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Chapter 121: Disbandment of Male Lion Association
Translator: Editor:
Leaving the group of gaping animals, Zhang Tie met up with the other members of the Brotherhood. At the sight of the admiration in the eyes of the other members of the Brotherhood on him, Zhang Tie felt pretty cool once again.
"How did you do that?" Hista seriously asked Zhang Tie on the way back. "Do you know that you've opened a wholly new school tonight in flirting with girls? That is really a great invention!"
"What school have I opened?"
Zhang Tie became amazed.
"Beast school..."
F*ck!
He didn't know that among the onlookers were some people who had been blessed by the fabricated Ancient Gods Church.
On the second day, the Wild Wolf Castle was filled with various gossip that a tough guy had successfully expressed his love to three girls at the same time.
However, in the mining cave, when the 64 brainwashed guys learnt that Zhang Tie was that tough man, they all became highly spirited. Really, really, that must really be so! That was definitely the effect of Big Blessing Skill. Only Big Blessing Skill could allow an enlightener to successfully express his love to three women at the same time in the same place by using those terrifying words. Besides Zhang Tie, nobody else could do this. That was really a miracle!
Even Zhang Tie didn't know that what had happened between him and the three girls last night enabled the brainwashed guys to be more certain about the effect of the Big Blessing Skill. They became more pious to the fabricated belief of Ancient Gods Church.
...
On the second morning, when the guys in the mining cave were spreading the 'miracle' of the enlightener, many things happened across the Wild Wolf Castle and the Wild Wolf Valley.
In the tree base, Zhang Tie had long prepared his package to start his loner's trip in the early morning. His first target for this loner's survival training was to find and kill the two wild wolves that had escaped him yesterday.
When he left, he was not held back by Barley and the other members of the Brotherhood; instead, they all stood in front of the Dragon-Claw Tree and stared blankly at the six small holes made in a straight line on the trunk. Besides the members of the Brotherhood, nobody else knew how the six small holes came into being.
In Wild Wolf Castle, when Pandora woke up, she found the other girls' eyes on her were different than before. Previously, all the other girls' eyes were filled with indifference. However, now Pandora saw a wisp of admiration and envy mixed in with that indifference. Yes, it was admiration and envy. Ever since she was born, she had never seen anyone staring at her with such an expression.
...
"I heard Pandora became the first partner of Zhang Tie in this survival training..."
"Yes, I heard that Zhang Tie expressed his love to her on the Wild Wolf Square!"
"I really cannot understand it, why did Zhang Tie choose Pandora. She cannot match me in any aspect, including figure and looks. Why not choose me?"
"Don't forget it, Zhang Tie is also accompanied by Alice and Beverly!"
"What else do the two b*tches have besides their faces. I also have a good figure. I can also do what they can!"
"But they're braver than us. I heard those naive boys all like such coquettish girls."
"Do you think it's still timely for me to be coquettish now?"
"I'm afraid now..."
"Why?"
"Because those women of Rose Association have already occupied the positions in front of you. Can you match those b*tches who pretend to be innocent..."
In the washroom, Pandora closed the door and supported her lovely face with her hands. Sitting on the lid of the washing bowl, she silently listened to the discussion of the girls outside the door. After they left, she took out of the wolf canine that had been gifted by Zhang Tie. Holding it, she carefully looked at it with a wisp of a smile on her face.
...
Coming out of the washroom, Pandora encountered Alice and Beverly.
"Pandora, we might have made that guy too great last night!"
Alice looked a bit worried.
"We made him well-known!"
"We stirred up big trouble for ourselves. The more well-known he is, the more popular he'll be among other girls. This is a war between girls, we'd better not lose it!"
Beverly also frowned slightly.
"Whatever, I've said that even if he has 100 women, I'll never mind it!"
Pandora gave them a smile.
"You really aren't worried about that?"
Both Alice and Beverly stared at Pandora with a bit amazement.
"Do you think other girls still have any chance to be close to him?" she asked them.
Alice and Beverly exchanged glances. "Humph, that guy belongs to us. If he dares to have other thoughts when he comes back, we'll deal with him together!"
The three girls then giggled...
...
Being different from the three girls, there were two women who felt bad in the early morning. One was Kristine, and the other Miss Qili. The moment they thought back on how Zhang Tie had shamelessly expressed his love to the three girls last night in the Wild Wolf Square, they would feel blood rush to their heads.
Kristine regretted that she had not kicked Zhang Tie more ferociously, while Miss Qili regretted that she didn't throw this guy behind the bars in the underground prison of Wild Wolf Castle when she saw this villainous act in the square and kept him there until the end of this survival training.
'How could there be such a villain in this world!'
Two women started to curse Zhang Tie inwardly. How did he dare to do this? One of the two women believed that this villain must have silently done many more 'terrifying and disgusting things' to her in his mind in these days; the other became worried about him doing 'terrifying and disgusting things' to more girls. They then both became infuriated about him at the same time.
Seeing Miss Qili's extremely icy face, all the teachers of Temporary Supervision Committee chose to stay away from her. However, careless Captain Kerlin seemed to know nothing at all. In the early morning, when he saw Miss Qili, he even initially greeted her.
Unexpectedly, he was rewarded with a ferocious glare from Miss Qili. She then turned her face and left, ignoring him, which really made Captain Kerlin dejected.
"What happened to that women?"
He innocently rubbed his mane-covered head with his hand. Everybody then shrugged their shoulders. Right then, at the sight of Zerom walking towards him with a weird expression, Captain Kerlin immediately knew that something must have happened.
"Male Lion Association had been disbanded..." As teachers of Temporary Supervision Committee, they naturally knew well about the situation of greater teams among the students. "You would never guess how it came to be!"
"Hahaha, they'd better be disbanded in case they go to die by themselves in the Crescent Prairie, and I have to clean their butts..." Captain Kerlin laughed out loudly before asking out of curiosity, "How?"
"Burwick went for Zhang Tie yesterday. Then, something happened to them, and the Male Lion Association was disbanded this morning!"
Zerom then told Captain Kerlin about what had happened last night between Zhang Tie and Burwick. Hearing Zerom's description, let alone Captain Kerlin, even the other teachers beside them, became amazed and started to exchange glances with each other.
"Samira first, then Burwick. Is this Zhang Tie really the natural-born enemy of mean people? How could those guys who wanted to set him up are all being beaten back to their original form? Captain Kerlin, there's really a sharp one in your school this year!"
"Of course! Back in school, I've already found this Zhang Tie outstanding. He could always surprise me. From then on, I've meant to cultivate him!" Captain Kerlin calmly replied. "Unexpectedly, he really didn't let me down! Zerom, where's that brat? As he has solved the problem of the Male Lion Association and let them calm down, I really want to give him a reward!"
"I'm afraid that you won't find him now!" Zerom said, shaking his head.
"Why?"
"Because that guy has already started the loner's survival training!"
"What?" Everybody became shocked once again, including Captain Kerlin. "A LV 1 warrior was brave enough to start a loner's survival training? Does it mean that there will be another loner among the students besides Blues?"
"I don't know why he is that confident, either!" Zerom shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe he'll come back in a couple of days when he can no longer suffer it. Otherwise, he might create another miracle this time. It's really hard to say..." Zerom casually explained with a wisp of cunningness in his eyes.
"How about betting on the time of Zhang Tie's arrival?" a teacher suddenly proposed.
When there were no students near them, teachers of Temporary Supervision Committee actually didn't pretend to be solemn at all. Hearing this suggestion, Zerom smiled.
"Fine, what's the wager?" someone immediately asked.
"Two gold coins for each person, for whether he comes back in one week, two weeks, three weeks or after three..."
"Fine!"
More than ten teachers agreed immediately. After closing the door, they started to sign and put their thumbs' prints. After that, they took out the gold coins and left the receipts. Most teachers bet that Zhang Tie would come back in around 1-2 weeks. Only two teachers bet that he would stand 3 weeks, recalling his performance against Samira.
"Zerom, how long do you think that Zhang Tie can stand outside alone?"
"Even if most of you think that brat won't be able to stand three weeks, I'll choose more than three weeks!" Saying this, Zerom dropped two gold coins.
"What about you, Captain Kerlin?"
Seeing the more than 20 brilliant gold coins, the one-eyed man rolled his eyes before glancing at Zerom. "I will also choose more than three weeks!"
Seeing Zerom's mouth corner twitch slightly, Captain Kerlin was even more certain that Zerom was really cunning. 'But I, the Captain Kerlin, am not an idiot either. This time, I'll follow that cunning guy and may enjoy another surprise from this brat. Heh… heh...'
...
When a group of laughing teachers were betting in the office of the Wild Wolf Castle, several other events happened in the Wild Wolf Valley.
Less than two hours after Zhang Tie had left the tree base, a group of girls from Rose Association arrived. Their arrival made the girls who had already formed a team with the Brotherhood feel like they faced a great enemy.
When they arrived, Doug was left alone in the tree base while the other members were off to collect their prey from the traps. Seeing those girls from Rose Association, Doug's saliva poured like a stream.
Of course, they were here for Zhang Tie. After a casual talk, they learned that he had left. Hearing that he had started a loner's survival training, they became both shocked and disappointed.
Before leaving, a beautiful girl in Rose Association told Doug, "When Zhang Tie comes back, please tell him that Angel, who had picked pine nuts together with him, had come here for him!��
Doug nodded like an idiot.
Therefore, by noon, the whole Wild Wolf Castle teemed with gossip that Zhang Tie would be the second loner, next to Archer Blues. By then, Zhang Tie's name had started to become brilliant among all the students attending this survival training.
However, when Zhang Tie's name became begun to shine, Burwick's name was gradually forgotten...
In the base of Male Lion Association.
Although the broken ribs had been wrapped and dealt with once again, the marks on Burwick's face from the ferocious beating could not be eliminated in a short time, after just one night's rest.
Burwick who had panda eyes—one big, one small—numbly stood at the entrance of the mountain cave, hoping that the last members of Male Lion Association would stay. Perhaps because he looked too miserable at this moment as he completely looked like a pig head, any words coming out of his mouth sounded funny.
This time, his eloquence was useless.
The Male Lion Association, which seemed to lack morality after being shocked by Samira's event, fully collapsed. Ignoring Burwick's meanness by targeting the members of Brotherhood to join the Male Lion Association in front of the girls and inviting Zhang Tie to be the vice head of the Male Lion Association, it was an indisputable fact that Burwick had been ferociously beaten by Zhang Tie like a dead dog. Such a miserable fact was enough to completely destroy the small halo on Burwick's head since nobody wanted to follow loser's orders.
The Male Lion Association didn't completely disband and disappear as many members spontaneously gathered together to hunt prey like before. But this time, Burwick was excluded.
Standing in the base of the Male Lion Association alone for awhile, Burwick finally chuckled like a lunatic. He chuckled in a low voice at first, but then it turned to laughter, and finally wolf cries. Hearing those cries, people would definitely feel creeped out...
"Zhang Tie..."
A miserable wolf howl reverberated from the base of the Male Lion Association.
Chapter 122: Getting Rid of the Shackles
Translator: Editor:
Like what had happened the first time, the Leakless Fruit's fire-dragon-shaped energy polished the burning point on his rear end. Zhang Tie felt that that burning point was suddenly radiating stronger purple light while the purple swirl was gradually becoming larger than before.
Later on, without any obstacles, when the purple light reached its maximum, another 'boom' resounded in Zhang Tie's mind. The purple light ball exploded and became a light purple rain. After a transient darkness and silence, a dim flame appeared on the burning point on his rear end. After that, the flame gradually enlarged, constantly transferring its light and heat to the surrounding darkness and coldness, making Zhang Tie comfortable all over.
When the first burning point on his rear end was lit, Zhang Tie felt like he had suddenly opened a huge iron lock that weighed several hundred kilograms. Previously, the huge iron lock hung on his rear end. Today, after suddenly opening that heavy lock and taking it away, Zhang Tie instantly felt relaxed.
This moment was anticipated for a long time. He felt relaxed by unloading such a heavy burden. He felt so light that he could almost fly in the air.
This feeling was pretty cool!
As backbones were connected in a line, so were those burning points on the backbones. Almost the moment the burning point was lit on the rear end, Zhang Tie felt that the second burning point on the first bone of his backbone above his rear end started to be connected with that burning point he'd just ignited. The Leakless Fruit, which had just started to exert its effect on his body, immediately charged at that second burning point above his rear end like a gundog or a huge boa who had found its target.
Then, the second burning point above Zhang Tie's rear end started to radiate light...
More than 20 minutes had passed, during which Zhang Tie's body slightly shook twice. When this Leakless Fruit was fully consumed, Zhang Tie had not only lit the burning point on his rear end, but also had been successfully promoted to a LV 2 warrior. Even the second burning point above that one on his rear end started to radiate bright orange light.
Sitting under the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes full of pleasure. Picking himself up from the ground under the small tree, Zhang Tie slightly moved his limbs. Accompanied by crispy sounds arisen from bones was a sense full of energy from both inside and outside, causing Zhang Tie so much excitement that he even shouted out loudly.
Captain Kerlin said that when the burning points on one's backbones were lit, Strength of Qi, Strength of Blood, Strength of Vein, Strength of Channel, Strength of Bone, Strength of Marrow and Strength of God within one's body would gradually come into being. Afterwards, one would gradually experience that sense of relaxation full of strength. Now, Zhang Tie finally understood why Glaze's physique was so much greater than the others' when he was a LV 2 warrior.
After slightly moving his limbs, Zhang Tie started to run in the spacious field of Castle of Black Iron. He kept running to familiarise himself with this new-born energy in his body.
He learned it at school that after one burning point on your backbone was lit, you should run and move for half an hour to adapt to this new-born energy within your body as fast as possible. Teachers called this 'commissioning'. This was akin to the situation where after new machines like steam engines left factory, you were advised to operate them several times so that the gears and oil cylinders could fully polish each other. This was beneficial to its successful continued operating.
At the beginning, Zhang Tie didn't run too fast. However, after running for a while, he felt his bones and muscles were undergoing slight adjustments, accompanied by that gradually obvious relaxation and increasing strength. Therefore, Zhang Tie in time quickened his pace in Castle of Black Iron.
The perimeter of the land in Castle of Black Iron was about 3000 m. It was the first time for Zhang Tie to find running interesting. After alighting the burning point on his rear end, he felt like he had lost a heavy lock that held his strength which now kept flowing out like a delicate gurgling spring through his body. That spring seemed to be under his feet, making him feel so agile.
After running one lap, Zhang Tie increased his pace a bit. Within the Castle of Black Iron, he kept running fast, like a child who had just learned how to run.
In Castle of Black Iron, many sparse green patches could already be seen. The cornstalks of the niblets that Zhang Tie had sowed before had already grown higher than 1 m, while the corncobs looked pretty well. Additionally, the stems and leaves of soybeans, sweet tomatoes, turnips, and pumpkins could also be seen.
From the seeds that had been gifted by Grandma Teresa, the hygrophila polysperma seeds grew best as they had already formed several green carpets in Castle of Black Iron. Seeds like those of morning glory, olive, ligustrum obtusifolium, photinia frase, honey pear, walnuts, and other kinds of plants that Zhang Tie had collected during the survival training were also growing very well.
Even the tender sprouts of pine seeds that Zhang Tie had sowed several days ago had already drilled out as high as the thickness of one's index finger. The entire Castle of Black Iron was gradually becoming a world full of vitality. At the same time, the aura value points in Castle of Black Iron also surged along with the growth of these plants.
After running for more than 20 minutes, Zhang Tie gradually adapted to the new strength. After a short rest, he started to practice 'Lying Tiger Move', a basic skill of Iron-Blood Fist, by lying on the ground like a tiger.
This time, Zhang Tie exerted all of his effort as he gritted his teeth and kept that position until each muscle on his body started to quiver, and he could no longer hold on. He estimated that this time he had lasted for about 17-20 minutes—a great improvement compared to before. An increase of persistent time when using 'Lying Tiger Move' indicated that his strength and endurance had also improved a lot after lighting the burning point on his rear end.
After practicing, Zhang Tie stood up. Merely after half a minute's rest, the 'Lying Tiger Move' had already started to show its mysterious effect. Each time after he practiced it, he would feel as energetic as a tiger, including this time. This was how strange the 'Lying Tiger Move' was.
Before learning Iron-Blood Fist, Zhang Tie had never imagined that only by sticking to such a simple move could he gain such an amazing effect. As he had heard that the Iron-Blood Fist was passed from Oriental Continent, Zhang Tie started longing for that mysterious place.
Soon after finishing his practice of 'Lying Tiger Move', Zhang Tie started to practice 36 free hand moves of Iron-Blood Fist in Castle of Black Iron. After reaching LV 2, his moves looked much more similar to the descriptions on the book.
After his spiritual energy had increased by seven times, Zhang Tie found that his memory had also greatly improved, since he found out that he could completely remember the contents on the after only skimming through them once. Therefore, Zhang Tie left the book to Barley and the other members of the Brotherhood as he set off for a loner's survival training.
After practicing the 36 free hand moves of Iron-Blood Fist Skill, Zhang Tie felt that he had completed the 'commissioning' and was already familiar with the new-born strength in his body.
At the sight of the lances that he had brought and put under the tree, Zhang Tie thought up an idea. Walking over there, he held a lance in his hand. Soon he felt the strange feeling once again. This time, Zhang Tie tried his best to extend the strange cone-shaped throwing point as far as possible. Right now, that throwing point reached 30-40 m away. Compared to the 30-40 steps of a LV 1 warrior, this distance indicated that Zhang Tie had already improved a lot after reaching LV 2.
With a sound of 'Sou', before Zhang Tie's body had even moved, the lance had already been thrown out and precisely nailed into the location marked by the cone-shaped throwing point, 1 feet into the ground.
"Hahaha..."
Zhang Tie burst out laughing. Walking over there, he pulled that lance out of the ground, cleaned it, and put it back into the capsule. After that, he put the capsule on his back, putting the long sword on his waist, and arranged his package.
Afterwards, he looked at the mysterious small tree in centre of Castle of Black Iron once again. This time, two fruits were already hanging from the tree's limbs; one was a Leakless Fruit that had already grown for four days, the other was a ripe Iron-Body Fruit. As for the Iron-Body Fruit, Zhang Tie had stimulated it to ripen using a certain method.
A couple of days ago, when he was still at the tree base, Zhang Tie made a drumstick-like thing using a log, some dried grass, and a rabbit hide that he had exchanged from others. Everyday, he would request Pandora to hit him using that drumstick. With the exception of head, face, and key parts of his body, Zhang Tie had truly been ferociously hit many times all over.
Great pains finally led to the ripe Iron-Body Fruit. When he entered Castle of Black Iron just now, Zhang Tie had already noticed it. Previously, he planned to engulf that ripe Iron-Body Fruit along with the Leakless Fruit; however, he was unsure whether he would also suffer from a stomachache several hours after he eating it like last time. If it was the same, it would be inconvenient. Therefore, he decided to wait temporarily. When he found his new base in the evening, he would eat the Iron-Body Fruit.
No matter what, it belonged to him. It would never fly away during those few hours.
Thinking about his, Zhang Tie showed a smile. After locking that strange arch door in his mind, in a few seconds, he disappeared from Castle of Black Iron
...
Two minutes later, Zhang Tie drilled out of an entrance of a mountain cave, the greater part of which had been covered by vines. With the hot sun in the sky, he narrowed his eyes to glance over the surroundings. Giggling, he jumped off the two meter high mountain cave and fell to the ground. Afterwards, he went deeper into the Wild Wolf Valley.
This mountain cave was about 5-6 km away from the tree base. As it was too far away from the Wild Wolf Castle, few people would make it their base. Thus, this mountain cave seemed not to have been lived in. When Zhang Tie had passed by it earlier today, he had slightly looked around before deciding to take the final step towards being a LV 2 warrior here.
When he left the mountain cave, people near the Wild Wolf Castle more than 10 km away were still discussing about how a LV 1 warrior would like to accomplish a loner's survival training. They could never imagine that Zhang Tie, who had left the tree base five or six hours ago, had already become a LV 2 warrior. What was more, this LV 2 warrior had even mastered a mysterious talent that could not be explained even by him...
After leaving the mountain cave, Zhang Tie started to wander around the Wild Wolf Valley, a stream nearby the tree base. He felt that the two wild wolves were also in the Wild Wolf Valley, and it was the right time for them to deal with their resentment.
...
Almost at the same moment when Zhang Tie had walked out of the mountain cave, several white-bearded old men who were sitting in meditation in a magnificent palace in a mysterious land near the sea more than 20,000 km away to the south of Blackhot City opened their eyes at the same time.
The magnificent palace where the elders sat in meditation showed a time-honored and vigorous atmosphere. Huge pillars and dome beams as high as dozens of meters and as thick as several meters could be seen everywhere. These huge pillars and dome beams were not decorated.
The ground in the palace was paved with a kind of strange dark stones. Four over three meter high gold and violet tripods were put in the four corners of the palace. Whale oil filled those gold and violet tripods which after being lit would lighten up the palace.
Under the flames, two powerful words 'Huaiyuan Palace' written on a huge horizontal board on the topmost place belittled the whole palace. Under the two words were a 20-m high metal statue. The metal figure was holding a 10-m high large bow and looking far away. It was set to shoot an arrow whose head was pointing at the central axis of the palace, namely the entrance.
The entire statue looked unprecedentedly brave. For people entering the palace, the moment they caught sight of it, they would be shocked both inwardly and outwardly and feel an impulsion to kneel down under the long bow.
In front of the feet of the huge figure, rows of temporary memorial tablets were placed, each row lower than the previous one. In total, there were more than 10,000 memorial tablets in more than 20 rows erected under the feet of the huge statue.
There was an altar beneath these tablets, in the center of which was a one meter high black yet translucent crystal without any impurities in it. If Zhang Tie was here and caught a sight of that huge black crystal, he would definitely be amazed.
At this moment, what was happening on the huge black crystal caused all the elders sitting around it to open their eyes.
A fist-sized blood ball seemed to be rolling over in the huge black crystal. The blood ball radiated bright red lights which kept rolling together with tadpole-like runes. In time, the runes finally gathered and rolled to the top of the black crystal, aiming to turn into a pattern.
"It seems that another young apprentice in our clan has awakened an ancestral bloodline..."
All the elders were looking at that scene with smiles. At their age, it had already become their biggest interest to enjoy such scenes. For a group of elders, nothing could be happier than to see their posterity grow up.
Under their smiles and loving gazes, only after the time it takes for a person to inhale a couple times did the pattern gathered by those rolling red runes finally become a red lance and stopped changing.
"That's not bad..." A senior nodded with a smile. "Although what he has awakened is not one of the most powerful bloodlines among our Zhang ancestral bloodline, if he can apply this 'precise throwing' bloodline pretty well, he can also gain unexpected achievements..."
Saying this, that senior seriously gazed at the lance which was composed of numerous red runes before nodding once again. "That's not bad, he's only 15 years old, has just lit the burning point on his rear end, and triggered his Strength of Qi and Strength of Blood, causing the Blood-Soul Crystal to sense his situation. Although he lit his burning points a bit slowly, he has not awakened this bloodline too late. All in all, he was average and can be shaped. Brother Mu An, what do you think?"
"Of course my younger brother Mu En's words are right..." Another senior laughed out loudly, filled with pride. "Our ancestor Duke Huaiyuan was a descendant of Zhang clan's direct line in the Oriental Continent. Of course his bloodline would be good enough. Let's bring this brat here to check his mentality. If there are no problems with him, we will let this brat enter the Huaiyuan Palace to worship our ancestors. If we make an effort to cultivate him, he might be able to make great contributions in the future!"
"Fine!"
Other elders nodded, smiling. Then, that senior who had posed the suggestion took out of a jade clip and tenderly flicked it, causing a clear sound to reverberate through the palace.
Before the sound caused by the flicking of the jade clip disappeared, a person came out of nowhere and knelt down in front of the cattail hassocks where the elders were sitting.
"Zhang Shun greets elders, what can I do for you?"
"A 15-year-old apprentice in our clan has lit the burning point on his rear end. The Blood-Soul Crystal sensed that he had already awakened an ancestral bloodline. This is a happy event for Huaiyuan Palace. Go and bring him here. We will have a look at him..." that senior who had flicked on the jade clip calmly ordered.
"Got it..." Standing up, that man crossed his fists and leveled them above his head. Still half-bowed, he exited the palace.
In the magnificent palace, all the elders stared at that gradually disappearing red lance in the Blood-Soul Crystal before closing their eyes one by one.
...
Barely two hours later, that man who had exited came back again and piously knelt down in front of the old men like before.
"Respected elders, across Huaiyuan Palace's 8 cities, there are 1761 apprentices at the age of 15 in the family tree of Zhang's clan, including the nine people who were exiled far away. Recently there were 23 people who had lit the burning point on their rear end. However, after investigation, it was seen that nobody among them has awakened their ancestral bloodline!"
Zhang Shun's reply drifted through the palace, causing the elders to open their eyes once again. After exchanging glances, they found a wisp of amazement and anger in each others' eyes when they heard that a direct descendent of Duke Huaiyuan neither lived in cities of Huaiyuan Palace nor was recorded in the family tree of Zhang's clan. That shouldn't be true!
Even the names of children of criminals being punished or sentenced to a death penalty due to great crimes would still be recorded on the family tree by Clan Shrine. For those people's family tree, there were even exclusive archives in the Clan Shrine, which were named as Criminal Record. It was strictly managed that even marriage, funeral ceremony, and delivery would be exclusively recorded by people in Clan Shrine.
However, a direct descendent of Duke Huaiyuan could not be found on the family tree! That would make them a great laughing stock. The human line was the root of the clan line. If anything happened to the human line, it would be very serious. As a palace of four tripods which represented the stable development of Huaiyuan Palace, hearing the report, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace naturally became infuriated as they felt like they were being slapped by others.
"Check it, check it out..."
An angry order reverberated in the palace. As a result, an invisible heavy wind seemed to blow over the entire magnificent palace, causing the flames in the four huge tripods to waver and flicker like a burning match that was about to be snuffed out by an invisible hand every now and then...
Zhang Tie didn't know that the moment he had lit the burning point on his rear end, a huge storm arose in a remote place...
Chapter 123: An Accidental Encounter
Translator: Editor:
God would never allow for all to be well. The second rain in June also arrived very abruptly. On the next morning after Zhang Tie left the tree base, at 4-5 am, the rolling thunder in the sky awoke him. But before he could finish packing up his sleeping bag, the heavy storm started to pour down with a sound of ���Huala Huala'.
In Wild Wolf Valley, one could not easily find a proper mountain cave or tree hole to take a rest in. Zhang Tie was now about 15 km away from Wild Wolf Castle itself. In order to seek for the two beasts, he had kept trekking through weeds, shrubs, and over stones.
Last night, he had slept on a pile of stones. Between two huge ones there was a slightly higher place where he could lie on. Zhang Tie used his long sword to cut off a pile of weeds and put them over the ground. After that, he cut off some lush shrubs to cover the space between the two stones at the top to shelter him from wind. Finally, he sprayed some powder around himself to drive away insects and snakes. Afterwards, he laid down his sleeping bag on the ground, got in, and went to sleep.
Although lying on the ground, Zhang Tie didn't actually sleep well at night. Even if the powder could prevent the snakes and insects from approaching him, it could never hold back ferocious carnivores like wild wolves. And because he didn��t want to become food for wild beasts, he always remained alert.
This was his first time experiencing camping alone. When midnight came, it was not only cold, but also filled with weird sounds that always caused Zhang Tie to overreact by pulling out his long sword and jumping up from the ground as each time he would think it was a ferocious beast drawing near.
As a result, he was almost driven mad by the huge consumption of his spiritual energy and physical strength. When he was in Donder's grocery store, Zhang Tie had learned from some pioneers that a mutated army ant's feces could be used to shock most of ferocious beasts. However, it could only be gotten from a deserted anthill of army ants.
Therefore, sometimes, even if you knew what stuff could be used to hold back ferocious beasts, it would still be useless as God would not coincidentally provide you the right thing at the critical moment. In contrast, when you slept in the wild and needed help, God might even bring you more trouble by starting a pouring rain.
Last night, Zhang Tie, who regarded Castle of Black Iron as his top secret, would naturally not access it in the wild as his secret might be exposed. Therefore, the second ripe Iron-Body Fruit was still hanging on that small tree in Castle of Black Iron.
"F*ck!"
Before he was finished with packing up his sleeping bag, rain drops had already fallen onto Zhang Tie's face. He had to hurry up. Soon after he packed up, the heavy rain poured down.
By the time he put on his raincoat, some of his clothes were already wet. He then hurriedly rushed towards the foot of a precipice farther away. But after several steps, he remembered that he had left his long sword on the ground where he had slept last night. He had put it beside himself before going to sleep last night so that he could more easily attack any ferocious beasts that might chance upon him.
Due to weariness and slight darkness, he had almost forgotten it. So he ran back to pick it up. Finally, he walked towards that place at the foot of the precipice where he could avoid being wet like an escaping mouse driven by raindrops.
That foot of the precipice was about 1 km away from where Zhang Tie had slept. The path was also rugged and muddy in the valley. Therefore, it took Zhang Tie about five minutes to arrive there. By then, half of his trousers and coat were soaked.
Staring at the dim sky from under the precipice, Zhang Tie pulled out of a bit of dried meat to supplement his physical strength. This time, he only took about five kilograms of dried meat. As to the other food, he gift it all to Pandora, Beverly, and Alice.
He did this to test whether he had the ability to complete the loners' survival training. Although he could avoid being drenched by rain under the precipice, the scattered rain drops could still blow into his face. Itchy, it felt like how Beverly had niftily brushed his face using her eyelashes. He then thought back to Alice and Pandora, and the small golden fishes of the three girls in his mouth, and Pandora's unexpected kiss that night. She was the one who moved him most that night.
Unknown when, that restless thing in his crotch had already become as hard as iron.
'I really wonder how they are today', Zhang Tie mumbled in the direction of Wild Wolf Castle behind a pitch-dark heavy rain curtain in front of him.
Zhang Tie didn't know whether this was his desire or love for them since there was no essential difference between them. The alleged love and desire were fabricated by those bored literate men and noble Mrs.' and girls.
Zhang Tie hoped his girls would live well and be happy; he didn't want to see them suffer from any harm. He wanted to treat them well, but he was also impulsive and desired to do 'terrifying and disgusting' things to them. This was how he truly felt, whatever it was called.
It rained heavily and lasted for about four to five hours before easing off not long before dawn. Rainwater rushed into the river of the Wild Wolf Valley along with streams and water in the ravine, causing the river in the valley to rise greatly. Then, the murky river rushed downwards to the lower reach, picking up some dried twigs and leaves. The road in the valley became very muddy and rugged; some places were even slippery while puddles could be seen everywhere.
When the rain slightly eased off, seeing day had broken, Zhang Tie, who had been stomping for two hours and squatting for another two under the precipice immediately ran out of it with a raincoat on his body. The dense clouds in the sky didn't seem like they would dissipate soon.
Not knowing when it would stop, in case of encountering another heavier rain, Zhang Tie became keen to find a dry place to sleep at night. It would be better if it was a mountain cave or a tree hole like that tree house near the Wild Wolf Castle. However, such places were hard to be found.
After walking for more than an hour in the rain, during which the drizzle gradually developed into a mizzle and then heavy rain again, Zhang Tie finally found a deserted mining hole at the foot of a mountain more than three kilometers away from where he had stayed. Someone seemed to have tried to open a mine here; however, after digging for less than 10 m, they could not find what they needed and stopped, leaving a shallow mining cave which could be easily seen from outside. But although it was not a hidden place, it was already a paradise for Zhang Tie, who was hurriedly looking for a base.
When he entered, he found someone had once lived in here as there were some scattered dried wood and grass, and traces of ashes on the ground. At the sight of dried wood, Zhang Tie immediately became spirited. He had never imagined that he could be that happy at the sight of dried wood.
After taking off the raincoat and spreading it over a stone to dry it, Zhang Tie put down his package and luggage on a dry place and put his lance container close to the entrance where he could easily reach in an emergency. After that, he pulled out a flint lighter and gathered a pile of dried grass and wood. Soon after, he set a fire in the cave. Due to its heat, water on his wet coat and trousers started to vaporize.
Seeing the heavy rain pouring down again outside the mountain cave, Zhang Tie suddenly felt happy. Sometimes, one could feel happy so easily. If it was heavily raining outside, and you were not drenched by the rain but could sit around a fire, you would feel happy.
Zhang Tie baked a dried meat slice above the fire. After a short while, the whole mountain cave started to be filled with the fragrance of meat.
'If only Pandora, Beverly, and Alice were here.' An 'obscene' idea flashed across his mind. 'In such a bad weather and inside an uninhabited mountain cave, besides warming ourselves around a fire, we could also do something more meaningful, hehhehhehheh...'
While various weird ideas were flashing in Zhang Tie's mind, a person in a kelly raincoat rushed into the cave along with wind and rainwater. When he rushed in, he had never expected that there would be someone else inside. So did Zhang Tie.
After exchanging glances, the two became slightly stunned. They then made the similar response - Zhang Tie grabbed his long sword while that man swung the raincoat out of his way and put an arrow on his longbow's string.
Zhang Tie didn't pull out his sword out of its sheath while that person didn't pull back his long bow, either. With sword sheath's tip and an arrowhead facing each other, they stared at one another with eyes wide open.
At the sight of that longbow and his age, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled a name. "You're… Blues?"
That person became slightly stunned, but his face remained relaxed, although he hadn't put away his bow. "You're a student attending this survival training?"
"Of course, otherwise, how could I know your name. The Archer Blues, you are well known across the Wild Wolf Castle!" Zhang Tie laughed out loudly as he put his long sword to one side of his foot.
Seeing Zhang Tie's response, Blues also let out a breath and put away his longbow.
"How could you be here?"
They asked the same question in unison. Realizing that, they glanced at each other and found that both of them were scratching their heads. They burst out laughing and the atmosphere in the cave immediately became relaxed.
"I- I'm chasing two wolves and trying to challenge the loner's survival training!"
Seeing Blues being a bit introverted, Zhang Tie opened his mouth and poured out the true reason without any hesitation. He thought it was not necessary to hide the truth as he estimated that his deed must have already been spread everywhere across the Wild Wolf Castle. "What about you?"
"I prepared these dried grass and wood for myself..."
"Well, I owe you this time, then. Here you are, this is my rent..."
Zhang Tie passed that roasted dried meat slice to Blues.
Seeing Zhang Tie stretching out his hand towards him, Blues accepted the fragrant golden-roasted dried meat slice. "Thanks, but what will you eat if I take this..."
"Never mind, I have more..."
Saying this, Zhang Tie pulled out another slice from his package, and holding it with two wooden sticks, put it close to the fire. Seeing Zhang Tie pulling out another piece, Blues started to nibble on the slice in his hand...
After determining his personality, Zhang Tie mumbled inwardly, 'Although this guy is a bit introverted, he doesn't seem bad!'
"Could you tell me about the two wolves that you're hunting for? Maybe I can help you!" Blues said sincerely after eating that dried meat slice given by Zhang Tie
So Zhang Tie poured out all the information about those wolves without any hesitation, including the event where he almost lost his life when he encountered them for the first time and the one where the wolves almost hurt Pandora, Beverly, and Alice a couple of days ago.
"Does one wolf among them have a circle of brownish red fur and a defected ear?" Blues asked after thinking for a while.
"You've seen the two wolves?"
"I saw them yesterday, when they passed by dozens of meters in front of me. I was on a tree, aiming to hunt huge wolves. As I was afraid of scaring away the huge wolves, I let them go in front of my eyes. They disappear behind a hillside not far away and never reappeared after, so I estimate that their den might be there..."
Hearing Blues' words, Zhang Tie became highly spirited.
Chapter 124: What You Heard Might Not Be True
Translator: Editor:
It was always heard across the Wild Wolf Castle that Archer Blues had an eccentric personality and liked to move alone. Before encountering him, Zhang Tie also thought that the gossip was true; however, after encountering him, he found out that Blues was just a bit more introverted and was not good at human relationships, yet he was not bad. Although he was not good at speaking, as long as the topic was what he liked or knew, he would always feel pleasant to communicate with. One of such topics, for example, was how to face a loner's survival training.
Blues imparted many experiences about loner��s survival training to Zhang Tie. For example, many people thought that people who completed loner's survival training would drift around casually like the wind. But actually, it wasn't true. Real loners always had fixed bases. Especially 20 km away from Wild Wolf Castle, loners' moving radius would not be over 5 km away from their base.
During survival training, loners should firstly find a safe base instead of prey. Especially for students attending this survival training who had poor strength, it was of great significance for them to find a safe base where they could have a good night's sleep. This was almost the key point for a person to complete his loner's survival training.
After fixing the base, the loner should find a few more bases based on this one. This way, the loner could constantly expand his moving radius. Therefore, the public opinion that loners all chose to stay wherever they wanted was actually a misunderstanding.
"If we casually chose bases like what the public thought, we, Lv 2 or Lv 3 warriors, at most would hardly stick to three days in the wild. If you didn't fix a base before you moved, even if you were lucky enough not to meet any high-level beasts who might kill you, how would you sleep at night?
"You have to be alert when you sleep, however if you cannot sleep well for three consecutive days, your spiritual energy will be exhausted, and your physical strength and ability to respond would decline. If you continued your loner's survival training in this state, you would commit a chronic suicide. If you didn't have a fixed base before moving, you would definitely become sick overnight in such a heavy rain. You could not stand that state for a long time..."
After hearing Blues' experiences, Zhang Tie realized how stupid he was to sleep on the stones in the wild. He thought all loners acted like that, but it wasn't so. According to Blues, he should have firstly went to find a base after he started the loner's survival training yesterday, instead of seeking the two beasts which had caused him to have no place to stay in the evening.
What he did yesterday was mostly dangerous and stupid. At the beginning, Zhang Tie had thought that it was a bit of a waste of time to seek for a base so meticulously, but he soon realized that it was actually the most time-saving and efficient way to seek for a base before moving. The more safe bases he could found, the freer he would be. No matter where he was, he should in one hour be able to reach a safe place to take a rest and recover physical strength as well as escape from such a bad weather. Only in this way could he constantly proceed with his loner's survival training.
When he spoke, Blues even used a twig to draw a map on the ground and told of all the proper bases that he had found in the Wild Wolf Valley to Zhang Tie, enabling him to take a rest in the nearest one. Blues had prepared dried grass and wood in all the above bases. If Zhang Tie had to take a rest in these bases, he was only requested to supplement the dried grass and wood after consuming them in case Blues needed to use it later.
"Do you usually go to the Crescent Prairie alone?"
Given Blues' tone, Zhang Tie became curious.
"These days, I've been wandering in the area between Crescent Prairie and Wild Wolf Valley. Compared to Wild Wolf Valley, Crescent Prairie is more dangerous because it has more wild and magical beasts. Additionally, wild wolves there are always in packs of dozens, or even hundreds of individuals. There are also huge wolves, golden wolves, huge boas, sword-teeth lizards, horn crocodiles, man-eating vultures, and various LV 3, LV 4, and even above LV 5 mutated magical beasts in the Crescent Prairie. Do you know gold-eating boas?"
"Yes, I do!" Zhang Tie nodded.
"Due to the remaining smell of the super magical beasts like gold-eating boas in Wild Wolf Valley, magical beasts above LV 2 don't dare to draw near to it. When you are in the area between Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie, if you meet some beasts that you cannot deal with, you just run into Wild Wolf Valley as fast as possible. Without any special reason, those magical beasts above LV 3 would never follow you in. When you arrive at the Crescent Prairie, you will find that the entire Wild Wolf Valley is our safe area..."
"So why did you come back today?"
"I don't know why, but yesterday, many people flowed into the Crescent Prairie, many of which were low-level pioneers seeking golden wolves and goose-neck grass. I heard that Blackhot City released a mission, and someone was purchasing the two items at a high price. Six gold coins for one grown-up golden wolf and 80 silver coins to two gold coins for one goose-neck grass. I went to supplement some necessities back in Wild Wolf Castle before returning to the Crescent Prairie to take a chance!"
Golden wolf was a LV 2 living being which was more valuable than other LV 2 living beings. It was valuable because of the following three reasons: first, capturing one alive would be many times more difficult than killing one. The most valuable part on a dead golden wolf would be its fur, which was about dozens of silver coins. Second, there were other higher level magical beasts in the Crescent Prairie which meant other potential dangers when you tried capturing golden wolves there. And third, the lords in Blackhot city became anxious since Samira had messed it up.
They needed these items. Realizing that they could not save their gold coins anymore, they released missions again and let those people who wanted to make money to make their way there at the risk of losing their own lives. The prices weren't high, only average.
From this, it could be seen how bad Samira was. He had only provided one gold coin to those idiots for one golden wolf and one goose-neck grass, ignoring the life or death situations they migh encounter. That was really a dark-minded man...
Zhang Tie estimated that Blues had not been back in Wild Wolf Castle for many days and might not know what had happened around it, so he told him all about it, including the crisis facing Blackhot City and what had happened to Samira's Business Group. The latter had not surprised Blues a lot, however, the sudden crisis facing Blackhot City and the sharp deteriorating situation in Andaman Alliance really shocked him for quite a while. It was similar to how the others had responded upon hearings this particular news.
After learning about it, Blues became a bit lost. He then became silent, seemingly thinking about something.
"Sometimes, personal strength is limited and cannot solve all the problems. I have several good brothers back in Wild Wolf Castle. If you have any trouble and need any help, you can go to them. Just tell them you're my friend, and they'll definitely help you..."
Zhang Tie then told Blues of where the tree house was situated and the names of the other members of the Brotherhood. He even told him the name of Peter who was working in the Iron Melting Workshop.
He did all this because he liked this guy named Blues and felt that he was a good man. That was karma between people. As for Burwick, no matter how good he was described or how well he did, Zhang Tie just could not feel comfortable around him, instead being unable to wait to stomp on his head ferociously.
In contrast, Zhang Tie felt that Blues was similar to the other members of the Brotherhood and those guys in the Iron Melting Workshop like Peter who were easy to get along with even if they had only met for a short time. At least he was not afraid of being set up by him.
Therefore, Zhang Tie concluded that most people admired by others were not good. Look at Burwick for an example, he was sunny, handsome, open-minded, generous, and had leadership in others' eyes. However, in truth, he was just a person who only wanted to climb upwards by playing tricks and stepping on others' heads. In fact, he usually thought about making profit of sacrificing others.
On the other hand, Blues was known as a guy who was arrogant and an indifferent loner. However, he was actually just a social recluse who had few friends and was a bit introverted. He didn't shut himself off at home but in the wild. Zhang Tie guessed that this guy must have used that to practice his archery to this level.
As for Zhang Tie himself, how was he known in the Wild Wolf Castle? Love Saint or Accosting Expert? Or a scumbag and beast in Miss Qili's eyes. But God blessed him. When the other students attending this survival training had bid farewell to their status as virgins one by one, Zhang Tie himself was still one. He had not even circumcised. If he was called beast and scumbag, Grandma Teresa would be the first person to disagree. So would the brats in the Orphanage.
Maybe the only one who was similar to how he was described in gossip was Glaze.
Therefore, when he hid in this mountain cave, Zhang Tie came to a conclusion that could influence the rest of his life - before you testify it by yourself, you should not easily trust in others' gossip about someone. Some gossip might be true, however, some others might be completely opposite.
A man kind-hearted in people's eyes might be an extremely vicious villain in reality, a god's pious servant in gossip might be extremely lecherous in reality, an arrogant man might merely be introverted, while a bad guy who was known to indulge in making love to many women might be a coy virgin and an able youth who sent rice soup to an orphanage by tricycle each week.
If so, then what if well-known terrifying old virgins like Miss Qili were thirsty women who deep in their inner hearts extremely desired for a man's love, concern, the battle and conquest? What if they truly hated men, being afraid of them and awed at the same time? What if they were truly jealous about boys being kind and intimate to girls?
Or they might only be a group of poor women who didn't know how to seduce men or express their desires. Being icy might be their disguise to test out their man's dedication and give vent to their inner dissatisfaction? What if someone praised them as beautiful and enchanting women or bravely gave them a Pandora-type hot kiss when seeing them next time?
Zhang Tie was suddenly startled by that thought...
But to tell the truth, Miss Qili did really have a pair of long and sexy legs!
It didn't stop raining until late night. Because it was already so late when the rain stopped, Zhang Tie gave up on his plan to find the two beasts during the night. Instead, he patiently waited for daybreak.
On the second morning, after putting on the dried clothes and his package, Zhang Tie asked Blues to lead him to the place where he had seen the two beasts.
It was time to end the resentment between him and those beasts...
Chapter 125: End of the Resentment
Translator: Editor:
"You really don't need my help?" Blues seriously asked Zhang Tie after they arrived at the target place. Only after one day and eating Zhang Tie's dried meat slices two times, Blues had already started treating Zhang Tie as his friend.
"This is the resentment between the two beasts and I, so I have to kill them by myself!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile. "Don't worry, they were just two fish escaping from the net!"
Seeing that only six lances were left in the container, Blues nodded aware that Zhang Tie had already killed five wild wolves before. He didn't say anything more. After all, people who dared to try the loner's survival training should never be afraid of two common wild wolves even if they could not stand such a living environment for a long time.
Even if a LV 1 warrior would never be afraid of two wild wolves. After chatting with Zhang Tie yesterday, Blues had learned that he had already been a LV 1 warrior when he was in Wild Wolf Castle. Judging from his real strength, Blues felt that Zhang Tie was much more powerful than a LV 1 warrior. Therefore, he didn't ask too much. Neither did Zhang Tie explain anything. After all, people all had their own secrets. Even if they were friends, they didn't have to pour out everything.
"Watch out for yourself!"
"Fine, we'ill separate here, hope to see you again!" Zhang Tie smiled at him.
"Will you go to the Crescent Prairie after dealing with your things here?"
"Maybe!"
"I met four students from your school in the area between Wild Wolf Valley and Crescent Prairie. One tall guy among them was very sharp. If you want to compete for that recommendation chance with him, you need to do something!" Blues warned Zhang Tie out of kindness after a moment's consideration.
In Blues' school, as he was already a LV 2 warrior who excelled in archery, Blues was the most powerful and well-known person who nobody could match. Naturally, any recommendation chance would fall to him.
However, the situation in Zhang Tie's school was much more sophisticated. In Blues' eyes, that guy he had met in the area between the Crescent Prairie and the Wild Wolf Valley might be more powerful than him, which meant that that guy would be a most terrifying opponent for Zhang Tie.
Hearing Blues' words, Zhang Tie's heart pounded. He was almost certain that it was Glaze's group. He had never expected them, who had disappeared about one month ago, to be brave enough to try the Crescent Prairie.
He asked some more information about their group, and earing Blues' description, Zhang Tie was really shocked since he said that he had seen them fight a LV 3 sword-teeth lizard and even win.
Did it mean that Glaze had improved a lot in the past month? This was not good news to Zhang Tie. Thinking of Glaze's vicious eyes, his heart sped up its beating.
"The sharp guy you had seen is Glaze. There's a resentment between him and me. The three lackeys of his are Zuhair, Garner, and Sharlon. If you meet them again, be careful. They're both selfish and vicious!"
"Fine, I will!"
After several more words, the two departed their own ways. Blues walked towards Wild Wolf Castle while Zhang Tie went to find the two beasts.
The place where Blues had led him to was less than 2 km away from the mountain cave where they had hidden in last night. It was a hillside covered with pine trees and cypresses in Wild Wolf Valley. Zhang Tie had already noticed this place yesterday from afar, yet he had never imagined that the two wolves could be here. The hillside was less than 13 km away from Wild Wolf Castle, a bit closer to the mountain cave than where Zhang Tie had taken shelter from rain. That day, Blues had seen the two wolves move behind the hillside and disappear. So he guessed that the two beasts lived there.
Holding a lance, Zhang Tie started to search over the hillside.
Because of yesterday's heavy rain, the land near the hillside was muddy. Everything looked refreshed. Plants became more verdant, and the air became unprecedentedly fresh.
When Zhang Tie arrived here in the early morning, the rain drops on the weeds were yet to dry. Using the lance, he swept the weeds to clear a path while glancing over the wolf-den like mountain caves and soil caves in the woods and the hillsides. Less than 10 minutes later, Zhang Tie���s trousers had almost been fully soaked by the raindrops on the weeds and other vegetation.
He felt that the two wolves were right here, and he could definitely find them today. Besides, from the two wolves' eyes, he also believed that the two beasts were looking for him.
It wasn't a big hillside. After less than 20 minutes, Zhang Tie suddenly smelt a faint odor of rotten meat which was completely different from the surrounding fresh air of the woods. The smell disgusted him. Driven by curiosity, he moved to where the smell was coming from. More than ten steps later, he found the origin of the smell of rotten meat - a hidden mountain cave behind several cypresses 30 m away from him.
It was unknown whether because of the loud noise of his footsteps or some other reason, the moment Zhang Tie saw that mountain cave, a wolf with a circle of brownish red fur and a defected ear walked out of the mountain cave. Being alert, it glanced in the direction where Zhang Tie stood. Soon after, their eyes met and turned red with resentment.
Making a terrifying sound in its throat, the wolf crouched down and exposed its sharp canines. When that wolf released a terrifying growl, its companion rapidly ran out of the mountain cave. They both became alert. After glancing over the surroundings, they confirmed that nobody else but Zhang Tie was here. In a split second, they fixed their glares on him, eyes turning red.
'F*ck', Zhang Tie swore inwardly.
He was still confused as to why they glared at him so. He could never think make it out when had he angered them. A doubt was born in his mind that the wolves here were mad. Were there mad ones even among wild wolves? Zhang Tie didn't know if it was true, but he knew that the two wild wolves had to die today.
"This father is the victim, don't you know..." Zhang Tie angrily shouted out at the top of his lungs. Before the two wolves could charge at him, he had already surged forward, towards them.
The great disparity between Zhang Tie, a LV 2 warrior, and the two wild wolves, which had not even reached LV 1, determined that the battle of life or death would come to an end in an extremely short moment no matter how big the resentment between them was.
Seeing Zhang Tie surge towards them, the two wolves also rushed forward. However, that moment, Zhang Tie threw his lance. As a result, as fast as a lightning bolt, it directly penetrated through the heart of the second wild wolf and nailed it to the ground, the arrowhead burying itself one foot into the ground.
The front wolf, which had a defected ear, didn't stop due to its partner's death. It didn't escape either, instead, it sped up towards Zhang Tie without any hesitation. Jumping up from the ground, it stretched its claws towards his chest while its sharp canines aiming to bit his neck. That wolf was trying his utmost to do harm to Zhang Tie.
Nevertheless, Zhang Tie didn't even dodge. He just stretched out his hands and caught the wolf's claws. With a sound of 'Ka Cha', the pair of forelimbs of the wolf were broken, causing it to whimper in pain. Closely after that came another sound of 'Ka Cha', which instantly stopped the transient yet painful whimper. This was because after breaking its claws, Zhang Tie pushed its jaw upwards, breaking the neck.
He completed that series of movements fast and without any mistakes. If Captain Kerlin had seen this, he would have raised his thumb to praise him.
Zhang Tie was successful this time because he had fought against the three wild wolves numerous times in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit during the past days. Countless deaths and constant pain had made his skills of fighting wild wolves to be practical and ferocious.
He loosened his grip, and the last dead wolf fell onto the ground with a sound of 'Pa Ta'.
The whole process took less than four seconds.
After the last wolf was killed, Zhang Tie felt that the stone suspended in his heart was finally removed. He became fully relaxed and would never have to worry about the two beasts finding trouble with people beside him anymore.
After doing this, Zhang Tie intended to leave. However, the stimulative smell from inside the mountain cave triggered his curiosity again, making him confused as to why the two wolves would live in here.
After thinking for awhile, Zhang Tie covered his mouth using his sleeve and pulled the lance that had nailed the other wild wolf out of the ground. With lance in hand, he bravely entered the mountain cave, aiming to check out what had happened inside.
It was full of dead wolves, big and small. The corpses had already rotten, and were covered with worms. After a quick glance, Zhang Tie judged that they were killed by people. One puppy's head was even stomped on. After checking the place where the puppy was killed, Zhang Tie found a clear footstep which was half an inch in the ground. It was a huge. He compared it to his own and found that the footprint was at least three sizes larger than his.
The inside of the cave was very disgusting, so after glancing over it as fast as possible, Zhang Tie intended to exit. However, before he exited, his eyes became solemn. He bent over to pick up a rag. Holding it, he immediately walked out of the cave.
After he was far enough away from the disgusting wolf den, Zhang Tie took several deep breaths. However, when his eyes fell onto that rag, his face gradually turned solemn...
Chapter 126: Scheme Exposed
Translator: Editor:
This was not a rag, but a palm-sized part of a towel which was torn off by a person on purpose. What was weird was that when holding that extremely dirty rag, Zhang Tie felt a sense of familiarity. How could he be familiar with a rag found in a wolf den?
Something flashed across his mind. Zhang Tie became slightly stunned as he remembered that he had lost an old towel he'd used to clean sweat in the locker room at school. He hurriedly turned the rag over. The decorative patterns with loose lines on the back of the rag soon aligned with the decorative patterns of that towel in his memory.
A mountain cave full of dead wolves; a wolf family killed by people; his own towel rag found in the mountain cave; a towel that he had lost at school; Sharlon's sneer; Glaze's huge feet; the wolves' hatred towards him...
All of a sudden, Zhang Tie knew everything, he knew how Glaze's group had taken their revenge on him. They had stolen his towel in school, then found this wolf den in Wild Wolf Valley and killed all the female wolves and puppies before leaving this rag full of his odor. And since wolves had sensitive smell, they could find him based on the odor of the rag and the road marks set by Glaze's group using the rest of his towel.
No wonder he always felt like he was being followed those days. It was because Glaze had arranged someone to spy on his movements. That wild wolves' attack on him was not an accident at all, but a scheme, a deliberate murder using wild wolves. If it was another person, such as a common warrior who had not improved to LV 1 or even just a normal LV 1 warrior, he would definitely have lost his life when facing an attack from seven wolves at the same time.
Zerom's warning had been right. That attack was truly a scheme against Zhang Tie. These wild wolves had first found him based on the odor on the rags of his towel and chased into the deep hole. Then, they had mistaken him for a dead man and left the hole.
However, when Pandora and the other two girls were washing his clothes over the stream, the remaining four wolves, who were drinking water in the stream, smelt his odor. Otherwise, it was because of other reasons, that they had found his odor and laid an ambush near the tree house, almost hurting the three girls.
After thinking it through, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure. He had never imagined that his refusal to be insulted by Glaze's group, which brought them some bitterness, could lead to such a scheme against him. They were driven so crazy that they had almost succeeded.
They were truly beasts. He had mistaken them for people before. Now Zhang Tie immediately realized his mistake. As Donder had said, he should have never imagined his enemy being as kind as he was.
Zhang Tie threw away that rag and left. He knew that this rag would never work if brought to the Temporary Supervision Committee. First, he could not prove that this rag was a part of his lost towel. Neither could he prove that this rag was picked up in this wolf den, or that it was planted by Glaze's group.
Additionally, he could not prove that the wolves were killed by Glaze's group. There were too many things that could not be proved. It would look just like a man holding a rag of his lost old towel going to the Temporary Supervision Committee to charge someone with wanting to kill him. This accusation looked really stupid. Zhang Tie naturally didn't want to be called an idiot. Evidence was needed in court. If he wanted to seek revenge, he needed to provide evidence.
After leaving that hillside, Zhang Tie cast his eyes far off the Wild Wolf Valley. It was the cross area between the valley and the Crescent Prairie. According to Blues, Glaze's group was right over there.
"Glaze, you just wait for for me!" Zhang Tie mumbled. After that, he glanced at that hillside where he had revealed the scheme before walking towards the Crescent Prairie.
According to Blues, for a loner who was not powerful, the most important thing was to become familiar with the terrain and find a safe base where he could have a rest. As a loner who had the Castle of Black Iron and Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, Zhang Tie concluded that his base should be hidden, besides being able to let him have a safe rest! It should make it convenient for him to access Castle of Black Iron who's secret should never be exposed to the public.
Because of Glaze, Zhang Tie became more set on improving his own strength. Now, he really wanted to find a place where he could eat the second Iron-Body Fruit. Additionally, after digging in the mine for so many days, he had restored a lot of basic energy. He thought that it was time to make slight adjustments and renovate the space and terrain in Castle of Black Iron, which would provide greater assistance to the forthcoming loner's survival training.
What greater assistance? What did you need most in the wild? Of course it was water! Clean water! If he could have a clean water source in Castle of Black Iron, he would be able to greatly enhance his survivability in the wild. As a result, he would be able to do many things more conveniently.
As the entire Wild Wolf Valley looked like a trumpet, the farther it was from the the Wild Wolf Castle, the bigger and broader the valley would be. Walking towards the Crescent Prairie, Zhang Tie felt the surroundings grow gradually more and more spacious. When he passed by that mountain cave where he had hid from the rain, Zhang Tie felt like he was in a small basin.
According to Blues' suggestion, he explored the valley in an 's'-shaped route. Although this would consume more time, on the premise that he had enough time, it would help him to get familiar with the terrain as fast as possible and find all the available resources or any proper bases.
Once he found a proper base, he then could slowly explore the area within a 5 km radius around the base. As a loner, he should be familiar with the terrain like it was his own backyard.
The strength of being able to easily kill a LV 2 beast and familiarity with the terrain enabled a loner to move in Wild Wolf Castle as free as wind.
It was truly worth it to explore the Wild Wolf Valley using an 's'-shaped route. At noon, biting a ripe and yummy wild apple with three more in hand, Zhang Tie had already arrived in front of a mountain cave...
Chapter 127: Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit
Translator: Editor:
In Wild Wolf Valley, you could see mountain caves left everywhere by gold-eating boas which had occupied the valley before, just like the one in front of Zhang Tie.
This cave was at the top of a hill in the middle of Wild Wolf Valley, the entrance of which was almost 3 m in width. In its surroundings, there were some huge grooves that looked to have been ploughed through. Given the terrain, the hill seemed to have been destructed by external forces. He could see obvious marks left by human beings.
However, the most important part was that Zhang Tie found some tunnels in the cave left by gold-eating boas. Since the cave was almost horizontal to the ground like how a mouse drills its den, he could easily walk inside with the sun's light. The weather had turned for the better today, so sunlight could reach dozens of meters inside the cave. Under it, Zhang Tie immediately saw two tunnels inside.
With the help of the sunlight, he didn't hesitate any longer. He swallowed the apple in his hand and put away the other apples into his pockets. After that, he pulled out a long sword and entered the cave.
Many people would be afraid of grain circles on the walls in the cave when they entered gold-eating boa's cave. However, Zhang Tie felt nothing since he was familiar with the situation in the cave and had already accepted it inwardly. As for the mountain caves drilled by gold-eating boas, he had already become immune to them since the time he dug in the mines.
At that time, all the miners had realized that no beasts seemed to like staying in gold-eating boas' caves. Let alone beasts, even insects could not be seen inside those caves. In the evening, although Wild Wolf Valley was filled with swarms of insects and mosquitoes, not one dared to enter a cave made by gold-eating boas.
Even the bats in the place where he'd dug mines dared only to hang themselves outside the cave marked by grain circles. They never dared to fly inside. The circles of grains on the walls inside gold-eating-boas' caves posed both a magical and natural threat to any spiritual animals. So none dared to enter, except for human beings.
There were some withered twigs and fallen leaves, some stones and puddles on the ground near the entrance. After passing 5-6 meters, the entire cave became clean. About 20 m away from the entrance, Zhang Tie arrived at the tunnels which he had seen before.
It was somewhat different from what he had seen outside, instead of two tunnels, there were three. One faced underground, one left, while the last one was hidden and could be easily missed since it faced upward. That pit really made Zhang Tie excited since it was so hidden that he had not even seen it from outside.
The entrance of this pit was obviously blocked by collapsed stones and soil. It was all piled up so high that it was even slightly higher than Zhang Tie. Of course, he could easily climb onto the stones.
When he reached the top, he found the pit was less than 10 m deep. The pit contained a medium-sized space and was pretty dry. The sunlight could not reach here at daytime. Of course, it would be even more difficult to be found in the evening.
'That's it. I'm really lucky today. It only took me several hours to find such a pleasant base,' Zhang Tie mumbled.
"I've decided to make it my No.1 base!" he loudly declared before laughing out loudly.
After laughing, he couldn't wait to put down his luggage and sleeping bag onto the ground. He then threw the apples from his pockets onto the luggage and jumped out of the pit. Afterwards, he rushed to the entrance of the cave and silently looked around. After ensuring that nobody was outside, he became reassured.
When he returned to the upward pit, it took him several seconds to enter Castle of Black Iron.
——Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!
The scene in front of him changed quickly. Seeing the rolling colorful cloud in the Castle of Black Iron, he revealed a smile of one coming back home. In the Castle of Black Iron, he fully relaxed.
He then walked towards that small tree.
The diamond Iron-Body Fruit, which was slightly bigger than a walnut, was hanging on that familiar twig. The last time he had entered, this Iron-Body Fruit had already been ripe. This time, there were two days left before the latest Leakless Fruit would became ripe. The to-be-ripe Leakless Fruit already looked full as a wisp of luster could be already seen on it.
Seeing this, Zhang Tie became excited. 'It's really great to eat fruits everyday. Mom is really intelligent to call me Guoguo. Hahahaha…'
Zhang Tie then continued to circle around the small tree. He was used to doing that. He didn't know whether it was just an illusion or not, but he felt that this small tree had grown up a bit during the past month. It looked more lush and higher than before.
According to his experiences, it was necessary to circle around the small tree each time he entered because the small tree could bring you a huge surprise at any time.
On the other side of the small tree, he saw two more fruits - one was a Trouble-Reappearance Fruit which impressed Zhang Tie a lot. It was pitch dark all over, in the shape of a hexagon, and as large as a plum
--Trouble-Reappearance Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.
Reading the familiar words, Zhang Tie knew that the fruit was ripe. Scratching his head, he became puzzled.
'Does it mean that killing wolves can lead to new killing fruits?'
Although this new ripe Trouble-Reappearance Fruit pleased him, what surprised him to the point of leaving him with his mouth wide open was another fruit. It was a sitting white wolf which was as high a finger. It looked as delicate as a miniature wax statue carved by a sculpting master. On its head there were two eccentric leaves of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree. It was cute, like a kid's toy.
--Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, the Strength of Qi has been formed, six more strengths need to be formed; not ripe yet.
--Strength of Qi, Strength of Blood, Strength of Vein, Strength of Channel, Strength of Bone, Strength of Marrow, and Strength of God. These are the seven strengths of living beings. For each 50 changes, 49 of them can be available while the remaining one belongs to people. Seven-Strength Fruit is a spare fruit—one can spare one force from seven Seven-Strength Fruits. After eating 49 Seven-Strength Fruits, one can gain seven strengths. As for one Seven-Strength Fruit, it cannot become ripe without gathering seven strengths, the spare strength also included in the fruit. Each ripe Seven-Strength Fruit will contain all the strengths of an individual in its heyday. After eating it, one can gain all that strength. These strengths are awarded to brave men and are beneficial in becoming more powerful.
The latter sentences were a bit difficult to understand. Zhang Tie didn't get them until reading it for the second time. After that, he felt hot blood rushing to his head.
'I'm rich, I'm really rich this time! I've killed seven wild wolves and gathered the Strength of Qi of the Seven-Strength Fruit. According to this paragraph, as long as I can kill seven more wild wolves, I can then gather their strength of Blood for Seven-Strength Fruit. If I can kill 49 or 50 wild wolves, I'll make this Wild Wolf Seven-Strength ripe.
'Then the Seventh-Strength Fruit will contain the full strength of an adult wild wolf. Undoubtedly, after eating this fruit, I'll obtain the strength of an adult wild wolf.'
Thinking of the strong endurance, dashing speed, and the sensitiveness of wild wolves, Zhang Tie started to drool. Although Leakless Fruit had been a great surprise to him, he had never imagined that one day he could obtain a wholly new fruit from that small tree which could greatly improve his strength. This was really exciting.
"Zi… Zi..."
Being so excited, Zhang Tie started to kiss the trunk of the small tree. Then he burst out laughing. As long as he could obtain a wolf's full strength, he felt that he could completely eliminate the natural-born disparity between Chinese clan and other human races, like Bagdad's or Glaze's who had greater physical strength.
After the disparity was eliminated, he would never be defeated by them on the premise that they were of the same level. Additionally, they could never match him on igniting burning points. Seeing the Leakless Fruit that was going to be ripe on the other side of small tree, Zhang Tie revealed a smile...
At this moment, he felt great!
Smirking, he picked off the ripe Iron-Body Fruit and Trouble-Reappearance Fruit. Holding the two fruits of different shapes and colors, he curiously touched and sniffed them. With satisfaction on his face, he crossed his legs and sat under the small tree, starting to eat.
Based on his experiences, Zhang Tie ate Iron-Body Fruit first. The silver fruit tasted crispy and fragrant. After eating it like a peach, he waited for awhile and found no response at all. Therefore, he estimated that it would be the same as like last time.
He then directly engulfed the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit in his hand. It was as fresh as last one. After eating it, a similar energy directly rushed to his brain and converged with that spiritual swirl in his mind. Seeing darkness before his eyes, he immediately came to a pitch black place. However, compared to the first time, this situation was different...
Chapter 128: First Space and Terrain Creation
Translator: Editor:
It was the same dark space before Zhang Tie's eyes. However, after a while, two light spots instead of one gradually enlarged and rapidly became two illuminating hexagon doors similar to the shape of Trouble-Reappearance Fruit. The two doors arrived and stopped in front of Zhang Tie like a train. Seven wolves' shadows casually accessed the two hexagon-shaped doors.
Such a scene hadn't happened when he had eaten the first Trouble-Reappearance Fruit.
--Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, you have killed seven wolves in three scenes, leading to two wild wolf Trouble Reappearance Fruits, which can be joined. After combining them, you would face seven wild wolves at the same time each time you activate it. Would you like them to be joined?
Zhang Tie carefully checked the two illuminated hexagon doors, which were like two windows through which he could view the world inside. Through the door on the left, he saw the same grassland where he had encountered the attack from the seven wolves, while through the door on the right, he saw two scenes: one of the bamboo woods near the tree house where he had killed two wolves, and the other on the hillside today.
For Zhang Tie, two-three wolves could no longer pose any challenge. He could hardly improve himself by fighting only two. But seven might be a bit more interesting.
"Join!"
Zhang Tie made his decision without any extra considerations.
Soon after he sent the command, the two illuminated hexagon doors joined. Through the now single door, he could see three backgrounds—grassland, bamboo woods, and the hillside!
--Please trigger the scene you want!
In the past days, Zhang Tie had fought the three wild wolves on the grassland for almost one hundred times. Therefore, he was bored of it. Besides, he had become familiar with the terrain near the tree house and no longer found it stimulating. Seeing the hillside which had a slightly more sophisticated terrain, he felt it would be more difficult to fight the wild wolves in.
There was no need to point at the hillside scenery in the illuminated door.
After that, the other two scenes slowly disappeared while the hillside scene slowly enlarged and finally occupied the entire door.
—Trouble-Reappearance Joining Completed!
Afterwards, the illuminated door enlarged, encompassing Zhang Tie, too. In a split of a second, he returned on that hillside where he had been in the morning. Everything in his surroundings, even the tree leaves on the hillside and the water drops hanging on the grass, were unchanged. Neither did his lance container and luggage change even a bit. He smelt the same disgusting odor as before.
Motherf*cker, that's too smelly!
While Zhang Tie was complaining about the disgusting smell, seven wolves came out of the cave. With eyes full of hatred fixed on him, these wolves reminded Zhang Tie of the first time when he had encountered them on the grassland. The same moment, the seven wolves begun their attack.
Zhang Tie immediately threw one lance and killed the wolf rushing first. When he killed the second wolf using the same method, the other five wolves had already closed in on him, taking away his ability to use his lances to eliminate the other wild wolves.
Swearing inwardly, Zhang Tie punched in their direction. When he was practicing it in the first Trouble-Reappearance Fruit, Zhe had already found out that the more difficult and easily interrupted patterns he used to fight the wild wolves, the faster he would improve his strength and fighting skills, as well as strengthening his weaknesses. If he could punch a wolf to death, he would found it even easier to kill it using a dagger or any other weapon.
What was the most difficult way for Zhang Tie to kill these wild wolves? It wasn't only by using his naked fists, but also the Iron-Blood Fist Skill that he wasn't familiar enough with to fight against these wild wolves. For a low level warrior, a set of fist techniques that he had not fully mastered wouldn't even match up counterattacking by instinct. However, Zhang Tie still insisted on using Iron-Blood Fist Skill to fight the wild wolves, as he thought that the best method to cultivate a fighting skill was by using in the fights for one's own life. Thankfully, the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit would be the best battlefield! This was a God-given chance.
Real battle was truly the best method for a person to grow up. When the remaining five wild wolves charged at him, after Zhang Tie had killed one and wounded another with his kicks, a piece of his flesh was bitten off. That sharp pain immediately caused Zhang Tie to ooze sweat. Soon after that, the rhythm of Iron-Blood Fist Skill was disturbed.
Not until now had Zhang Tie realized how terrifying a pack of wolves was. When they moved in a pack, their fighting strength would never be as simple as an addition of each wolf's strength. Although he was facing five wolves' attacks, Zhang Tie felt like it was twice as difficult for him to deal with them than with the three wolves before. This was because a wolf pack attacked so fast that he might suffer an attack at any second. Under the guidance of the head wolf, the rest could even adjust their attacking frequency through mutual coordination, causing them to be harder to deal with.
By the time Zhang Tie had killed another wolf, he had suffered two more wounds.
Finally, due to the slippery and muddy land after rain, Zhang Tie lost his balance out of carelessness and fell down. He then rolled down the hillside, closely chased by four wolves. They quickly caught up with him.
Lying on the ground, Zhang Tie used a wrestling hand—a fighting skill of Iron-Blood Fist Skill—to break a wolf's neck. At the same time while he struggled to hold back a wolf's attack, his throat was torn open. Besides a sharp pain, he felt a sense of fresh blood pouring into his windpipe once again. He could see nothing then.
After the entire Trouble-Reappearance Scene broke apart and disappeared, Zhang Tie returned to the place under the small tree...
Thinking back to his struggle under the wild wolf's bite, Zhang Tie, who had already opened his eyes, was still afraid. Not until that moment had he truly realize just how lucky he was to escape from his first fight with the seven wolves.
Recalling the fight that had just happened, Zhang Tie found his weaknesses. Previously, he thought that his throwing skills were already great so he could, at least, survive the entire Wild Wolf Valley with them. However, because of the fight just now, he understood that there was still a great space for improvement for his throwing skills.
Just now, he had only thrown out two lances before being killed by the rest of the wild wolves. However, if he could throw two more lances before the rest of the wild wolves drew close to him, the outcome would be totally different.
Although he had numerous chances to try out the same scene in the Trouble-Reappearance Scene, if he was surrounded by more than ten wild wolves in reality,, he would definitely lose his life.
Although he could throw a lance with great precision, his throwing speed could still be improved. Even more important was to learn to pull out lances from his lance container at the fastest speed possible. Additionally, he might also try throwing lances using both hands at the same time…
Besides, he should pay more attention to the surrounding terrain and environment where he was fighting against the wild wolves. He should adapt to any kind of environment. On a hillside after rain, the slippery surface could indirectly cause him to lose his life. If that truly happened and he lost his life, which of the two would he complain about: the God who had poured out rain, or the muddy and slippery land?
After such a serious evaluation, Zhang Tie let out a heavy sigh. Picking himself up from the ground, he walked a lap to observe the terrain of the Castle of Black Iron. After forming a general impression of it in his mind, Zhang Tie opened the Ground Layer button under the 'Space and Terrain Creation' function to start one thing that he had planned for a long time.
Soon after he pressed that button, a three-dimensional image of Castle of Black Iron appeared before his eyes. Everything in this space was displayed there, including each stalk of grass and tree.
Having experience with it, Zhang Tie wasn't too surprised. Holding it in hand, he carefully enlarged and reduced the three-dimensional image. Putting the image before him, he fixed his attention and cast the water source in his mind onto that three-dimensional image.
Zhang Tie imagined a two meter high rockery while a clear spring flew down it, forming a two meter waterfall. The spring fell into a pond on the ground. Benefitting from his previous experience, Zhang Tie didn't make the pond too large in case of insufficient energy. The entire pond was only as large as a small bath pool.
Everything was the same as the last time when he had used this function. The three-dimensional map was a dim shadow, which he could roughly recognize.
——Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord. The details of the terrain that you have imagined are lower than 5%. Do you agree with using optional natural creation law to construct the rest of your image? After the system completes the construction using natural creation law, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord will be able to adjust it!
——Agree/Disagree
Zhang Tie chose Agree.
Soon after he made his choice, the dim shadow on the three-dimensional map gradually became clearer which was really more natural and vivid than the image in his mind. Even the pebbles and fine sand were created in the pond. Besides, there was a circle of white stone stages along the pond.
In addition, the terrain surrounding the clear spring also looked nature-born as it had been unexpectedly undulated and changed. Everything looked harmonious like natural. It was several hundred times more real-life like than Zhang Tie's own clumsy image. Compared to this masterpiece, his image could only be called a scrawl of an infant.
After the terrain adjustment, the entire Castle of Black Iron became more vital.
Zhang Tie inspected this adjusted terrain several times but found no defects. Everything was better than he had imagined. After he confirmed the terrain adjustment plan, a new dialogue box popped out.
——A spring is going to form in the new terrain, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, please choose the level of the live spring.
'What? I can choose the level of the spring?'
Zhang Tie was stunned once again. Then, another page appeared before him.
--Natural Mountain Spring
--Spring of Aura
--Spring of Recovery
--Spring of Life
Besides the 'Natural Mountain Spring', which was available, the other three options were all gray and not available. Even though it was like that, Zhang Tie was still amazed. After recovering his composure, he pointed at 'Natural Mountain Spring' before another new sub-branch appeared.
——Common Mountain Spring: clear and abundant with some mineral materials and micro elements!
——Quality Mountain Spring: clear and abundant with many kinds of mineral materials and microelements; active to a certain degree!
——High Quality Mountain Spring: clear and sweet, abundant with a great number of mineral materials and micro elements; considerably active!
--Top Quality Mountain Spring: clear and sweet, abundant with all kinds of mineral materials and microelements; quite active and contains some aura.
The option 'Top Quality Mountain Spring' was gray which warned Zhang Tie that he lacked values of the basic items. However, even so, he was already very satisfied.
After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Tie chose the option 'High Quality Mountain Spring'.
——This terrain creation requires the following resources:
Basic energy storage—3517; Aura value—4129; Merit value—1272
——Create or not?
——Yes/No
Zhang Tie had never imagined that such a small live spring would cost him so many value points, especially the merit ones. He remembered that last time it would only have taken him a bit over 900 merit value points to create a big water pool. Could live water consume more?
"Just do it, if there's a lack of merit value points, I will make them..." Zhang Tie said loudly and clicked 'Yes' without any hesitation.
——Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, after you leave the Castle of Black Iron, the system will start this terrain creation. This will take 18 seconds, during which you won't be able to enter the Castle of Black Iron.
'What? It will only take 18 seconds to complete all this? That will be solved within several winks! I was afraid it would take much longer before I could enter the Castle of Black Iron again.'
Seeing the rolling colorful clouds above, Zhang Tie revealed his awe of this mysterious space once again. Was creation here as easy as how the God had created the world by only moving a hand? What great force did it have to be able to perform such a miracle? Is it truly the God's force...'
Zhang Tie could not answer this question for the time being.
He decided to try whether it was true. After fixing his attention, he locked on that great arch door before leaving the Castle of Black Iron and reappearing in the mountain cave. However, he didn't waste time, only taking in two deep breaths. After counting inwardly to 18 seconds, he hurriedly locked that strange arch door in his mind and re-entered the Castle of Black Iron. Such a short period of time was akin to a person pulling open the door and leaving, only to come back as if having forgotten something.
The terrain creation was already completed in the Castle of Black Iron.
Reappearing inside, Zhang Tie was astonished upon noticing the pond full of water from the spring 20 m away from it. He then walked over there like an idiot, stretching out his hands and touching here and there, even scooping two pebbles from one side of the pond. After bumping the two pebbles, he heard the crispy sounds of 'Guang… guang...'.
The spring was as crystal clear as a mirror, so Zhang Tie could almost see his own shadow on the water. After washing his face in there, he stretched out his neck and widely opened his mouth to drink from the spring flying down the rockery.
After that he smirked, holding the two pebbles, and locked the arch door in his mind again, returning to the mountain cave. When he came back, he found the two pebbles were still in his hands. He then bumped them again, causing a sound of "Guang… guang...".
Then he touched his face and collar that were still wet and recalled that sweet and tender spring in the Castle of Black Iron. After doing all this, he confirmed that everything in the Castle of Black Iron was real…
Well, he finally admitted that he, who had poor knowledge, could barely understand how could something like this happen! He then had no other choice but to accept the fact that it did.
Right then, Zhang Tie's abdomen made a sound of 'Gulu gulu', indicating that the second Iron-Body Fruit was about to start working...