Castle of Black Iron

Swaying flames brightened the mountain cave. Crell was sitting beside the bonfire and teaching Zhang Tie how to control animals. Zhang Tie looked very concentrated, at least from his look.

”Wild beasts are as same as humans; they also have moods and thoughts. Even tiny insects have moods and thoughts. If you want to learn how to control animals, you have to ignore their bodies and attempt to exchange with them from inside!” Crell explained it to Zhang Tie patiently.

After learning the ”Great Wild Sutra”, Zhang Tie became more curious about how other sects control wild animals. Actually, he did not want to learn them but to disguise the ”Great Wild Sutra” with them. Therefore, Zhang Tie was very interested in Crell’s words.

”I don’t understand. Why do we have to ignore the bodies of those wild animals?”

”Because human’s consciousness is the most mysterious domain in the universe. When you focus on the bodies of the wild animals, you are actually indicating yourself that their bodies are different from yours. Namely, you think they are different from you. If so, you will stop yourself from communicating with them. Because you take the different bodies as the obstacle of the communication, your thoughts could not reach their minds!”

”It sounds reasonable and a bit fantastic.” After thinking it for a short while, Zhang Tie continued, ”Do all the other animal controllers communicate with wild beasts like how you did?”

”No, this is only the secret skill of school of patron. Those inferior animal controllers control wild beasts through mandatory training and drugs; better ones could hypnotize animals; some could use magics; some are proficient in animal languages; a few senior animal controllers are excel at controlling wild beasts through blood and soul contracts. In Eastern Continent, it’s said that there are more mysterious and powerful animal controlling skills!” When talking about Eastern Continent, Crell slightly narrowed his eyes with a desiring look, ”I was told that the most powerful animal controllers on Eastern Continent could even inject their souls in fierce beasts, enabling those beasts to be their incarnations!”

Hearing the last sentence, Zhang Tie’s heart pounded at once. He knew what Crell was talking about. Zhang Tie really had not imagined that the ”Great Wild Sect” was so well-known. With a shocking look, Zhang Tie sighed with emotions, ”What powerful animal controllers! Those animal controllers who could take wild beasts as their incarnations must belong to the same unrivaled sect!”

”The sect was very powerful; however, it perished!”

”Perished, how come?”

”They perished rightly because of the greatness of their animal controlling skill. As a wise old eastern saying went, ’As long as you have a priceless treasure, even if you are not guilty, you will be guilty in the eyes of others due to their greed!’ Crell explained.”

After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie finally understood what Crell meant. This was exactly what Zhang Tie was concerned about.

”Is there anyone else who had mastered the animal controlling skill of that sect?” Zhang Tie asked.

”As that sect has perished for a long time, all those who could master the core animal controlling skill of that sect have died!”

”What a pity!” thinking of that skeleton in the mountain cave, Zhang Tie sighed with his true mood. ”Destiny is interesting! Even if one had mastered such a powerful animal controlling skill, he had to be alert every time. He had to stay with a swarm of demon rats and finally died alone in a serene mountain cave in the wild.”

”Perhaps this was the god’s will!” Crell also let out a sigh.

In the following hours, Crell started to teach Zhang Tie about the animal controlling skill of wild patron. According to Crell, these contents were not the most profound ones, which could only be imparted after Zhang Tie has become an official clergy of the school of patron. However, if Zhang Tie had the potential to master these contents and practiced hard, he could easily command 3-5 wild beasts or find 1 or 2 powerful wild beasts as his pets.

The animal controlling skill imparted by Crell to Zhang Tie was a strange spiritual connection with wild beasts which developed on the basis of some secret prayers of Gaia, the mother of land which the school of patron believed. Zhang Tie’s ”heart of mother nature” was the medium and bridge of this connection. Crell considered this connection as the inner communication with wild beasts. However, in Zhang Tie’s opinion, the animal controlling skill of wild patrons was more like a cooperation with wild beasts on the equal footing; instead of simply driving them away. The secret prayers of Gaia, the mother of land were certain cooperation contracts between the two parties.

By comparison, the animal controlling skills in Chinese ”Great Wild Sutra” were completely filled with a domineering sense. Communication and prayers were nothing but bullsh*t for the ”Great Wild Sutra”. In this Sutra, people was the center of the universe, the most honorable controller in the universe and the incarnation of the universe and the universal laws. All the living beings, insects, fishes, birds or beasts had to follow the orders of humans. It was completely their great honor to satisfy humans’ will.

”How come they control wild beasts in different ways?” Zhang Tie thought about this question for a while and finally realized that he could not get the answer based on his current intelligence and comprehension. However, now that this phenomenon existed, it was reasonable and allowed by the universal laws. After matching the school of patron and the Great Wild Sect on their animal controlling skills, Zhang Tie felt that the secret skill in the ’Great Wild Sect’ was more suitable to him.

Although having the all-spirits pagoda, Zhang Tie didn’t know what was the heart of mother nature at all. Additionally, to be honest, Zhang Tie was still doubting whether the consciousness, the mother of land, that surpassed everything truly existed. In this case, Zhang Tie was really afraid that his secret was revealed by Crell.

Zhang Tie didn’t remember the secret prayers of Gaia that Crell taught him until midnight.

...

On the next early morning, Zhang Tie was awakened by his biological clock while Crell was still sleeping. Unless emergencies, a wild patron would not wake up until the first ray of sunlight cast onto the ground. As was regulated by the doctrine of the school of patron, everything had to be in line with natural laws.

After waking up, Zhang Tie cleansed himself up at the riverside outside the mountain cave. After that, he sat on a stone outside the mountain cave and started to recite the secret prayers of Gaia, the mother of land that he had learned yesterday. Actually, he was injecting his spiritual energy into the body of the all-spirits pagoda according to the secret laws and illusionary regulations recorded in the ”Great Wild Sutra”.

As Zhang Tie constantly injected his spiritual energy into the all-spirits pagoda, the 5 walls of the first storey gradually radiated colorful brilliance; meanwhile, a shiny jujube-seed shaped octahedron gradually came into being in the core of the first storey.

In the ”Great Wild Sutra”, this octahedron was called the Great Wild Seal. It was the main carrier of the 5 animal controlling skills in the ”Great Wild Sutra”. If one wanted to apply different secret skills, one had to ”print” different secret seals on the void Great Wild Seal. The function of this Great Wild Seal changed with different secret seals.

Based on Zhang Tie’s current situation, he could only entered the 1st storey of the all-spirits pagoda, which could only hold 3 Great Wild Seals at most. The 3 seals on the 1st storey could only work on LV 0 animals such as common wild wolves.

When he was able to enter the 2nd storey, he would have 5 more seals; meanwhile, the upper limit of the animals that the Great Wild Seals could work on rose to LV 1. Senior Great Wild Seals could work on inferior animals; however, inferior animals could not work on senior animals.

Each level higher he reached, one more storey he would activate. As a result, he would have more Great Wild Seals and work on more senior animals. The interesting thing was that the number of Great Wild Seals in each storey of the all-spirits pagoda formed a Fibonacci sequence with 3 as the first number on the 1st storey. Zhang Tie praised how magical the creator was.

”Can I control LV 20 animals when I reach the highest storey?” Zhang Tie was startled by this question for quite a while. Even now, Zhang Tie had not seen any animal above LV 10, not to mention LV 20 animals. Zhang Tie even doubted about their existence like how he doubted Gaia, not to mention how to control them. However, according to the footnote in the ”Great Wild Sutra”, since the beginning of the ”Great Wild Sutra”, few people in the Great Wild Sect could reach the 16th storey. If they could, they must have been seniors of Great Wild Sect, not to mention to reach the 21th storey.

After succeeding the foundation, Zhang Tie could directly inject his spiritual energy into the 1st storey of the all-spirits pagoda, which indicated that he had reached LV 1 of the Great Wild Sutra. If he wanted to enter the 2nd storey of the all-spirits pagoda, he had to recite the Great Wild true words for 50 times. Meanwhile, the number of Great Wild Seals also increased in the form of Fibonacci Sequence. The higher level he reached, the more times he needed to recite the Great Wild true words.

After learning the ”Great Wild Sutra”, Zhang Tie understood that there was no free lunch in the world. Even for holding a secret knowledge, without efforts, he could not be able to master it.

The only thing that made Zhang Tie reassured was that besides the first foundation that required 7 days of constant chant of the Great Wild true words, he didn’t have to recite them constantly in the future. After the first foundation, he only needed to visualize and recite the true words according to the regulations of the ”Great Wild Sutra” when he was free. When the accumulative number of chant times reached the corresponding standards, it would open the corresponding storey for Zhang Tie.

Besides, Zhang Tie understood that everything in the world was finite. Nothing was limitless. All the disciples of the Great Wild Sect could apply the 5 secret skills for finite times. The total number of the Great Wild Seals in all the storeys that you could activate was also the summation of the times that you could apply the 5 secret skills in your life. If you used up all the Great Wild Seals, you would not be able to apply the secret skills.

Given this point, Zhang Tie felt that the number of Great Wild Seals was similar to the number of bolts, which could not be collected after being shot out. Once you used them up, you would have nothing more unless you could enter a higher storey.

Because of this reason, how to use those Great Wild Seals after forming them in the storeys became a common problem.

The 5 sections ”Summon”, ”Amulet”, ”Increase”, ”Drive” and ”Incarnation” had their special functions respectively. They could respond to different situations and help you reach your targets. It depended on you as which seal to use and how. If you waste one of them, you will have to regret.

As how to use the first Great Wild Seal, Zhang Tie really had considered seriously about it for a long time.

The secret skill in the section ”Summon” was a bit sophisticated. Besides Great Wild Seal, it also required other conditions; additionally, Zhang Tie didn’t know what kind of animal he needed to summon on Grey Hill and what he used that animal for? As it was rational to waste a Great Wild Seal for an unknown reason, Zhang Tie directly passed the Great Wild Seal in the Section ”Summon”.

Almost due to the same reason, Zhang Tie also passed the Great Wild seals in Sections ”Amulet” and ”Increase”, leaving the Sections ”Drive” and ”Incarnation”.

As Cloud Crane warned that the soul-based animal controlling skill in the Section ”Incarnation” consumed a lot of Qi, blood and the essence of soul and spiritual energy of the user, even Zhang Tie wanted to try this top secret skill of the Great Wild Sect very much, he still finally gave up this whim after thinking for a while.

Then, he could only try the seal in the Section ”Drive”.

”Perhaps I can find a pet for myself.” thinking of this, Zhang Tie formed some strange green patterns on the octahedron-shaped Great Wild Seal on the 1st storey. Those fantastic patterns were carved on the 8 sides of the Great Wild Seal like grains. At this moment, the Great Wild Seal became a shiny green item as it was floating quietly in the air on the 1st storey.

...

After forming the 1st Great Wild Seal, Zhang Tie finally saw the first ray of sunlight casting on the ground. At this moment, Crell walked out of the mountain cave. Watching Zhang Tie practicing the animal controlling skill that he had taught Zhang Tie hardly, Crell nodded inside.

Realizing that Crell had walked out, Zhang Tie stopped pretending. Actually, he was just doing this to leave a hard-practicing impression on Crell. With this impression, Crell would not be too startled about what Zhang Tie did in the next days. With this cover, Zhang Tie could gradually make improvements in the ”Great Wild Sutra” in case of being suspected.

Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he saw Crell standing in front of him. Crell was staring at west with a solemn look.

”What’s up?”

”I feel a powerful brutal Qi. It’s destroying the tranquility on this land. It is very similar to the Qi waves that powerful animal controllers cause when they apply the animal controlling skills!”

”He’s over there?” Zhang Tie’s heart slightly pounded, ”Are you sure about the concrete position?”

”No, I am not!” Crell waved his head, ”As a wild patron who believes in Gaia, I could only sense the general direction of that Qi. I’m only sure that he’s in the west!”

Hearing Crell’s explanation, Zhang Tie also looked towards the boundless hill in the west...

The first ray of sunlight in the east had not reached the land in the west yet. As a result, the west hill was still covered by the thin darkness like a monster, which was forcefully resisting the arrival of sunshine...

”We are closer to him. He won’t escape this time!” Zhang Tie jumped off the stones, rushed into the mountain cave before running out with his 2 short javelins.

When Zhang Tie ran out of the mountain cave, the huge black eagle who was resting on a huge tree not far from the mountain cave instantly flapped its wings and flew towards west in advance.

”Like before, keep 10 km away from each other. If I find him, I will call you!” Zhang Tie patted the bone whistle over his neck as Crell nodded.

That bone whistle was a gift from Crell. Although Zhang Tie could not hear any sound by his ears when he blew it, he could use it to call Crell. Only Crell could hear it as it was a infrasonic whistle made by him. If Crell wanted to call Zhang Tie, he could have his black eagle lead Zhang Tie.

In the past days, they moved separately in the daytime head by head; in the evening, they gathered and talked about the plan for the next day.

In this way, they could have a greater chance in finding their target.

Zhang Tie ran towards the west hill ahead of Crell as fast as a wild wolf...