish Valley!”

“How did the guest know about that Naturesound Cave?”

“He’s a drug dealer who used to travel across Clouddragon Mountain Range. It’s said that he reached that place when he got lost in the mountain. There was a village. Those villagers lived in half seclusion and were very hospitable. When he reached that village, it was the first day of the month, therefore, the villagers caught much fish outside Naturesound Cave to treat him. Whenever water runs back into the cave, some 20-cm long slim fish will be flushed into the brook in the valley along the subterranean river. Those fish are tender and don’t have fishbones. They’re rare local delicacies. On the first day and the 15th day of each month, local villagers would catch fish outside the cave. He heard all these from local people. Later on, he even took a look outside the cave out of curiosity and found it was true!”

“What about the situation facing the valley?”

“The valley has nice scenery. However, its walls are steep and don’t a path. Ordinary people could barely enter it. A hermit might have built a manor in the valley…”

“Where is that place?”

“It’s over 130 miles away from Yuhua Peak, Clouddragon Mountain Range in the north. Dongliang City is over 250 miles away from that place in the west. Plentifulgrains Town is over 5,000 miles away from that place…”

When the waiter said that, Zhang Tie instantly found Yuhua Peak and Dongliang City on the map in his mind. The two places could be easily discovered on the map. After that, he drew a line from the two places respectively according to the distances between them and that valley. Closely after that, he got the location of Naturesound Cave and the valley out that cave.

“Well, I don’t care whether that place is Naturesound Valley or not, you have that thing on the table…”

When the waiter became thrilled, Zhang Tie had already stood up and walked towards the gate of the boite.

Not knowing why, as he had already found those women of Yin-Yang Sect for a few days, when he heard about Naturesound Cave, he instinctively felt that that valley outside Naturesound Cave was the right place that he was looking for.

After leaving the boite and Plentifulgrains Town, Zhang Tie instantly flew towards the place that he had fixed on the map in his mind at a speed of about 10,000 m per second.

Only after 10 minutes, soon after dark fell, Zhang Tie had already arrived at the air zone which was tens of thousands of meters high above the valley.

The valley was over 30 miles in length. It was verdant and had a great scenary. It was indeed an untraversed region. A brook was winding its way through the valley. Both sides of the valley were steep cliffs. Zhang Tie instantly saw a skyline above a cliff in the east side of the valley.

Soon after he arrived there, Zhang Tie had seen a woman in purple skirt and metal wings flying into the skyline and disappeared…

Zhang Tie had seen that woman in Cyanlotus City. She was a disciple of Yin-Yang Sect.

When he caught sight of the skyline, Zhang Tie rolled his eyes. With a smirk, he instantly activated his Invisible Shen Bead and disappeared into the sky…