Castle of Black Iron

The contents in the ”Great Wildness Sutra” were ancient and profound. Each words and sentences were very fantastic. That was a world that Zhang Tie had not touched before. The world was full of sutras, fingerprints, illusions, rules and new definitions about the relationship between human and everything else in the universe. It was completely different from that fighter cultivation system that Zhang Tie adopted since he was young. It broadened Zhang Tie’s vision greatly.

Of course, animal controller was a profession in this age. This profession only existed less than 700 years. However, it was hard to say how long have human coexisted with everything else in the universe, including various wild animals. According to a common saying, people had existed at least 6 million years on this planet.

Before the appearance of animal controller, of course humans could coexist with everything else in the universe. The ”Great Wildness Sutra” was talking about the methods for humans to coexist with various animals in the mother nature; therefore, Zhang Tie could not only learn about the abilities to control animals from this book.

Humans could not coexist with animals simply by controlling them. In Zhang Tie’s opinion, many contents in the book were nothing different than the skills of the legendary shamans, flamens and wizards. They were far more than what animal controllers could be in this age.

For instance, according to the book, before entering adventurous lands, one could make demon figures with grass so as to avoid from being bitten by venomous insects or snakes. Wasn’t it similar to the deeds of shamans and flamens?

However, it would be too polite if one said that this book was about ”coexistence” rules between humans and other animals; actually, to put it straightforward, the ”Great Wildness Sutra” was definitely an arbitrary book as it was described in the book, ”Human is the heart of the universe while everything else forms the limbs of the universe; to drive its limbs with the heart is like driving its fingers with its arm.”

The secret knowledge of the ”Great Wildness Sutra” included 5 sections; ”Summon”, ”Amulet”, ”Increase”, ”Drive” and ”Incarnation”.

The section ”Summon” taught people how to summon animals; the section ”Amulet” taught people how to protect themselves; the section ”Increase” taught people how to gain more benefits; the section ”Drive” taught people how to drive animals while the section ”Incarnation” taught people how to incarnate their souls on animals, which was the essence of the ”Great Wildness Sutra”.

In this age, it was enough for an animal controller to completely master the contents in the section ”Summon” and the section ”Amulet” of the ”Great Wildness Sutra”.

Zhang Tie read that book for 2 days in the cabin repeatedly. Until the third morning did Zhang Tie stretch his limbs and walk out of his 2-storey cabin.

This was the longest period that Zhang Tie had stayed in Castle of Black Iron since he obtained it.

It was early morning in Castle of Black Iron. Agan, Edward and Aziz had already been doing farming work in the verdant farmlands with farming tools. Heller seemed being meditating while sitting below the cherry grove not far away.

This was Zhang Tie’s first time to see Heller meditating; therefore, he was a bit curious about that.

Yellow chrysanthemums were growing around the fence. They were blossoming brilliantly. A swarm of bees were busying working among those chrysanthemums. The entire Castle of Black Iron looked tranquil and vigorous.

Zhang Tie stood in the courtyard for a while to enjoy the beautiful scene. After that, he revealed a faint smile before coming to the small tree.

The small tree was also fruitful at this moment. Only after a deep sniff of the rich fragrance of seven-strength fruits, Zhang Tie had already being highly spirited and intoxicated.

The 9 crystal seven-strength fruits in the shape of rats looked pretty cute. They were like crystal artworks which aroused Zhang Tie pity.

8 of the 9 demon rats looked same, except one which looked a bit deeper with a purple luster flowing inside, making it very special.

”Isn’t this one not ripe yet? How come that be!? I’ve killed so many demon rats!” With this doubt, Zhang Tie stretched his hand towards that special seven-strength fruit.

——Seven-Strength Fruit of King Demon Rat. This fruit has gathered; the strength of Qi, the strength of blood, the strength of channel, the strength of vein, the strength of bone, the strength of marrow and the strength of spirit of king demon rat. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.

——This seven-strength fruit was a senior fruit of demon rat. It comes from a king demon rat. The seven-strength inside this were 5 times that of common seven-strength fruits of demon rats.

After reading the above 2 paragraphs, Zhang Tie was startled for a short while. He then burst out into laughter. ”This small tree is really unbelievable. I’ve not imagined this special fruit after killing the head rat.”

”According to the old Chinese saying, if you want to catch thieves, you have to catch their king at first. I will eat this seven-strength fruit firstly!” Saying this, Zhang Tie picked off this seven-strength fruit of king demon rat as he sat down with his legs crossed. He then put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully.

The sweet juice of the seven-strength fruit slid in Zhang Tie’s esophagus very soon and gradually turned into seven rolling hot Qi’s and energy inside Zhang Tie’s chest.

Once again, Zhang Tie felt his body being blown up like a balloon by that combined strength.

...

When the 1st strength Qi swam to the sea position of Zhang Tie’s lower abdomen, it gradually integrated with Zhang Tie’s body; meanwhile, Zhang Tie heard the familiar sound of heavy wind blowing by his ears in his mind...

Then, the 2nd strength...

When the 3rd strength swam to Zhang Tie’s after-brain, it resolved and entered Zhang Tie’s muscles all over in terms of thousands of smaller strength. When they arrived there, they started to slightly quiver like strings of a musical instrument. Zhang Tie felt that he became a huge harp. With the effect of that strength, he started to sound himself all over.

This time, the ”performance” lasted especially long...

Followed by the 4th strength...

...

When Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he became stunned as he found it was morning.

Heller was standing beside the small tree and watching Zhang Tie.

”How long did it take me to digest the seven-strength fruit?” Zhang Tie asked.

”30 hours!” Heller replied, ”The more powerful the seven-strength fruit is, the longer it will take you to digest it!”

Zhang Tie smiled as he stood up and picked off another demon rat seven-strength fruit.

When Zhang Tie woke up once again, it was almost night.

After eating this common demon rat seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie felt that its strength of Qi, strength of blood, strength of bone, strength of marrow, strength of vein and strength of spirit was almost equal to half of that of a wild wolf seven-strength fruit respectively; however, its strength of channel was about 1.5 times that of a common wild wolf seven-strength fruit, which might be deeply related to Zhang Tie’s great explosiveness...

After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie picked off another demon rat seven-strength fruit.

After digesting the 3rd demon rat seven-strength fruit, it turned completely dark. The moment Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he saw Heller who was holding a lamp.

”Castle Lord, haste makes waste. After eating so many seven-strength fruits at once, you’d better slightly move, eat or drink before take a sleep. Only by relaxing yourself to fit your latest physical functions could your body contain the energy of the other seven-strength fruits!”

Zhang Tie nodded as he left the small tree, ate something and drunk some honey-water. After that, he took a bath and slept for some hours. When it was late morning, he came to the small tree and started to eat seven-strength fruits once again.

This time, he ate 4 seven-strength fruits consecutively. After that, he continued to rest, sleep and eat.

On the 3rd day, Zhang Tie ate the last 2 seven-strength fruits of demon rats.

When he woke up this time, Zhang Tie felt being completely different than before. After eating 9 seven-strength fruits in a couple of days, he updated his body 9 times. Even Zhang Tie wondered how powerful he was at this moment. With a will, Zhang Tie felt that the strength in his muscles was moving ferociously like a piston in a high-pressure cylinder which was going to explode at any time.

Like before, Heller knew what Zhang Tie was thinking about. Zhang Tie found that he was standing below the small tree, with a javelin container in hand. Agan, Edward and Aziz were standing respectfully behind Heller. Each of them were carrying a new wooden target.

”Castle Lord, you must not wait to try the power of your javelins!”

Zhang Tie responded with a smile as he walked downstairs. After glancing at the 3 nice targets, he nodded, ”I remember that Agan is a carpenter and stonemason. He made them, right? Not bad!”

Receiving Zhang Tie’s praise, Agan was so excited that his face even blushed. He hurriedly knelt down to kill Zhang Tie’s shoes, ”Castle Lord, it’s my great honor to serve you!”

”Let’s have a try over there!” Saying this, Zhang Tie walked towards the most open parcel of grassland on the lake’s shore, followed by Agan, Edward and Aziz.

After coming to the shore, Zhang Tie drew out a javelin from Heller’s javelin container before narrowed his eyes and looked at the distance.

”How far?” Heller asked.

”200 m, 300 m and 500 m!”

Hearing Zhang Tie’s words, Agan, Edward and Aziz directly ran away. Agan stopped 200 m away; carrying the target, he stood still like a dare-to-die corps member; Edward stopped 300 m away while Aziz stopped 500 m away. They all moved very fast. In less than 2 minutes, they had already arrived at the right positions and gave signals to Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie then drew out a javelin from Heller’s javelin container. After fixing his eyes on that target 200 m away, he took a deep breath; closely after that, he threw out the javelin.

In a split second, the javelin had disappeared in the air. Almost at the same time, Zhang Tie heard the cracking sound of Agan’s target and the air-breaking sound.

Zhang Tie threw out the 2nd and the 3rd javelins consecutively in an extremely short period closely after the 1st javelin.

The 3 targets were almost exploded in a second. Seeing this, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh satisfactorily. After throwing out 3 javelins, Zhang Tie felt so cool. Zhang Tie felt that he had realized essential improvements on strength, responsiveness and explosiveness. Certainly, the speed of his javelin was much faster than before.

Zhang Tie didn’t know about its precise speed; but it was true that it only took him a bit more than half a second from throwing out the javelin to the crack of the target 500 m away.

After breaking through the 3 targets, the 3 javelins continued to fly forward until they hit the colorful, rolling fog to the edge of Castle of Black Iron. They suspended there for several seconds before dropping off.

”Congratulations, Castle Lord, all the initial speeds of the 3 javelins were greater than 728 m/s, which was twice that of sound transmission speed in air. Your javelin could match heavy crossbow on destructive force within 300 m. Its destructive force didn’t decline until 400 m. Its maximum effective destructive range was 800 m.”

Zhang Tie did not feel strange about the precise flying speed of his javelin. Because it was in Castle of Black Iron while Heller was the administer and intelligent spirit of Castle of Black Iron; of course, he knew everything.

Zhang Tie only cared about one thing, ”Can Dawson survive my javelins?”

”He can’t!” Heller shook his head, ”Unless he could reach or approach LV 11 in these days, he could never dodge away from sonic boom which was twice the speed of sound transmission speed in the air. You’re already able to kill most of strong fighters with javelins. Few strong fighters could respond faster than this speed.”

A harsh countenance flashed through Zhang Tie’s eyes...

”Are you going out now, Cast Lord?” Heller asked.

”No hurry. I will stay here for a couple of days...” Zhang Tie smiled as his eyes gleamed, ”As nobody disturbs me here, I can practice the first section of the ”Great Wildness Sutra”. As the first section should be finished in a row, I need to spare 7 days to practice it; but I cannot find such a good condition outside!”

...

Several hours later, Zhang Tie became completely relaxed. After adjusting himself to his best condition, Zhang Tie returned to the place below the small tree. Crossing his legs, he started to make a fantastic gesture described on the ”Great Wildness Sutra”. At the same time, Zhang Tie started to recite the 7 word-sutra of strange pronunciation by only moving his tongue and throat...

...