Castle of Black Iron

An isolated island, blue sky, white clouds, blue ocean, beach and chirping seabirds...

The sea waves were petting the beach. Numerous finger-nail sized sea crabs were climbing out of the dense thumb-sized caves and rushed towards the sea waves at the fastest speed.

As for these sea crabs, the distance from the caves to the sea waves was the first survival test in their lives. If they could reach the sea waves after climbing over dozens of meters, they would survive themselves; if not, they would die.

When the tide came in, these tiny sea crabs would hurriedly climb out of their caves and rushed towards the ocean and the sea waves with snow-white ripples.

A lot of red-mouth seamews were chirping out of excitement and peaking those tiny sea crabs on the beach. As for these red-mouth seamews, these tiny sea crabs were their most bumper food.

Many tiny sea crabs even didn’t touch a drop of seawater from their birth to death.

When a sea wave arrived, one more person appeared on the beach.

After climbing out of the sea water, that person, being wet all over with disheveled hair, picked up a shell from the beach.

When someone appeared, the red-mouth seamews who were chasing after tiny sea crabs flew off while chirping.

The person threw the shell at one red-mouth seamew. With a plaintive whine, the red-mouth seamew dropped off right in front of that person. He then caught it and brutally broke its head. Closely after that, he raised his head and started to drink its blood.

After drinking up the blood of the red-mouth seamew, that person seemingly recovered some strength. He then plucked out the plumes from its chest and legs and started to eat the seabird alive like how savages usually did.

After a short while, he had eaten half of that red-mouth seamew.

All of a sudden, that person stopped and turned around with a ferocious look. After looking at the sea level for a short while, he instantly sprung up like a big bird and reached over 20 m away. In two movements, he had disappeared in the coconut woods.

Only after half an hour, another person showed up from the sea waves and gradually went ashore.

Compared to the former guy, who looked a bit embarrassed, this one looked much more graceful. Although being wet all over, this one wore a suit of water-proof clothes. The moment he left the seawater had he looked to dry up. What was more impressive was his eyebrows, which were dense, black, shiny and were like two longswords, making him very dignified.

When he went ashore, he lowered his head and noticed some faint bloodstains and footprints on the beach. His eyes shot out a shrewd light at once.

He just waited there for over 10 seconds before another person, in the same water-proof clothes, appeared and walked towards him.

”Elder brother, where’s that b*stard?” The new arriver asked in a muffled voice.

”That b*stard had already gone ashore. He’s right on this island!” The one with two dense eyebrows replied, ”It seems that the b*stard wants to fight us to the death here!”

”That son of b*tch, we brothers have chased him for over 80,000 miles from Yongzhou Province to Qiongzhou Province in the past half a year after climbing over mountains and crossing seas. If not elder brother’s top tracing skill, that son of b*tch might have escaped this time!” The new arriver swore as he pulled out his waistband. Only with a shake, the waistband had turned into a shiny soft sword full of killing intent together with a hum. He continued, ”Just kill that son of b*tch; we only need to take his head back for the bounty!”

”Second brother, we have to be careful. Zhu Liang, the Ferocious Wolf, has killed and robbed so many people and raped women so many times. However, he could still stay alive after being wanted by the Ministry of Penalty for so many years. Besides being good at disguising, he must have other talents. He could never be matched by common LV 11 battle masters. We’d better watch out; otherwise, we might fail our task!”

”You’re right, elder brother. Our reputation that has been gained through so many years’ hard work as bounty hunters could not be ruined on this uninhabited island. We have to prevent from being bitten by the Ferocious Wolf. I will follow your order, elder brother!” That tough guy who had pulled out his waistband put it straight.

”Fine, we will take a rest here first!” The guy with dense eyebrows said as he took out a sealed vial. After opening it, he took out two pills and threw one of them to his partner, ”Take one qi and blood recovery pill first before going to seek for Zhu Liang, the Ferocious Wolf. I estimate that he has killed a seabird and taken some blood and flesh. He must be hiding somewhere to recover his strength. If we spent physical and spiritual strength to look for him at this moment, we might be trapped by him. The qi and blood recovery pill is more effective than raw and cold blood and flesh. We can go for him after recovering our strength. By then, we will not be afraid of his tricks anymore!”

”Elder brother is really considerate!” That guy with a longsword in hand praised as he took the qi and blood recovery pill.

They then quietly recovered their spiritual and physical strength on the beach.

”Elder brother, when I was in Bright Road Pavilion of Blue Jades City in Qiongzhou Province last time, I saw an item called all-purpose medicament. Some lads in Bright Road Pavilion bragged that this medicament was much more effective and could work faster than qi and blood recovery pill. Additionally, it could detoxify and recover wounds. I didn’t pay too much attention to it last time. How about we go and get some after finishing this task? It might be useful in the emergency!”

”Really? If it’s true, we will definitely buy some. Compared to our lives, money is secondary!”

”Elder brother, why do you think the Ministry of Penalty raised the bounty so much on the wanted list? Besides Ferocious Wolf, the bounty on the top 10,000 wanted criminals increased by at least 3 times. Those after top 10,000 wanted criminals increased by 2 times. When I returned to Iron Sword Sect last time, I was told that it was a profitable job to be bounty hunters; some fellow apprentices of Iron Sword Sect even wanted to be bounty hunters!”

”As the holy war has broken out, battle flames spread everywhere. Except for Taixia Country, nowhere else is peaceful. I was told that Waii Sub-continent and Blackhot sub-continent had been exterminated by demons. We have to rest the domestic unstable factors before fighting demons. If not eliminate these bandits and criminals in Taixia Country, they might cooperate with demons and Three-eye Association and cause big troubles in Taixia Country in the future. In the last few years, although Taixia had not broken out any war, it had been troubled by some hidden, evil forces. In order to make the overall national situation clear and stabilize local areas, the Ministry of Penalty had to sharply raise the amount of bounty for hunting the criminals on the wanted list. Therefore, the bounty hunter had become the most profitable and hot profession in the last few years. Although we could not kill demons on the battlefield for the time being, if we could do a good job as bounty hunters and protect the local citizens by hunting evil criminals and scaring small evil forces, we’re also making a contribution to the holy war. One day, if we have to go to the battlefield, we will join a powerful army and strive for honors on the battlefield, even at the risk of our lives. We might even be awarded noble wives and have babies. Our ancestors might be honorable for us!”

The tough man with dense eyebrows said as the one with longsword felt excited.

After resting on the beach for over 10 minutes, the two people became spirited as they slid in the coconut woods and prepared to hunt Zhu Liang, the Ferocious Wolf.

Zhu Liang, the Ferocious Wolf, ranked below the 9000th place on the wanted list as posted by the Ministry of Penalty in Taixia Country. He had killed more than one bounty hunter who wanted to kill him so as to be well-known over these years. Therefore, the two bounty hunters were very meticulous. They were preparing for a fierce battle.

The tough guy with dense eyebrows was proficient in tracing skill. Based on the faint traces on the ground, the two guys meticulously deepened into the island.

It was a huge island. The verdant and crisscrossed coconut woods seemed to contain endless killing intents.

...

Zhu Liang the Ferocious Wolf was very smart. After identifying Zhu Liang’s few tricks on the island, the two bounty hunters finally arrived at a mountain cave in the coconut woods based on the traces of Zhu Liang.

Watching the mountain cave, that tough guy with dense eyebrows exchanged a glance with that guy who used a longsword before making two hand gestures. The guy with longsword nodded towards him. Closely after that, the tough guy with dense eyebrows took out something and threw it towards the entrance of the cave. They followed the object in.

The object that was thrown in was called a phosphorous smoke bomb. It was a special equipment. Although being trivial, it worked well in such cases.

When the phosphorous smoke bomb fell at the entrance, it aroused a wisp of white smoke and light at once. In a split second, the two bounty hunters rushed inside shoulder to shoulder.

”Go die...” The tough man with longsword roared as he protected his body with numerous sword qi. The tough guy with dense eyebrows then sprung up like a furious eagle and charged down from the air.

However, the imagined attack didn’t arrive, which shocked the two guys so much. The moment they entered the cave had they turned around and leaned against the cliff inside the cave. One in a defensive state, the other in an attacking state. Closely after that, they looked around the cave.

They then widely opened their mouths at once.

They had not imagined such a scene in the mountain cave.

An innocent 17-18-year-old juvenile was sitting beside a bonfire with a longsword in hand. However, the longsword was covered with flesh which was being roasted above the fire. However, Zhu Liang the Ferocious Wolf that they were chasing after was lying on the ground over several meters away whose neck had been twisted with a dumbfounded look. Watching his back, he had been dead...

That juvenile turned around and watched the two bounty hunters with an interested look. Under the gaze of that juvenile, the two tough men felt like idiots who had just jumped onto the stage. They felt embarrassed right away as they didn’t know whether they should put down their postures or not...