Castle of Black Iron

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.