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Chapter 410: Empty City Tactic[1]

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Zhang Tie watched that person with faintly narrowed eyes, "Come in, this place is enough for two people..."

Hearing this, that man walked in. After glancing at Zhang Tie's heavy metal crossbow, he intended to walk close.

Zhang Tie then pointed at a place over 10 m away with his heavy metal crossbow, "If you're a pioneer, you should know the rules among pioneers. You can sleep over there and set a fire yourself with those dried firewoods. As we don't know each other, in case of conflict, you'd better stay away from me. I'm as timid as a rabbit. Besides, I would always sleepwalk. I'm afraid of hurting you if you are too close to me!"

Hearing Zhang Tie's explanation, that person's smile froze at once. Whereas, after a short while, he revealed a smile once again, "You're right!" After that, that man picked some dried firewoods and weeds from the ground in the mountain cave and started to set fire by his windproof lighter at the place over 10 m away from Zhang Tie.

Although that person was a bit far away from Zhang Tie, he faintly blocked the entrance. If Zhang Tie wanted to leave the mountain cave, he had to pass by that person.

After that person set a fire, the kebab of huge deep-sea monster being on Zhang Tie's metal bolt had turned golden and was dripping oil onto the bonfire. As a result, the flame below grew higher, causing the sound of "Zra, Zra".

The fragrance in the mountain cave grew richer.

During this process, Zhang Tie and that person just looked at each other, causing a bit weirdness in the silence.

After cooking the kebab well, Zhang Tie took it up. Blowing it slightly, Zhang Tie started to eat it. Even though he was eating the kebab, he still didn't drop his heavy metal crossbow; instead, he put it on his legs, setting the mouth of the crossbow faintly towards a place 10 meters away.

"Little brother, what are you eating? It smells good!" That person licked his lips.

"Hmm, this is a fish I got from the river outside. It does not look bad!" Zhang Tie fabricated. At the same time, oil dripped off his mouth corners. "Flesh of huge deep-sea monster is truly yummy; it makes my stomach warm and very comfortable. After eating it, my tiredness and sense of hunger gradually faded away. The chef is right. the energy of Qi and blood in the flesh of huge deep-sea monster is very beneficial to human body."

"I've not eaten anything today. Can you share me with that kebab, little brother?" that man smiled, exposing a mouthful of gold-capped teeth. "

"Oh, sorry, the flesh is only enough for myself. If you are hungry, you better get something from outside. As a pioneer, it should not be a problem to get some food!" Zhang Tie kept engulfing the cooked kebab, sparing no face to that guy at all. He even didn't glance at him.

Hearing this, that guy with a mouthful of gold-capped teeth twitched his eye corners at once before smiled. After that, he took out a piece of jerked meat and started to roast it above the fire. At the same time, he sighed with emotions, "Alas! I could only eat my own food! But my food is not as savoury as yours. Your meat smells like that of top cuttlefish in the deep sea! How come cuttlefish exist in the freshwater river outside!"

Zhang Tie also responded with a smile. After sweeping the last piece of kebab, Zhang Tie cleaned his mouth as he put away his metal crossbow, "It's nothing strange at all. Perhaps I just encountered a foolish cuttlefish that swam along the river from the sea! Actually, this place is not far from the ocean..."

"Cuttlefish is not foolish. They are actually the most clever and ferocious hunters in the ocean, especially some mutated and evolved ones. If they truly swim against the current and enter this river from the ocean, they must be chasing after their preys..." The "gold-capped teeth" explained with a smile as he stared at Zhang Tie. Being reflected by the fire in front of him, his teeth radiated metallic gleam, making Zhang Tie feel chilly, "Do you know what those smart and powerful cuttlefish would do after they catch their preys? Hehe, they would always not kill the preys right away; instead, they enjoy the process to kill the preys. At first, they would bound the preys tightly with tentacles; then, they gradually corrode preys' limbs with gastric acid. Finally, they start to eat their preys one bit after another. A cuttlefish could even survive 1 week with a fat prey!"

"Wow, is that true..." Zhang Tie also smiled, "Besides feeling disgusted about those cuttlefish, I don't think that they are that sharp. Although some cuttlefish look huge and sharp, as long as you cut off their tentacles, they would not able to move any more. Like what I've seen on the passenger liner that I took. I watched how a sword sage cut off the tentacles of a huge deep-sea monster one by another and finally turn it into a pile of dead flesh floating over the sea!"

"Do you mean Samaranth, the Star and Moon Sword Sage?"

"Yes! I fought a huge deep-sea monster together with him. At the critical moment, I gave him a little help by shooting the huge deep-sea monster to death with the ballista on the ship. From then on, we know each other! Mr. Samaranth feels that I am very brave. But to tell the truth, I am really brave..." Zhang Tie said with an easy and honorable look.

"You know Samaranth?" Saying this, the "Gold-capped Teeth" didn't smile anymore as he stared at Zhang Tie, seemingly wanted to judge whether Zhang Tie was telling a lie.

Without changing his look, Zhang Tie watched "Gold-capped Teeth". At the same time, he broke a small wooden spike from a withered Buckthorn twig on one side and started to pick his teeth with it in a casual way. Meanwhile, he peered at "gold-capped teeth" with a disgusting and proud look, "Is that strange? You will see him right away. When you see him, you can also talk about that story about cuttlefish to him. Mr. Samaranth hates cuttlefish the most. I think he must be interested in that story!"

Hearing this, "Gold-capped Teeth" rolled his eyes as he glanced at the entrance, "Hehe, your story is very funny, but everybody knows that the Star and Moon Sword Sage is heading for Haidela Glacier Crack in the south of Ice and Snow Wildness for the pieces of Star of God!"

"Dare you bet?" Zhang Tie maintained his look as he stared at "Gold-capped Teeth" with a scornful look, "If the trace of a sword sage could be known by everybody, is he qualified to be a sword sage? Mr. Samaranth is going to Haidela Glacier Crack; however, before going there, he wants to prepare something on Grey Hill. Perhaps, he believes in me; therefore, he wants me to give him a bit help."

"What help?" "Gold-capped Teeth" asked.

"You don't need to know about this! Perhaps, if you think that Mr. Samaranth could treat you well, you can ask him!" Saying this, Zhang Tie casually took out his pocket watch and glanced at it, "Sword Sage would come at any time. You can wait here for a while!"

Hearing this, the "Gold-capped Teeth" changed his face. He had fully lost his calmness. He glanced at the entrance before focused on Zhang Tie with ferociously gleaming eyes. However, he became a bit hesitated at the moment as he became wholly flurried inside.

"gold-capped teeth" stood up from the ground immediately as he stared at Zhang Tie with eyes full of killing intent, "How do you know that I'm from Demon Snake Island?"

"Nonsense, please think about it with your cuttlefish-like brain. What's the time now? How come pioneers still stay on Grey Hill?" Zhang Tie stared at "gold-capped teeth" with a disdainful look. At the same time, he pointed his heavy metal crossbow towards "Gold-capped teeth", "If not to help Mr. Samaranth here and was promised to be taken to Haidela Glacier Crack, I would never stay in this hell place. As a pioneer, I'm here to hug sword sage's thigh[2], what are you motherf*cking here for? Are you also here to help sword sage?"

"Only this?"

"That's how I say you are as stupid as a cuttlefish..."Zhang Tie sneered, "At the sight of a stranger walking in with a heavy metal crossbow, no pioneer below LV 7 would still dare to walk inside a wild mountain cave and ask for one night. The reason lies in that you think you are more powerful than me and this heavy metal crossbow could not pose any threat to you. However, it's impossible for pioneers with such a high rank and fighting strength to not go to Haidela Glacer Crack at this moment!"

"This explanation is not persuasive. Perhaps, I'm just a pioneer and don't want to go to Haidela Glacier Crack and I just stay here due to other reasons!" "Gold-capped teeth" urged with a confident look.

"Even though you think you can surpass me on fighting strength, what if you fall asleep? After you fall asleep, if I want to set you up, I only need to trigger my crossbow in such a short distance. You would not able to respond to it at all. Therefore, I've known that you're lying when you said that you were going to live one night with a stranger who's holding a heavy metal crossbow."

Zhang Tie sneered, "Nobody, if he's normal, would able to sleep well in such an environment. Perhaps you could really rest here one night; but it must happen after you are killed or ensured that I do not have to resist; instead of being pointed by my crossbow. Therefore, I have already got 2 hidden meanings the moment you entered the mountain cave and told me about your intention: you are sure that I cannot threaten you tonight; you've already known about my real fighting strength and are here for killing me. You've not planned to let me survive me tonight. Besides b*stards on Demon Snake Island, I have no other enemies at all. Facing a person who knows me better than others and wants to set me up while not being afraid of being revenged, I could not find anybody else but those from Demon Snake Island. You only want to kill me, but why do you make it so sophisticated!"

Gritting his golden teeth, he glared at Zhang Tie. He had not imagined that his well-planned performance was full of loopholes in front of Zhang Tie since the beginning. Like a brand standing on his head, even his status and motive was seen through by Zhang Tie at once. To be honest, this made "gold-capped teeth" a bit self-abased. As a result, he grew more hateful towards Zhang Tie.

"I suggest you to not waste your brains with that poor intelligence, not to mention any ambience or personality. Bandits and killers like you are all scumbags. After catching sight of your targets, you should directly go kill them! Never dream about making any plot. I beg you, please!" Zhang Tie's sharp words completely destroyed the self-esteem of "gold-capped teeth". It seemed that Zhang Tie was in the advance position.

"I'm Dawson, a round-table warrior in Demon Snake Island. Do you think that I dare not to kill you?" Dawson stared at Zhang Tie as he moved one step forward.

"If you want to die, you can have a try!" Zhang Tie still looked calm.

"By what; your crossbow or your fighting strength as only a LV 9 fighter?" Dawson urged as he moved another two steps forward, intending to launch the attack at once.

"I've told you that you better not rack your cuttlefish-like mind. If you insist on doing that, you could only have two results: the first one is that you kill me and will be killed by Mr. Samaranth, unless you think that you could escape from a sword sage in Ice and Snow Wildness; the second one is that Mr. Samaranth will kill you when you are fighting me!"

"How come Samaranth follow your order?"

"Of course a sword sage would not follow a trivial person's order. I'm not allowed to control his will; however, what if he feels that his dignity is violated or being irritated by someone as his good plan is destroyed? Additionally, do you think that the Star and Moon Sword Sage likes you b*stards from Demon Snake Island?" Zhang Tie then added, "I'd like you to guess whether I am postponing time for the second result?"

Hearing this, Dawson became startled instantly as he understood something. In a split second, he had already moved back to the entrance. After throwing a ferocious glare at Zhang Tie, he turned around and intended to escape. At this moment, Zhang Tie triggered his crossbow ferociously towards him. Seeing this, Dawson twisted his body in a weird way to avoid from Zhang Tie's first wave of bolts.

Zhang Tie followed him closely while shooting at the latter consecutively with his heavy metal crossbow, preventing Dawson from leaving.

As the speed of the bolts could hardly reach that of sound in the air, they could hardly threaten a LV 10 strong fighter. With some flashes, Dawson had already been dozens of meters away as he soared towards Zhang Tie, "Wait there, brat..."

"Peh..." After chasing him out of the cave, Zhang Tie spat ferociously towards Dawson's back as he jumped up and swore, "You timid b*stards. You only know about bullying weak people, yet fearing powerful ones. If you are back, I will show my shooting skills with my crossbow. F*ck!"

Dawson from the distance was so furious that he almost spat out blood. In a few seconds, he had disappeared in the mountain woods hundreds meters away.

After seeing Dawson disappearing in the mountain woods, Zhang Tie felt his back wet and cold in the night wind.

Some of those words were real, some were not. He truly had identified that Dawson was from Demon Snake Island at the beginning. As for the contents about the Star and Moon Sword Sage, he fabricated them all.

Actually, since Dawson walked out of that mountain cave, Zhang Tie had been scared so much that his back even oozed cold sweat. He had not imagined that he could be blocked by a member of Demon Snake Island in a mountain cave in such a short period. As a people whose comprehensive fighting strength was a bit greater than a common LV 9, if he was blocked by a LV 10 strong fighter in that narrow space, Zhang Tie knew that he would not even survive 2 minutes in a fight.

Since he was in the Dragon Cave of Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie had already experienced the gap between him and a LV 10 strong fighter. After these days' cultivation, although he had made progress and had eaten a Iron-Teeth Hyena Seven-Strength Fruit, Zhang Tie still felt that the gap could not be narrowed in such a short period. He had no confidence in defeating Dawson.

At that moment, when those thoughts flashed across Zhang Tie's mind, Zhang Tie had determined to take the pre-emptive move himself; otherwise, he had to die tonight. When he could not win a fight by fighting strength, he could only depend on his high intelligence.

Thankfully, Zhang Tie was the winner. He fabricated a story about the Star and Moon Sword Sage which even convinced himself. With the help of his calmness and perfect performance, Zhang Tie finally scared Dawson away.

Of course Dawson didn't leave too far away. Zhang Tie knew that such a sharp figure would never be scared too far away only by his words. Zhang Tie knew that Dawson must be observing him in a hidden place in the woods to judge his words. If Dawson was sure that the Star and Moon Sword Sage wouldn't appear there or Zhang Tie was intending to escape, he would flash out right away.

Watching that broad river outside the mountain cave, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Now that Zhang Tie knew that he was being chased, how come he not prepare anything in advance? That was why he set his foothold on the riverside, which was his greatest guarantee.

Before leaving his foothold, Zhang Tie determined to give another ferocious blow to that b*stard. Although this blow could not hurt Dawson's body, but it could disturb his mental and spiritual state, enabling him to not be calm when facing Zhang Tie in the future. Overall, the more flurried that b*stard was, the safer Zhang Tie would be.

Looking at the direction where Dawson escaped towards, Zhang Tie laughed his head off on purpose; at the same time, he hammered his chest and stomped his feet...

In this evening, Zhang Tie's laughter's might even be heard miles away. Zhang Tie was sure that Dawson could definitely hear his laughter's while observing what Zhang Tie was doing.

"B*stard from Demon Snake Island. You are Dawson, right? You are really as timid as a rabbit. You've been so scared by such a fabricated story about the Star and Moon Sword Sage, huh? How dare you be a killer? Roll back to your mom and eat some more breast milk, hahahaha..." Zhang Tie added, "I know you are still in the neighborhood. You rubbish! You coward! Besides your gold teeth, can you find something else as hard as it in your body[3]? Your brains are really as foolish as that of cuttlefish. Even a trivial cuttlefish is much braver than you. I really don't know whether your brains are filled with bullsh*t or paste. Remember to be a bit smart next time. Don't believe in anybody else like an idiot next time! You wait here for the Star and Moon Sword Sage, this grandpa will not accompany you. Wait here, I will chop off your head sooner or later!"

After saying this, Zhang Tie jumped into the river. Besides sprays, no more sound was left.

The river was still babbling while the two bright moons on the sky were smiling like a ripped mouth; they were watching what was happening here...

Ten more seconds later, with a growl from the distant woods, Dawson reappeared. He rushed towards that point where Zhang Tie jumped into the river. After taking a serious look, he also intended to jump in; however, with a hesitation, he roared, "Peter, I will peel off your skin..."

...

Half an hour later, Zhang Tie climbed onto the opposite river bank full of pebbles about 70 km away. Even Dawson stood here, he would never believe that someone could swim against the current for 70 km in half an hour. This was Zhang Tie's greatest advantage.

There were also all sorts of dangers in the river, especially in the evening. On the way, Zhang Tie had met more than 10 huge crocodiles which were longer than 5 m and some huge carnivorous fish. Although they swam faster in water and wanted to have a close touch with Zhang Tie at the sight of him, they were all easily lagged behind by Zhang Tie. In order to not leave any clue to Dawson, Zhang Tie didn't kill them; although they swam faster in water, compared to Zhang Tie, they were like tortoise in front of rabbit on land.

After reaching the opposite bank, Zhang Tie found a tree hole of a huge red willow. The moment he drilled into the hole, he instantly entered Castle of Black Iron...

"Castle Lord, Welcome to Castle of Black Iron..." Heller was greeting him...

[1] Empty City Tactic:

In the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kinddoms, after Jieting (Gansu Province, China)was lost, Sima (Surname) Yi (Given name) launched an attack towards Xicheng City where Zhuge (Surname) Liang (Given name) 's military headquarter was located. As Zhuge Liang's force was weak, he left the city gate open and arranged people to clean the streets. Sima Yi was very suspicious about this; as a result, he ordered his army to retreat. Nowadays, Empty City Tactic is used to cover one's weakness in force so as to baffle the opponent or make the opponent retreat.

[2] Hug one's thigh refers to rely on one's great power.

[3]This line was used to mock that Dawson was too weak and timid.

Chapter 411: Earthworm Number One

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

At this moment, as Zhang Tie had just come out of the river, he was wet all over. Although, looking embarrassed, he still looked very good. In the first round of fight with that LV 10 strong fighter, Zhang Tie was the winner; besides, he even humiliated that b*stard and escaped away under his gaze. Of course, Zhang Tie deserved the high spirit, It was not because of his advantage on fighting skills but on his high spirit and will.

Dawson didn't say that he was LV 10. However from his swift actions on dodging Zhang Tie's bolts and escaping away, Zhang Tie found that it was nothing different than that b*stard in Zhen family who chased after him in Dragon Cave. Therefore, Zhang Tie had figured out his level.

"Demon Snake Island truly dispatched a LV 10 powerhouse to kill me as I've imagined." Zhang Tie felt stressed while a wild fire completely burned inside, "This Dawson will be the first stepping stone on my way to be a powerhouse."

"Have you started to catalyze those seeds of Buckthorns?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.

"The first batch contains 400 Buckthorn seeds which have started to catalyze according to different input plans. We will know about the catalytic result of the first batch of seeds in 3 weeks. If any Buckthorn seeds evolve or mutate, we can increase the input of aura values to accelerate their growth and stimulate them to bear fruits. In this way, we can gain a great number of evolved and mutated Buckthorn seeds!" Heller explained calmly, "The aura values and basic energy storage in Castle of Black Iron could satisfy this round of catalysis; however, the merit values grow a bit slowly. Its main source is from setting free fishes on Hidden Dragon Island. We could only obtain 50-70 merit values a day by doing this."

Zhang Tie recalled that he only had a bit more than 500 merit values left on Polar Light when he formed the Flower of Life. If he wanted to accomplish the catalysis of so many Buckthorn seeds at once, he estimated that those merit values might have been dried up.

"I might add some merit values in a few days!" Zhang Tie replied uncertainly.

"Might?" Heller stared at Zhang Tie with a doubtful look.

Zhang Tie then scratched his head, "I made an appointment with someone last year. In case of no emergency, another batch of earthworms would be set free in a few days!"

Heller then responded with a relieved look...

If Hanna's family members could still comply with that appointment that Zhang Tie had made with them before he left Blapei, they would be buying earthworms from Chevli village and its surrounding villages and set them free. After one year, the number of those earthworms which should have been used to feed domestic animals had recovered to its previous level. It was the right moment to set free.

However, Zhang Tie had been forced to leave Blapei so long as a criminal and didn't contact them in this period, Zhang Tie was not sure whether Hanna's family members could still imply with the appointment or not.

Although Zhang Tie was not in Blapei, with the ability to control yeasts granted by the fruit of creator, he could let Hanna's beer lose its special taste which helped her win the reputation "Beer Queen".

Zhang Tie didn't know how Hanna's family life had changed after Hanna won the reputation of Beer Queen. If Hanna's family failed to comply with the appointment, Zhang Tie could punish them by inactivating the mutated yeasts. However, Zhang Tie didn't want to do this. Actually, Hanna's family treated him well while Hanna brought him much pleasure. If Hanna's family failed to fulfill this appointment, Zhang Tie would just call it an end to their friendship. To be honest, Zhang Tie didn't want his beloved woman to lose everything.

As for merit values, Zhang Tie intended to seek for other methods. Zhang Tie didn't believe that there was no chance to do good things in Ice and Snow Wildness. If not, he could return to Ewentra Archipelago and set free fishes and shrimp at the cost of tens of thousands of gold coins. However, if he did this, he would be taken as a lunatic by others.

"Speaking of earthworms, I've got a good news to tell you, Castle Lord. Those earthworms in Castle of Black Iron have completed their first round of mutation and evolution. A new earthworm had formed in Castle of Black Iron. It's waiting for you to name it, my lord!" Heller smiled.

Hearing this news, Zhang Tie became stunned. Closely after that, he became too excited. After about 1 year, since he handed the work of the evolving earthworms, bees, basic energy aura yeast, soya beans and corns to Heller, he almost forgot it. It was really out of Zhang Tie's imagination that he could have new species in Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie had not figured out the effects of these new earthworms; however, thinking of that he could control a wholly new species after eating a fruit of creator, Zhang Tie felt so happy.

The moment Zhang Tie wanted to open the operation panel of Castle of Black Iron, he was stopped by Heller.

Pointing at Zhang Tie's clothes which were still dripping wet, Heller suggested, "Castle Lord, why not change to a new set of clothes?"

Zhang Tie responded with a smile and accepted Heller's suggestion. "As I'm already in Castle of Black Iron, I have enough time."

Zhang Tie then took a bath in Castle of Black Iron, after that, he changed to a new set of clothes before sitting on one chair in the room comfortably. After doing this, he touched the option "Management on Livings and Populations" and found the item "Management on Animals" under "Management on Carbon-Based Livings and Populations" where he found the information about the new earthworms.

The three-dimensional holograms of 2 earthworms appeared in front of Zhang Tie at once...

From the appearances, Zhang Tie had already found the difference between common earthworms and mutated earthworms.

Before mutation, common earthworms were red and reddish-brown, which were also the colors of most earthworms. However, the mutated earthworms had 2 more black circles on their heads and tails besides the original red and reddish-brown colors.

Additionally, mutated ones were larger than those common earthworms.

Under the three-dimensional holograms were the differences between 2 kinds of earthworms on chromosomes and DNAs. Zhang Tie couldn't understand them; therefore, he just skipped to the end to see the new features of this mutated earthworms.

——Black-circle earthworm is a whole new earthworm species which has experienced a round of mutation and evolution. This earthworm is more suitable to environment than common earthworms. Under light, its survival time is 31% more than that of common earthworms. Besides, this new species could adapt to 4 Celsius degrees more or less than the highest and the lowest temperatures respectively. What's more, this earthworm is more suitable to various soils and is able to improve and fertilize the activity of soil.

——The feces of this earthworm contains 2.75% of nitrogen, 1.96% of phosphor, 0.37% of k-alum, 35.4% of organic matters, 23 amino acids and rich earthworm enzyme. Each gram of its feces contains more than 10,000 beneficial microorganisms; as a contrast, there are only a bit more than 100 beneficial microorganisms in aged and barren soil. Earthworm enzyme could kill many kinds of viruses, harmful bacteria and a lot of special substances which restrict the growth of plants.

"Castle Lord, please name this new earthworm!" Seeing Zhang Tie finish reading this information, Heller said aside.

"Let's call it earthworm number one!" Zhang Tie casually named it like what lazy guys always do.

For this name, Heller only nodded his head. However, from Zhang Tie's look, Heller felt that Zhang Tie might not know about the significance of this kind of earthworm at all.

"Castle Lord, do you know the real effect of these earthworms?"

"Aren't they used to improve and fertilize soil?" Zhang Tie asked with a curious look.

"That's true; but do you know what does this effect mean to you?"

"What?" a thought flashed across Zhang Tie's mind.

"Right, have you got it?" Heller smiled.

"You mean...we don't need to plough soil anymore with them!" Zhang Tie's heart raced.

"Right. From then on, as long as there is such earthworms, all the farmland would be free from ploughing with the help of these earthworms. If you put 0.9 million of this kind of earthworms on a parcel of land of 10,000 square meters, you will save 4 skilled farmers "8 hours" work in each day. Additionally, their feces will be equal to 140 tons of organic fertilizer each year on that parcel of land.

Although Zhang Tie had not done any farming work, he clearly knew about farming through the education at school in Blackhot City which emphasized survival ability. It could be said that plough, as an important farming activity was closely related to crop farming and agriculture since a long period before catastrophe. As the old saying went, "No pain, no gain." Ploughing was very important in agriculture, which was almost the most consuming work in the rural areas. But now, Heller told him that all the farmlands were free of plough with the help of this kind of earthworm.

"Don't be strange about that. Actually, before agriculture, some countries and regions had already adopted the most advanced and natural farming mode after figuring out this effect of earthworms. 'Agricultural Free-Plough Act' was even formulated in many regions. Actually, they put a lot of earthworms in the soil so as to substitute manpower and mechanical plough. By doing this, they could save a great amount of manpower and money; meanwhile, the soil was improved and purified!"

"Why didn't they popularize this method in a wider scale?"

"There are too many reasons about this. Only a few people knew about this method at that time because a powerful selfish interest group stopped its popularization in the traditional agricultural mode! At that time, traditional agriculture was a inferior farming mode which separated farmland from crops and the mother nature. By doing this, someone could get rich. All the people who could make money through this way didn't expect this channel to be stopped by little earthworms!"

Zhang Tie finally understood. Because of human's greed, selfishness and arrogance, many people thought they were greater than creator. As for cultivation and fertilization, people invented many machines; however, few people knew that even the greatest machine could not match these trivial earthworms.

With this explanation, Zhang Tie recognized the importance of earthworm number one. However, the quantity of these earthworms was relatively small. If he wanted them to exert a greater importance, Zhang Tie had to prepare enough quantity of this kind of new earthworms. Take Castle of Black Iron as an instance, if he wanted to turn this parcel of land into forever quality farmland, Zhang Tie had to put at least 6 million earthworms number one here based on Heller's calculation.

Thankfully, earthworms reproduced very fast.

After solving the questions about the new earthworm, Zhang Tie came in front of the small tree.

Besides the second iron-teeth hyena seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie found a new fruit of creator in shape of a kidney bean.

——Fruit of Creator has become matured. Usage: Pick and directly 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.

——All the creations carry infinite karma. Because of you, earthworm number one appears in this world. They are your creations. Therefore, they belong to you. You are their father and god. This fruit of creator will grant you with the supreme control over this earthworm in the world. In accordance with the material existence law of earthworm number one, your will and orders interpret their existence.

With his eyes on this fruit of creator, Zhang Tie picked it off devoutly. Before eating it, Zhang Tie touched the trunk of the small tree and told him seriously, "Thank you. Without you, I will be nothing. Please believe in me that I will treasure this marvelous fruit!"

Hearing this, the small tree waved itself, causing the sound, "sisi".

After eating that marvelous fruit, Zhang Tie soon had one more special ability. Without having to count, he knew everything about these new earthworms——at this moment, there were 185919 earthworms number one in Castle of Black Iron.

These earthworms really liked Castle of Black Iron, especially that soil nearby Pool of Chaos as if it was like their holy land.

"Reproduce, put your efforts to reproduce. From now on, your greatest task is to enlarge the quantity of your species", Zhang Tie released his first order to those earthworms.

After this order, Zhang Tie picked off that delicate seven-strength fruit in shape of iron-teeth hyena. After that, he sat under the small tree before he put it in his mouth...

Chapter 412: Dropping Teeth

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Each kind of fruit on that small tree had its special effect and would bring Zhang Tie different abilities and benefits; however, the only one that could grant Zhang Tie with the experience of the 'greatest life experience' was seven-strength fruit.

After eating each seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie could feel a baptism and a whole new and powerful improvement in his body.

Seven-strength fruit constantly improved Zhang Tie's life experience.

As LV 1 living beings, iron-teeth hyena was one level higher than wild wolf. They were greater than common wild wolves on strength and speed. However, after taking each iron-teeth hyena's seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie would have one more iron-teeth hyena's full strength in his vitality.

...

When Zhang Tie opened his eyes under the tree the next morning, he felt that something was in his mouth. After spitting it out, Zhang Tie saw 2 teeth falling onto the ground in front of him. "How come I drop off teeth at this age? What's happening? But I don't feel any pain at all!" Zhang Tie's curiosity arised.

These were 2 bigger molars, Zhang Tie put his fingers inside his mouth and touched the 2 ends of the lower teeth. Surprisingly, 2 new teeth had already grown out over one night but were only half the size of the original ones. Although they were not fully grown, they had a good texture.

"How come my teeth be replaced at this age? I don't even have my wisdom teeth fully grown." Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile. "Is it because of that seven-strength fruit that he eats yesterday?"

At this moment, it was already dawn in Castle of Black Iron. As the time in Castle of Black Iron was synchronous with that of outside, Zhang Tie probably knew the time outside.

Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground, causing the cracking sound of his bones. Feeling that comfortable and powerful sense, Zhang Tie couldn't help but roar in Castle of Black Iron.

He roared longer than 3 minutes. Zhang Tie found that his voice grew louder and louder; meanwhile, he found that his one breath could last longer. From the 2 aspects, Zhang Tie knew that his body had been much stronger than it was yesterday.

He was instantly in a good mood.

Hearing the roar, Heller and his 3 subordinates walked towards Zhang Tie. At the same time, Zhang Tie walked off the high platform from the small tree.

"Castle Lord..." At the sight of Zhang Tie, Agan, Edward and Aziz had knelt down in front of him with full pleasure and started to kiss Zhang Tie's shoes in a humble way. These days, Zhang Tie always left Castle of Black Iron in the early morning and returned late in the night, which were different from their schedule; as a result, Agan, Edward and Aziz hadn't seen Zhang Tie these days.

"Are you going to work now?"

"Yes, Castle Lord, your earthworm number one could save a greater part of our time on farming work from today on!" Agan responded happily, "In this way, I will have time to build some more beautiful rooms for Castle Lord. I'm really sorry for the current rooms!"

"I can also build some proper weapons for Castle Lord. If you like javelins, I will definitely make javelins that fit you the most! If you like crossbow, I will build the most powerful crossbow for you." Edward also revealed a smile.

"If Castle Lord likes drinking, I can brew various good wines with the fruits here. I can make any drinks that you like!" Aziz added.

Hearing their words, Zhang Tie suddenly remembered that they were not only qualified to be farmers. "But I've been taking them as laborers and coolies since they appear in Castle of Black Iron together with Heller. What a pity!" Zhang Tie sighed with emotions.

Zhang Tie remembered that these 3 people were nothing different from true people, just like Heller. They should also eat food to sustain their physical energy consumption. Besides, they need to rest and sleep. "Given their piety, perhaps I should treat them better."

"There are a lot of huge deep-sea monster's flesh in the ice cave of Castle of Black Iron. It tastes good and is beneficial to your health. From today on, you can have 1 kg of its flesh per week. This is my reward for your diligent work in Castle of Black Iron!" Zhang Tie said generously.

Hearing this, Agan, Edward and Aziz were deeply moved that they even dropped off their tears.

"Aziz, as you can brew wine, can you spare some time to share your drinks in Castle of Black Iron with the rest of people. Although being my servants, you should also have the flesh and wine so that I could have a face!"

Receiving the task, Aziz was so thrilled that his face even turned red, "Trust me Castle Lord, I will not disappoint you. I wonder which wine do you like, my lord. If you can sip even a bit of wine that I brew, I would feel pretty honorable!"

"What drinks can you brew then?" Zhang Tie asked seriously.

"Any drink. I can brew any wine, red wine, beer, fruit wine, liquor, high wine, low wine. I can brew any wine with alcohol, total 5689 varieties. The processing methods are deeply imprinted in my soul and memory. As long as the raw materials and conditions are satisfied, I can brew any wine as you like!"

It was really out of Zhang Tie's imagination that Aziz could brew 5689 drinks.

"How many kinds?" Zhang Tie raised his voice at once.

"5689!" Aziz became a bit restless, "Castle Lord, do you think that I cannot satisfy your demand?"

Zhang Tie stared at Aziz, "No, you're very good. Just brew whatever you want with the raw materials and conditions here!"

"Fine!"

When the 3 servants left politely and started to do their works, Heller walked closer.

"Castle Lord, how are you feeling about the new teeth?"

"You know that?"

"I've told you that I know everything that happens here!"

"I was going to ask you why. How come it happened over one night? I'm not a kid!" Zhang Tie rubbed his cheeks and added with a faintly gloomy look, "Because of the seven-strength fruit?"

"Yes, it's because of the seven-strength fruit. Iron-teeth hyenas have completed a round of evolution on the basis of common wild hyenas. They have a very sharp teeth and could almost bit through any animals' bones in Ice and Snow Wildness. The power of teeth indicates the power of the marrow of this animal. Teeth is the external symbol of the strength of marrow of living beings. Similarly, when human grow old, they would drop teeth. It's because of the exhausting strength of marrow inside human body. Conversely, if a human's strength of marrow starts to grow, he would have new teeth! The growth cycle of each human's teeth is closely related to his strength of marrow."

Hearing this explanation, Zhang Tie understood it right away. After eating that seven-strength fruit of iron-teeth hyenas, Zhang Tie had combined that special great strength into his strength of marrow. This strength of iron-teeth hyena was 40% greater than that of 2 common wild wolves.

"If so, why didn't this happen after I ate the seven-strength fruits of wild wolves?"

"At this time, the strength of marrow in the 9 seven-strength fruits of wild wolves that you've eaten has not reached the limit of your body. After breaking this limit, some vital signs and natural changes would appear on your body like how some withered woods could sprout after being stroked by lightning bolts. Everything was concerning about energy. As long as the energy surpasses some critical point, qualitative changes would happen!"

"You mean the strength of marrow in the 2nd seven-strength fruit of iron-teeth hyenas have just broken through that critical point in my body?"

"You got it!"

"I will not become a monster, right?" Zhang Tie changed his face, "I will not have teeth like that of iron-teeth hyenas, right? If so, I would have never eaten it. I don't want to be taken as a monster as long as I open my mouth!"

"No, Castle Lord, you think too much!" Heller smiled, "However, because of the powerful strength of marrow in your body, the new teeth are truly different than before to a certain degree, although they will not make you a monster with terrifying teeth. You will know about it in the future. From now on, your old teeth might get replaced with new ones any time! In a couple of days, you will have all your teeth replaced."

Hearing Heller's words, Zhang Tie became reassured. However, before leaving Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie found a mirror and checked his new teeth carefully.

The two new molars looked like the most expensive ceramic whitewares that were carried from East Continent. Besides being white, bright and clean, they were nothing different than common human teeth. Although Zhang Tie's previous teeth were also tidy and white, they were still dwarfed by the 2 new teeth.

Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could have a pair of more beautiful teeth besides improving his fighting strength. He wondered whether he could experience a change in his image and body when the other strengths of seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas break through his critical points. He was curious whether he would look completely different than before like which was always described in the legends. "Donder have mentioned this special situation about cultivators. I wonder whether I'm experiencing such situation or not." a thought flashed across Zhang Tie's mind.

After a second, Zhang Tie had given up this question, as long as he didn't become a monster or a person who was totally different than before, it would be acceptable.

Before leaving Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie sent an order in mind, letting 5000 earthworms climb out of the soil. When he wanted to find some package to hold them and take them out, he heard Heller's voice.

"Castle Lord, are you going to take these earthworms outside?"

"Right!"

"That's simple. When you come out, you only need to lock these earthworms with your spiritual energy through the teleportation door of Castle of Black Iron. After that, you can order them to climb out themselves; no need to take them out by yourself!"

"What? But I remember you told me that all the animals should be carried by me to access the teleportation door."

"This rule remains unchanged. However, for new species in Castle of Black Iron that were made by you, you are their owner both mentally and spiritually. From a perspective, you're their god. As long as you open the teleportation door for them, you will have them follow your will. The Castle of Black Iron will also follow your will and have them leave here by themselves. You don't have to take them away yourself."

"I see!" Zhang Tie smiled, "Well, good luck to me!"

"That guy who chased after you could find you on Grey Hill, it indicates that he had special methods or talents in this aspect. You'd better take care of yourself, my lord!"

Zhang Tie nodded before leaving Castle of Black Iron. He reappeared in the hole of the red willow on the riverside which he entered last night. Over one night, with growing spiritual energy, Zhang Tie found that he could also sense the situation outside Castle of Black Iron through the marvelous teleportation door at the cost of spiritual energy although being in Castle of Black Iron.

Now, Zhang Tie could sense the situation of 5 or 6 meters outside Castle of Black Iron. Within this range, Zhang Tie's spiritual feelings were very real. If any human or animal was in the neighborhood, he could definitely find it. But it didn't work out of the range. Although this was a small progress, it greatly increased Zhang Tie's safety when he left Castle of Black Iron.

With his spiritual feeling, Zhang Tie could feel a hedgehog beside the huge red willow. However, the tree hole was still safe. After checking it, Zhang Tie reappeared in the tree hole at once. At sight of Zhang Tie appearing in the tree hole out of nowhere, the hedgehog got scared so much that it shrunk to be a thorny ball.

Right in the tree hole, Zhang Tie called 5000 earthworms number one out of Castle of Black Iron. The moment those earthworms climbed out of Castle of Black Iron, they had started to drill into the soft soil forcefully.

The soil on the riverside was both wet and soft, which was very suitable to the growth of earthworms.

Zhang Tie brought this new species into this world for the first time. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn't know what did this mean. He sent a supreme order in mind to those earthworms——on the premise of ensuring your safety, try your best to reproduce! I grant this parcel of land to you for your reproduction! Go conceive it, my cute earthworm army!

Although earthworms didn't speak, they still gave a feedback signal of pleasure and excitement to Zhang Tie.

Watching the last earthworm drilling into the soft soil by creeping its body Zhang Tie left.

The sun had just come out; the riverside was still covered with fog. Zhang Tie drilled out of the fog and started to run towards the hill in the far.

...

2 days later, at noon...

The moment Zhang Tie killed some iron-teeth hyenas who were wandering nearby the grassland, he had heard a grim sneer from the shrubs on his left rear.

With that jarring sound, Dawson from Demon Snake Island appeared in front of Zhang Tie.

At this moment, Zhang Tie was not holding that heavy metal crossbow anymore; instead, he was holding a long saber.

At the sight of Dawson, Zhang Tie was not flurried at all; instead, he was very calm. After turning around, he watched Dawson's mouthful of golden-capped teeth with a cold look.

"Brat, I will see where you can run this time." Dawson revealed a look that he was going to peer and engulf Zhang Tie alive, "I will pull off your teeth one after another; and let you swallow them. After that, I will cut off your tongue; in the next, I will play you 1 week. Trust me, as payment for being played, I will definitely make you die with great pain!"

Zhang Tie smiled, revealing a mouthful of snow-white, tidy and close teeth, "You cannot pull off my teeth easily!"

"Brat, don't play tricks any more, do you think that you can escape from me today?" Dawson revealed a sneer, "Even you are a powerful LV 7 fighter, you're still a loser in front of a LV 10 fighter. The difference between you and me is decisive. I'm already a 2-star strong fighter who's ignited 62 surging points. Do you think that you can escape this time without any assistant?"

"I wonder how you find me so fast on Grey Hill!"

"Do you think that I will tell you?" Dawson grinned with dissatisfaction.

"If so, show me your power as a 2-star strong fighter who's ignited 62 surging points."

Zhang Tie didn't escape this time; instead, he rushed towards Dawson...

Chapter 413: Heavy Wounds

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

Zhang Tie's action really shocked Dawson, who was irritated in a split second.

If a mouse rushed towards a cat instead of escaping away when it caught sight of a cat, it was actually posing a defiance to cat.

Dawson was driven extremely furious as he forced a sneer, "You're looking for death!"

If Zhang Tie did this when he was only LV 7, he was truly looking for death; however, Zhang Tie had fully lit the 16th surging point on his spine and was lighting the 17th surging point. This indicated that he had lit 4 more surging points than that he had done when he was LV 7. Additionally, he ate 3 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas on Grey Hill and had fought the huge deep-sea monster in the trouble-reappearance fruit several times. As a result, he understood how to use Iron-Blood Fist in a better way.

Therefore, Zhang Tie wanted to know the difference between him and a 2-star fighter who had lit 62 surging points.

If a person could not face his fear or a really powerful enemy, he would not make progress.

Zhang Tie intended to use Iron-Blood Fist by sword this time.

Dawson also had a weapon. He was wearing a pale blue metal glove on each hand. They looked pretty grim. The moment the fought began, Dawson had already grabbed Zhang Tie's long sword and his face with his weird claws. What a insidious movement!

Zhang Tie slashed his sword towards Dawson's neck with the powerful Qi of Iron-Blood Fist. After cutting through the air, it caused a loud booming sound as it was colliding with Dawson's pale blue glove.

Zhang Tie's attack was very powerful and out of Dawson's expectation. The moment Dawson touched Zhang Tie's sword, his smile froze. With a shocking look, he was forced 3 steps back. Besides, his hand became slightly numb. Meanwhile, Dawson's claw missed too.

Zhang Tie became a bit disappointed. He was intending to chop off Dawson's hand; however, he had not imagined that Dawson's pale blue glove was so powerful that it prevented him from any harms. Additionally, Zhang Tie felt that his sword didn't touch Dawson's hand at all; instead, it crashed with a battle Qi over Dawson's glove, which was still several centimeters away from Dawson's hand.

When Zhang Tie was chased after in the Dragon Cave, he had realized that a LV 10 strong fighter had completely opened his Qi sea and was able to release battle Qi without having to touch the opponent. However, it was really out of Zhang Tie's imagination that besides off-body strike, a LV 10 strong fighter could cover human body and weapon to resist enemy's strike. A LV 10 strong fighter had been much more powerful than a LV 9 fighter only on the usage of battle Qi. LV 10 strong fighters had so many skills on using their battle Qi. No wonder those people said that it was the real beginning of cultivation only when you entered LV 10.

Zhang Tie was also sent flying back in the air by Dawson's huge strength. Dawson only moved 3 steps back; however, Zhang Tie moved about 10 m away in the air. Seeing the dense luster of battle Qi over Dawson's pale blue glove, Zhang Tie didn't escape; instead, he launched the second round of strike. The unrivaled battle Qi of Iron-Blood Fist boiled in Zhang Tie's blood vessels. The moment Zhang Tie's feet touched the ground, he thrust against the ground forcefully at once causing a small pit, with the help of that great counter-force, Zhang Tie rushed towards Dawson like a flying bolt once again.

In a split second, Dawson's killing intent boiled. What a terrifying opponent! A 2-star LV 10 strong fighter was forced 3 steps back by a guy below LV 10; this was impossible and definitely a shame! Additionally, Dawson felt chilly when he saw Zhang Tie rushing towards him with that extremely powerful battle will and his icy yet unswerving belief in his eyes. "If this teenager is already so powerful at this age, what would he be when he grow up?"

Dawson knew it well that before becoming a powerful fighter, the key point was that this person had to have an unswerving powerful belief and will when facing any powerful enemies instead of having any powerful fighting skills or secret knowledge. This was the ladder towards the peak. Besides Zhang Tie's unbelievable fighting strength, Dawson was frightened by Zhang Tie's high spirit and will to be a powerful fighter.

Therefore, Dawson didn't plan to keep Zhang Tie alive this time regardless of Zhang Tie's current level. If he left Zhang Tie alive this time, he was afraid that this teenager would match him on fighting strength, even surpass him in the near future. If so, he would be killed then. As for cunning enemies with a great growth potential, Demon Snake Island would always kill them as soon as possible, leaving not a single chance to him.

At this moment, Dawson became especially serious about the fight.

"Go to hell!" With a muffled voice, Dawson released his pale blue battle Qi; it formed a huge yet grim claw and stroke towards Zhang Tie's chest.

"Kill!" Zhang Tie had already exerted his full effort in throwing his long sword towards Dawson before that pale blue battle Qi reached in front of him.

The long sword turned into a white light after it left Zhang Tie's hand and flew towards Dawson's chest after crossing that bright huge claw.

Zhang Tie did this because he realized that there was no difference on speed and power between throwing long sword and throwing javelin in this short distance. For powerhouses at Zhang Tie's level, it was almost like fighting with bayonets by using this fighting method.

The moment Zhang Tie threw out his long sword, Dawson's claw of battle Qi had already reached Zhang Tie's chest. Zhang Tie could not dodge it; instead, he punched that claw.

After breaking the air, the long sword caused a shrill wind, together with the muffling sound between Zhang Tie's punch and Dawson's battle Qi and a sound of tearing clothes.

After this resonance, the two people stopped as they watched the opponent with a distance of over 10 m.

At this moment, Zhang Tie's mouth corners was bleeding. Although he had destroyed that battle Qi, he was wounded at the same time. Besides his innards being hurt, his right sleeve had been boomed into ashes, leaving many bleeding wounds over his arm like being cut by broken glass.

Dawson was still standing at the original place. It seemed that he had not even moved at all. However, a breach longer than 30 cm was made on the position under his armpit while Zhang Tie's long sword completely sunk into the ground 30 m away, exposing its handle.

Zhang Tie wiped off the blood at his mouth corners by his left hand while glaring at Dawson with the same ferocious battle intention. Dawson lowered his head to check his broken clothes as he looked pretty calm.

"You bring me surprise each time. It's really out of my imagination. It's my first time to see such an opponent!" Dawson raised his head as he told Zhang Tie with an extremely calm voice.

"Really?" Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "But I don't think it's surprising enough; if not, my long sword should have penetrated through your heart and nailed you on the ground!"

"I agree that you almost made it!" Dawson watched Zhang Tie with the same calm tongue. At the same time, his eyes became as narrow as needles, "You can release a fierce sonic boom with your long sword in such a short distance, if I were a strong fighter who had just lit 55 surging points, I might have been killed by you. What a pity! I've consolidated my rank completely. Your attack is useless to me!"

"Just wait!"

"You are very confident. But do you know what real strong fighters mean? The alleged strong fighter refers to those who could completely surpass LV 9 fighters from all aspects. Although LV 9 fighters could launch sonic boom with some weapons, causing a huge destructive force and power, we strong fighters could break through sonic barrier ourselves in an extremely short period and distance. It's a essential difference between LV 9 fighters and LV 10 strong fighters. Besides, strong fighters have a great perception on weapons which draw close to them. All the sonic booms are useless to strong fighters!"

"You've not seen the fastest throwing speed!" Zhang Tie's battle intention was not disrupted by Dawson's words; instead, he was still full of confidence. Zhang Tie had seen hope from this strike. Compared to that his flying javelin was easily dodged by that strong fighter of Zhen family in the Dragon Cave, Zhang Tie knew that he was closer to the target. He almost killed Dawson just now. His throwing speed had been much faster than before.

"Actually, do you think the destructive force between one-time the speed of sound transmission and two-times the speed of sound transmission is the same? Although my sonic boom strike is only one time that of sound transmission, do you think that you can still dodge away when my throwing speed reach twice or thrice the speed of sound transmission? Do you think that your alleged great dodging speed is still be useful by then?

"Hahaha..." Dawson smiled, "You're right. If you can release a flying sword twice the speed of sound transmission, I truly would not easily dodge. Actually, if you raise the speed of your flying sword by 20%, I would not doge away. However, fighters have physical limits. Nobody could break through this limit. You might have reached your physical limit. I've not heard that any fighter could release a sonic boom strike above twice the speed of sound transmission. You are not bad! If not provoking us, you might have a chance to be a strong fighter in the future. Pitifully, too many young men like you are too self-righteous. Finally, you will lose your life because of this."

"I feel I am living quite well and I will live long!" Zhang Tie responded with a smile.

"Really?" Dawson narrowed his pupils once again, "Let's call it an end today!"

The moment Dawson finished his words, he had already reached in front of Zhang Tie. Although Zhang Tie had been preparing for that by activating a rune effect of his rapid moving skill, Dawson's speed was still out of Zhang Tie's imagination. If Zhang Tie rushed towards him like a bolt just now, Dawson was a bolt himself. He had already moved almost 10 m and appeared in front of Zhang Tie in less than 0.1 second. He directly pointed towards Zhang Tie's heart with his illuminating glove. It was a fierce strike of strength and speed. As long as he touched Zhang Tie, he would undoubtedly scoop out Zhang Tie's heart.

When in fight, the effect of rapid moving skill would drop by 80%, thanks to the remaining approximate 20% effect of rapid moving skill. Zhang Tie could move 24% faster than before and dodged away. Otherwise, Zhang Tie might have been heavily wounded.

The moment Zhang Tie dodged away, he saw Dawson punching him with another fist. This time, Zhang Tie could not dodge at all; therefore, he directly boomed Dawson's glove which was covered with 1 m-thick battle Qi.

After a shock on innards, Zhang Tie felt like spitting out blood; however, he forcefully swallowed it back. Dawson's battle Qi was very sharp and aggressive. Zhang Tie felt that Dawson's battle Qi intended to drill into his body; thankfully, his iron-blood battle Qi was unrivaled. When the battle Qi intended to invade along his arm, it had been torn apart by Zhang Tie's iron-blood battle Qi. Even though, Zhang Tie's arm was still covered with many wounds.

"Which battle Qi are you practicing?" Seeing Zhang Tie dissolving his battle Qi by hand, Dawson was shocked inside. Actually Dawson was also practicing a senior battle Qi. For inferior fighters, if they were boomed by Dawson's battle Qi, they would be invaded by his battle Qi. As a result, all their blood vessels would break. If a inferior fighter who was not invaded by his battle Qi while booming against it by hand, the only possibility was that he was practicing a more powerful battle Qi than Dawson. Only top battle Qi could prevent the invasion of Dawson's battle Qi at a lower level.

After knowing that Zhang Tie was practicing the top battle Qi, Dawson became more decisive in killing Zhang Tie. "This man is too dangerous. I will kill him. If not, he would definitely be a great trouble for Demon Snake Island in the future."

Zhang Tie didn't prepare to answer Dawson's question at all. The moment Zhang Tie started to fight this really strong fighter in such a short distance, he felt the great fighting strength of the latter. Zhang Tie realized that he could never deal with such a powerful fighter at all in such a short distance. Besides rich fighting experiences, Dawson's attacking speed was also advantageous. What was more difficult for Zhang Tie was that Dawson could release his battle Qi in the air. Therefore, before Zhang Tie's punch reached him, Dawson's battle Qi had already struck on Zhang Tie's body.

Thankfully, Zhang Tie had enlightened "one step, one scene" and super high spiritual energy which could help him capture Dawson's moving traces; besides he had activated his rapid moving skill which increased his moving speed by 24%; otherwise, Zhang Tie had long been killed by Dawson in a wink.

However, Zhang Tie was still reluctantly defensive against the attack of Dawson. After 10 more rounds, Zhang Tie's shoulder was boomed by Dawson's battle Qi. Zhang Tie knew that it was impossible for him to defeat Dawson in such a short distance based on his fighting strength. The only efficient way to deal with Dawson was using his flying javelins, which was Zhang Tie's most powerful weapon.

Zhang Tie started to move back rapidly along with Dawson's strike...

The moment he moved back, Zhang Tie had increased his moving speed by 120% due to the full effect of the rapid moving skill. In a split second, Zhang Tie had been dozens meters away and was leaving increasingly faster.

Noticing that Zhang Tie was going to escape, Dawson grinned as he instantly followed up.

In Dawson's opinion, he could definitely catch up with Zhang Tie sooner or later. However, gradually, he found that he was totally wrong. Zhang Tie was moving as fast as a super sportscar. In a blink of eye, Zhang Tie's moving speed had surpassed 100 km/h. Dawson had not seen any LV 9 fighter running so fast. Even most of the new strong fighters could not run so fast.

As a strong fighter, Dawson could truly move faster than sonic transmission speed in an extremely short period and distance such as booming Zhang Tie or dodging away from Zhang Tie's booms; however, if he could keep chasing after Zhang Tie at such a high speed, he would almost be a knight; instead of a strong fighter.

Dawson used all his efforts to chase after Zhang Tie; however, his best mark was 30 m; after that, the distance between him and Zhang Tie grew longer and longer.

When they were about 50 m away from each other, Dawson gritted his teeth as he took out an egg-sized iron bead and threw towards Zhang Tie without saying anything...

Like how Dawson had not imagined that Zhang Tie could bring him so many surprises, Zhang Tie didn't imagine that this round-table warrior could also throw a secret weapon at sonic transmission speed either.

Before Zhang Tie heard the sound, he felt a sharp wind arriving from behind. Before dodging away, Zhang Tie's back had already been struck by that item.

After spitting out a mouthful of blood, Zhang Tie tried to keep calm before passing out. Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie changed the direction; after accelerating 70-80 m forward in a faster speed, Zhang Tie jumped off a cliff in front of him...

Dawson rushed over there closely after him. Seeing Zhang Tie rolling down the cliff, he thought for awhile; but finally he didn't jump off after him.

It was a bottomless valley under the cliff. Even during the daytime, the sunshine could still not reach the bottom. Dawson saw mist rolling 1000 m below, making it a bit gloomy. Unless carrying a parachute, if he had jumped off from here, he would have fallen into pieces even as a strong fighter.

Zhang Tie soon disappeared in the mist...

"F*ck!" Dawson's face turned gloomy. If it were anybody else, Dawson was sure that guy would die by doing this; however, when he thought about Peter, his heart started to pound. Without seeing his corpse, he would never be reassured.

After looking downwards at the direction of the valley and surrounding terrain, Dawson turned and left here soon.

Chapter 414: Demon Rats

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

When Zhang Tie woke up, he felt that his bones all over were going to crack. Due to extreme pain, he uttered a faint groan.

Besides pain, he also felt happy, "Haha, I'm still alive!"

Although this fighting course with Dawson was not long, he finally understood that a LV 10 strong fighter had an overwhelming advantage over a LV 7 fighter like him. "Dawson the douchebag was right. Strong fighters are indeed powerful." Zhang Tie muttered.

Compared to last time when he was chased after by a LV 10 strong fighter in Dragon Cave, Zhang Tie had made a great progress. From the beginning to the end, Zhang Tie and Dawson used about 10 movements respectively. In the whole course, Zhang Tie could attack and defend properly. Besides almost killing Dawson with his long sword, Zhang Tie also boomed Dawson's battle Qi attack several times by his bare fist. As a LV 7 fighter, Zhang Tie should be proud of that.

He even almost escaped away from Dawson safely despite Dawson's flying black bead.

However, Zhang Tie had never imagined that Dawson could also throw an item at the speed of sonic transmission speed.

Thanks to the effect of iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie's body had been pretty strike-resistant. If not, even though Zhang Tie might survive, he would lose his mobility in a split second.

Zhang Tie didn't know what Dawson hit him with but he knew that the weapon was covered with a fierce battle Qi. The moment Zhang Tie was struck, he felt like booming against Dawson's battle Qi. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt that his spiritual energy was broken into pieces. At that critical moment, he could not even enter Castle of Black Iron with full concentration. Therefore, he could only make a dangerous choice and continue to rush forward with his braveness of blood and Qi.

After recovering his consciousness, Zhang Tie faintly closed his eyes. He felt that his preliminary recovery body was gradually working while the pains and wounds were relieving one bit by another.

Based on his sense, Zhang Tie knew that it was definitely dark now. Because his preliminary recovery body could completely take effect only at night.

Although the preliminary recovery body gradually took effect, the spiritual energy in his mind was still in an "unstable" state. Similarly, ships in storms could not move stably under the influence of undulant waves. Therefore, passengers could not "board" ships.

For Zhang Tie, he was "boarding" to Castle of Black Iron; however, because of poor spiritual energy, he could not even complete the simplest things like eating and drinking.

"F*ck!" Zhang Tie swore inside. Dawson the d**chebag definitely did not strike me with a common secret weapon. Common secret weapons could not have such an effect after striking me. Not only my physical health, even my spiritual energy had been weakened.

Due to a weak spiritual energy. Zhang Tie could not access to Castle of Black Iron; besides, his dark vision driven by spiritual energy also disappeared. Zhang Tie found that his vision had recovered to his original level.

Speaking of his body, Zhang Tie found that he was lying in water. Facing the sky, he felt pretty comfortable in the warm water.

After realizing that he was in water, Zhang Tie moved his body slightly; however, his mouth and nose were instantly filled with water, causing him to choke.

Zhang Tie felt very inconvenient now. The moment he moved, he would feel painful and sore all over. The water was a bit deep. At least he could not reach its bottom with his feet. With the great swimming ability that he had formed in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie tried his best to float above the water although being very uncomfortable and painful. After waving his hand in water, he found that his clothes were hooked by a vine; therefore, he pulled that vine and started to swim towards that black stone which was less than 10 m in the front.

If it was in the past, Zhang Tie would have been there in a wink; however, this time, he almost exhausted his full strength.

Less than 2 square meters from that stone in the water. Some rotten and withered vines were in the water around the stone. Floating on water, Zhang Tie smelt a mouldy odour; therefore, he spent his effort in pulling himself onto that stone. After doing that, he felt that all of his strength had been exhausted; meanwhile, Zhang Tie panted heavily with his undulant chest.

After lying there for 10 minutes, Zhang Tie found that the clouds that covered the 2 bright moons had dispersed. After recovering a bit, Zhang Tie was finally able to sit on the stone as he started to observe the surroundings.

This was an extremely deep and serene valley. Its opening was wider than its bottom. Raising his head, Zhang Tie felt like observing the sky in a well. Endless cliffs were on both sides of the valley. With the moonlight, Zhang Tie could see a lot of vines over the cliffs.

In order to get enough sunlight, those vines were trying to move upward and outside although being crossed with each other. Zhang Tie estimated that those withered vines in water dropped from the cliffs.

At the sight of those vines, Zhang Tie knew that he was saved by them. Those plants served as a buffer when he rolled down. Thankfully, he finally fell into the water; otherwise, Zhang Tie was doomed to die.

Zhang Tie looked around the water and found that it was a big pond which covered about 7000 square meters. The stone was in the center of this pond. There were so many ponds like this in the serene valley. They scattered densely in the valley. Some were connected with each other; some were not. This terrain looked really weird.

Zhang Tie recalled that mist when he jumped off in the daytime. It was formed in the following way: vapour rose and was condensed when it met cold air.

Besides the pond in the serene valley and those vines on cliffs, Zhang Tie only saw some scattered stones; especially the place near the pond made Zhang Tie a bit curious.

After resting half an hour on the stone, Zhang Tie recovered a bit due to the effect of his preliminary recovery body; additionally, aches all over started to relieve. It should be a bit cold at night, especially for a person who was wearing wet clothes, Zhang Tie didn't feel cold at all because of his cold-resistance body.

Suddenly, a thought flashed across Zhang Tie's mind. "Is here any monster?" The moment Zhang Tie thought about this, he quivered all over. According to Donder, some terrifying animals always lived in places which seemed to have no lives.

Widening his eyes, Zhang Tie looked around as he forcefully swallowed his saliva. Zhang Tie then comforted himself, "How come? I've not been killed after rolling down such a high cliff, I don't think that I could see anything more strange. God should not allow me to be the dessert of monsters. Besides being a bit lascivious in usual time, I didn't do any bad things; instead, I've done many good things. Although I've killed so many people, but they all deserved death. Although I'm not a very good person, I always help people in dangers and poverty. Additionally, I've accumulated so many merit values in Castle of Black Iron.

When Zhang Tie was comforting himself that he would not meet anything strange here, red sparkles started to appear in dark corners under the cliff.

At the beginning, there were only a few red sparkles; because of the poor light and long distance, Zhang Tie thought they were fireflies. However, the red sparkles started to appear everywhere. Zhang Tie found something was not right. "They are not fireflies, but eyes of animals!"

Finally, those red sparkles started to flow like tide in the valley, causing a sound of "sisi".

Zhang Tie slowed his breath as he squatted on the stone and watched those red sparkles.

Seeing some red sparkles coming to the bank of the pond and lowered their heads to drink water, Zhang Tie finally knew what they were.

The moment Zhang Tie saw it clearly, Zhang Tie's fine hair all over stood up at once.

They were rats! The red sparkles were rats' eyes.

Of course Zhang Tie would not fear about some rats; however, the mice in front of him had completely toppled over Zhang Tie's recognition about mice. Because Zhang Tie had not seen such huge rats before.

These mice were longer than 40 cm without calculating the length of the tail. They were as long as common dogs. If their tails were included, they would be longer than 1 m.

With pointed mouth, sharp teeth and a pair of ferocious, bloody eyes, Zhang Tie might solve it easily if there was only one mouse; however, seeing the dense red sparkles, Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over.

They instantly reminded Zhang Tie of a terrifying living being in Ice and Snow Wildness——Demon Rat.

They were a very terrifying animal. Besides stones and metals, they could almost eat anything, including animals' corpses, flesh, blood and plants' roots, stems, twigs and leaves. When they appeared in groups, all the other animals had to dodge away.

When there was only 1 demon rat, Zhang Tie didn't feel it was harder to deal with than common wild wolves; however, the terror of this animal lay in its geometrical increase. When there were more than 20 demon rats, even 20 wolves could not defeat them; when there were more than 50 demon rats, they could scare off any wild animals; when there were over 1000 demon rats, they could even sweep over a hill.

The more demon rats there were, the more terrifying it would be.

There were at least 1000 red sparkles in the darkness.

Zhang Tie was driven flurried this time as he had not imagined that he was in a nest of demon rats.

"You cannot see me, you cannot see me" Zhang Tie prayed!

Pitifully, as the old saying went, "when you worry about something, something would happen." At this moment, a demon rat raised its head and caught sight of Zhang Tie at once.

Zhang Tie and the rat then stared at each other...

"Brother, I beg you! Don't whistle! I owe you. I promise to invite you to have seafood!" Lowering his body on the stone, Zhang Tie prayed silently.

That demon rat blinked its red eyes as it uttered a shrill sound, "Zhi...zhi...zhi".

"F*ck you!" Zhang Tie swore furiously...

The jarring sound resonated in the serene valley. Hearing this warning, all the other red sparkles changed their moving direction at once. They surrounded Zhang Tie's pond in only 10 seconds. Even Zhang Tie couldn't count how many of demon rats were there.

At that moment, being gazed by demon rats with wholly red eyes, Zhang Tie felt being a piece of flesh on the table.

The bloody eyes of demon rats didn't hide their mad and icy killing intent at all; as well as their desire for Zhang Tie's blood and flesh.

After being in a stalemate for a few seconds, a demon rat suddenly jumped into the water after flying over 10 m in the air. Although being several times larger than common rats, these demon rats were several times swifter than common rats. With a puff sound, it started to swim towards Zhang Tie without any hesitation from over 20 m away.

Realizing Zhang Tie that even rats could swim well. "When tiger go down to level land, it would be insulted by dogs! However, this father is insulted by rats! Motherf*cker! Even a rat dares to find me trouble by water." Zhang Tie sighed loudly with emotions while raising his head against the sky. After that, he patted his waist as he pulled out his double-carp swords.

The moment the first demon rat drew close to the stone in the middle of the pond and charged towards Zhang Tie, its head had been chopped off by Zhang Tie in the air with the sword Qi.

Gripping its body, Zhang Tie raised his head and opened his mouth. He then poured the sprouting blood into his mouth, causing a sound of "gulugulu". The moment the warm blood entered his stomach, Zhang Tie felt being a bit more vital. The preliminary recovery body not only brought him the great ability to recover, but also the greater ability to digest food.

"Come on..." Zhang Tie threw its dead body aside as he exclaimed. At the same time, he wiped off the fresh blood on his face and stared at those demon rats who wanted to engulf him, "Let's see who's the winner!"

The demon rats became noisy at once. After another communication "Zhi...zhi...", another 7-8 demon rats jumped into the water like lightning bolts and swam towards Zhang Tie from different directions...

A fierce battle started...

Chapter 415: A Wretched Tactic

Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem

In Zhang Tie's eyes, demon rat ran faster than any other animals on the ground. They were definitely charging towards him like lightning bolts. Even many powerhouses above LV 6 could not match demon rats on speed and sensitiveness in a short distance.

High moving speed was the terror of demon rats.

Thankfully, Zhang Tie was in the middle of the pond. There was still a distance of about 30 meters between him and those demon rats, which the latter could not surpass easily. As a result, Zhang Tie took the water as his last reliance.

Zhang Tie had been heavily wounded; therefore, he could only perform 10% of his total fighting strength. The 2 parties both had their own limits.

More demon rats pounced into water from the bank and swam towards Zhang Tie with bloody brutal eyes. Zhang Tie was standing on the stone and waving his double-carp sword; he tried to kill them before they arrived at the stone.

With his full effort, Zhang Tie could only push out 2-m long sword Qi out of the 6-m long slim sword blades, which could only protect himself and that stone.

The sharp blades helped Zhang Tie a lot. Although the demon rats' furs were as smooth as oil yet they were cut open the moment they touched the blades without any exception.

The injuries of the same kind drove the remaining demon rats more restless and crazier. Being simulated by this, they dashed towards Zhang Tie one after another, regardless of the injuries.

After 2 hours of battle, the water around the stone had turned blood-red while many dead demon rats were floating above the water. Even Zhang Tie didn't know how many demon rats had he killed. He estimated that the figure was about 300-400.

Zhang Tie also suffered injuries. Zhang Tie's feet were bitten several times; additionally, his arms and waist were left with blood stains of demon rats' claws. If not for his preliminary recovery body, Zhang Tie could not stick to the end of this 2-h battle at all. Even so, after killing 300-400 demon rats, Zhang Tie's sword blades were only a bit longer than 1 m, half of that before. They were nothing different than 2 common long swords. He could not make it longer at this moment.

Gradually, the demon rats stopped their attack when the pond was covered with the corpses of those demon rats.

Zhang Tie panted heavily as he was kneeling on the stone with one leg; meanwhile, he was glaring at those demon rats on the bank. If Zhang Tie was in a good condition, he could fight 2 days ceaselessly without even a wink. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie felt very tired. Each time he waved his double-carp sword, he felt a sharp pain all over his body, especially on his back where Dawson had struck him.

After those demon rats stopped their attack for a while, Zhang Tie thought that this battle finally came to an end. Right then, a slightly smaller demon rat with purple-black fur walked out of the crowded demon rats. Coming to the bank, he watched Zhang Tie.

When it appeared, all the other demon rats gave a way to him while they all put their eyes on it.

Although it was a beast, Zhang Tie could still sense the killing intent in its eyes.

"Is it the head?" Zhang Tie wanted to sneer. However, the moment he moved his mouth, he realized that he was very thirsty...

"Zhi...zhi...zhi..." That special demon rat stood up with its hindquarter and raised its head. Closely after it all the other demon rats' squeaked along with it.

Zhang Tie became alert at once. Observably, they were not singing for him. "I was told that they had a good memory about their enemies. As I've killed so many of their partners, I wonder what other tactics could they apply."

Some more demon rats flashed out once again. When Zhang Tie thought that these demon rats could swim towards him like the previous ones, he was really scared by their actions this time. They were stepping onto the corpses of their partners and had come closer to Zhang Tie by jumping only 3 or 4 times.

"Wow, f*ck! Leapfrog skill..." Zhang Tie swore loudly as he hurriedly cut some demon rats into pieces with his double-carp sword in the air.

More and more demon rats started to adopt leapfrog skill. Without having to touch water, they had come closer to him. In this method, they could attack Zhang Tie several times faster.

Zhang Tie knew that he had to utmost his full strength to fight them. "These demon rats are so smart." Perhaps they have already been ready for plan B when they swam towards him at the beginning.

Only after 10 minutes, although Zhang Tie killed dozens more demon rats, he suffered more wounds this time than he did 10 minutes before.

Thankfully, they were all slight wounds which didn't influence his movement. With rich fighting experiences, Zhang Tie dodged away from their attacks on all the fatal positions of his body.

Feeling a sharp wind at ear, Zhang Tie turned around and found another bloody scratch on his neck which was close to his shoulder. "What a fast attack!" If Zhang Tie didn't suffer any wounds at this moment, he could easily deal with it; however, it almost cut open the main artery on his neck.

It was that purple-black demon rat. It didn't leave; instead, it started to dash on the corpses of its soldiers around the stone like stepping on level land. At the same time, it glared at Zhang Tie with its bloody eyes, seemingly seeking for Zhang Tie's loopholes and preparing to give a final strike to Zhang Tie.

"D*mn, is that a rat?" Zhang Tie was shocked inside. Seeing increasingly more rats charging towards him in a crazier way. Zhang Tie felt it more difficult to deal with them. "Is this father, a living person, going to be troubled or killed by a group of rats? No way!"

"What to do? What to do? What to do?"

All of a sudden, Zhang Tie's heart raced as he caught sight of that pond in front of him. He almost slapped himself ferociously. "What an idiot! Am I a fool after being struck by Dawson the d**chebag? Although I've just came out of water, I could also come back. I was recovering myself just now; but I can survive myself this time. Although those demon rats could attack me by leapfrog skill, I could become a frog. I don't believe that they could bit off my ass in water!"

After glancing at that pond full of dead demon rats, Zhang Tie tried his best to be not get disgusted. At the same time, he ferociously slashed his sword. After killing another 2 demon rats, he instantly jumped into the water.

Zhang Tie's response was out of all the demon rats' imagination. In a split second, all the demon rats started to utter shrill sounds.

When that purple-black demon rat flashed towards him and prepared to give Zhang Tie another strike, Zhang Tie slightly moved in water and dived in the depth 67-m at once. After that, he faintly swayed his hands to suspend himself in water.

Zhang Tie raised his head and found many demon rats had jumped into water, aiming to find him in the water. Some put their heads in the water. Although they glared at Zhang Tie with bloody eyes and wanted to dive in, they could only reach half a meter in depth no matter how they waved their claws and tails.

Watching all this, Zhang Tie finally relieved with a big smile. As he had imagined, although many animals with claws could swim, only few of them could dive. According to Zhang Tie's knowledge, he knew that only some bears could dive into water for fish in cold areas. Although demon rats could swim, they could not dive. However, as the most intelligent animal, of course human could dive better than rats.

Seeing so many dead demon rats above water, Zhang Tie really felt disgusted about this, especially about the bloody odour and the floating intestines and organs of demon rats.

Zhang Tie felt that he was floating in a pot full of rat soup which savages only drunk.

Whereas, no matter what, Zhang Tie had to survive.

Seeing their bellies in water, Zhang Tie revealed an insidious smile. He silently swam upwards. When he was 1 m away from a demon rat, he triggered his blades and cut open a deep wound from its neck to its belly; soon after that, he swam away...

In only a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie had killed 10 more demon rats; however, they could not even touch him at all.

Zhang Tie became so delightful about this. "Thanks to the great diving skill that I've practiced in Hidden Dragon Island, I can finally save my own life and snatch a victory out of defeat."

Launching a sneak attack towards a rat under water...oh, no, demon rats. Although being a bit disgusting and wretched, I think it is a very efficient tactic. Teenagers are always wretched.

The demon rats swam back onto the bank. Zhang Tie then exposed his head out of water to take some fresh air, he found that those demon rats were still glaring at him.

The demon rats then jumped into the water; Zhang Tie dove back and continued to cut open their bellies.

After several rounds, more corpses floated above water. When Zhang Tie exposed his head above water once again, he did not find even a single demon rat around the banks. Probably those demon rats finally realized that they could not get any benefits by doing this with Zhang Tie, not to mention to gnaw Zhang Tie; therefore, they left...

Zhang Tie climbed back and threw himself onto the stone. Feeling exhausted both physically and spiritually, Zhang Tie watched that pond full of dead demon rats and suddenly felt like vomiting; however, he didn't even have the strength to vomit...

...

Gradually, the skyline over his head had turned pale. Lying on the stone, Zhang Tie felt a shock in his mind while his bumpy spiritual energy recovered like the water level after storm.

Zhang Tie attempted to lock that marvelous arch door in his mind with his spiritual energy. He made it and entered Castle of Black Iron without any hesitation.

"Castle Lord..." Zhang Tie saw that Heller have long been waiting there for him with a solemn look.

"I know what you're going to talk about. I only want to have a rest. Talk about it later when I wake up!" Zhang Tie waved his hand in a tired way.

Heller didn't say anything. After bowing towards Zhang Tie, he left.

Zhang Tie instantly drunk a bottle of 200 ml all-purpose medicament. After that, he took off his wet clothes. After a short bath, he returned to his room. Covering himself with the quilt, he fell asleep immediately.

The all-purpose medicament instantly took effect on Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie soon felt a warm and agile flow inside. In a few minutes, Zhang Tie had recovered his heart beats, fever and fallen asleep like dozing off in spring...

...

Outside the room, Heller was standing below the high platform of that small tree. Watching the sky in Castle of Black Iron gradually turning bright in synchronous with that outside, Heller muttered, "What an obtrusive Castle Lord! Low-end fighting skills like Iron-Blood Fist develops from the human knowledge in Bronze Age which was discovered tens of thousands years ago indeed made people easily puzzled. In Bronze Age, there was no real powerful people or hero; instead, there were only some average people who desired for the glorious gods to control everything..." After saying this, Heller drew down in the air with his hands. As a result, like drawing down a curtain, Castle of Black Iron entered deep darkness once again...

  ...

However, at the same time, Dawson was in a valley which was a hundred miles away from Zhang Tie's place. After wandering there over one night, he found that he was back at the original point. He finally collapsed mentally as he roared.

"Who the motherf*cker will tell me where I am? Argh..."

Receiving no one's response, his voice attracted a pack of iron-teeth hyenas who were staring at him, drooling off their saliva...

Meanwhile, a huge eagle was hovering in the sky..