Castle of Black Iron

Chapter 285: A New Year

Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost

After the catastrophe, the Chinese calendar became the universal calendar for human beings in the Black Iron Age. Each year, when the Faerie-Dragon Star rose up from the east, a new year would start which also symbolized the beginning of the spring festival.

Accordingly, the day before the Faerie-Dragon Star rose up, namely December 31st each year, it would be New Years’s Eve, namely the Eve before Nian Pass Day.

"Nian" was a monster that could destroy human beings in the legends. It was said that on that very day, numerous brave Chinese forefathers pulled out of their swords with the exciting will to fight along drumbeats of war to face the "Nian" and finally killed it. Therefore, from that day on, beating a drum became a Chinese tradition.

Previously when he was in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie would always have a great fun in beating a drum on the Nian Pass Day. On that very day, the Zhang family would always set a beating drum in the house, allowing Zhang Tie great fun all day long.

Zhang Tie’s father told him that people beat drums on that day was to remember the bravery and glory of the Chinese forefathers. Chinese people beat drums on the New Year’s Eve in order to carry forward the bravery and glory of Chinese bloodline. In this way, the moment Chinese descendants heard the drumbeats, they would have the bravery to pull out of their swords to face any difficulty or enemy.

On the New Year’s Eve, drumbeats could be heard across Hidden Dragon Island while the drumbeats of Hidden Dragon Palace drifted from the top of the mountain, which everybody in the Hidden Dragon Palace could hear.

"Bang bang bang bang", the drumbeats that drifted from the top of the mountain of Hidden Dragon Palace became as restful as a gentle breeze at one moment and as ferocious as lightning at another. All sorts of drumbeats on the island started to beat in accordance with the drumbeats that drifted from the top of the mountain of Hidden Dragon Palace. Under such rhythmed drumbeats, the entire Hidden Dragon island was like a distant ancient battlefield while a solemn and majestic momentum reverberated from the drumbeats.

When the drumbeats were restful, Zhang Tie didn’t hear the drumbeats at all; instead, he heard the heavy and depressive footsteps of a giant. The giant’s feet stomped on the land one step after another. It seemed that each step contained sadness, blood, and tears that had existed for a thousand years. When the drumbeats gradually sped up and became more and more exciting, Zhang Tie seemed to hear numerous ancient Chinese spirits’ soars. The drumbeats resonated with the mountain, the sea, the sky and each heart on Hidden Dragon Island. It wasn’t purely drumbeats anymore, but the roars of armored fighters and horses that spread everywhere.

Zhang Tie was really shocked, ever since he was born, he had not known that Chinese people celebrate their most important festival in this way. Comparatively, when in Blackhot City, the drumbeats from only from a few Chinese households were more like a program for kids; however, at this time, he understood that the drumbeats were more like the spirits of each Chinese descendent. What they woke up was the glory and bravery that slept in the bloodline of the Chinese people.

Zhang Tie didn’t know how he passed New Year’s Eve. He didn’t sleep overnight due to his habit in Blackhot City as he needed to stay up to see the new year. Instead, he just quietly sat on his bed and immersed in the drumbeats one after the other both mentally and physically.

Zhang Tie forgot time and everything else. His mentality and spirituality kept rising and falling along with the drumbeats. In the end, when the drumbeats stopped, Zhang Tie left his room and appeared in the courtyard of the Zhixing Department. He faced the east and watched the Faerie-Dragon Star, the brightest star in the sky. Before sunrise, it had been slowly rising up from the sky in the east.

Not only Zhang Tie, all the others in Zhixing Department had walked out and appeared in the courtyard. Nobody talked; instead, they all stood there silently and gazed at the Faerie-Dragon Star rising from the east. At this moment, all the other people in the Palace had walked out of their rooms and stood on empty land or at high locations and watched the Faerie-Dragon Star rising from east.

The year 890 of Black Iron Calendar silently arrived along with the rising Faerie-Dragon Star...

From now on, Zhang Tie was 16 years old...

Seeing the Faerie-Dragon Star rising from the east, Zhang Tie sighed a lot inside. He really had experienced too much in the past half year. Comparatively, his earlier 15 years were as blank as white paper.

Zhang Tie didn’t know what would happen in the year 890 of Black Iron Calendar. He only knew that if Donder was right, the 3rd holy war between human and demons would be closer.

Of course, the so-called holy war would have no omen at all and occur in one day. Holy war was just a general concept. Historically, the symbolic events at the beginning of the first two holy wars between human and demons were that a certain country was completely destroyed by demons, billions of the living were killed and most of the human countries were involved in the holy war between human and demons. Actually, before each holy war, the chaos of human society and increasingly frequent skirmishes between human and demons had arisen in number one after the other.

Therefore, Zhang Tie knew that he really didn’t have much time left. He should make the most out of each day when he was in Hidden Dragon Palace. When the Waii Sub-continent was in turmoil, the greater ability he had, the more protection could he provide to the people he cared about.

It wasn’t until the dawn arrived when the first light of sun appeared in the east and the Faerie-Dragon Star in the sky gradually disappeared did the boys and girls standing in the courtyard return to their own rooms.

On the way back to his own room, Zhang Tie won numerous eye rolls from the girls and cold harrumphs once again. Two weeks ago, on the same day when Zhang Tie signed the agreement with those girls, he had already exploded with unusual power and ability, becoming the most eye-catching person in the Zhixing Department.

Before this, nobody in the Hidden Dragon Palace thought that Zhang Tie could form Iron-Blood Battle Qi; however, after that, Zhang Tie became increasingly eye-catching. He started to pick up more and more navy-blue iron ores from the oceanic trench day by day. The weight of navy-blue iron ores also gradually increased from over 3000 kg a day to over 5000 kg a day. Many people had changed their opinions on Zhang Tie and started to think that Zhang Tie might be able to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi.

Unusual people could do unusual things. There was no doubt about that.

In Hidden Dragon Palace, some senior brothers in Lingtian Department had also bet on whether Zhang Tie could form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. As a result, the odds had declined from 1:3 a week ago to 1:2.7 now. However, those stewards in the Hidden Dragon Palace seemed to not about this. By contrast, the face of the girls in Zhixing Department started to be increasingly gloomy when the odds of Zhang Tie’s success were increased.

In those girls’ eyes, Zhang Tie was not only narrow-minded, lecherous, and arrogant but also cunning and sinister. They thought that Zhang Tie being low-key before was to lure them into a trap. Soon after they were in the trap, Zhang Tie immediately showed his real strength.

Zhang Tie didn’t care about the girls’ opinions and glares at all. In his opinion, it was not the right moment to deal with the girls, not until he formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi. For a newbie, 90 gold coins could not be easily paid off, let alone interest.

As he didn’t sleep last night, after dawn, Zhang Tie became a bit sleepy. However, soon after he returned to his own room and prepared to sit on the bed with his eyes closed, Zhang Tie heard knocks from the door.

The knocks were very light, which only sounded, "duo...duo...".

Zhang Tie opened the door and saw a girl rubbing her skirt corner and standing outside the door. This girl was Lv Shasha, the same one who was crying in the corridor of Zhixing Department that Zhang Tie had seen before.

"What’s up?" Zhang Tie calmly asked as he was confused about the girl’s intention here.

Lv Shasha was almost as old as him. She was a bit shorter, slightly fat while having breasts and bottoms that were sensual and appealing. She had a round delicate face, despite having a bit of baby fat. Besides being womanly, she was also naive, making her similar to Fiona’s taste and flavor. When he asked her, Zhang Tie started to glance at this girl. Her skin was even better than that of Fiona’s as it was white as snow. Although her breasts were a bit small, they also looked plump. The size must be a ’C’ cup, which could already match that of some mature Chinese women. With the shoulder-length hair, she looked more energetic and more shameful.

Thinking of the little woman Fiona who was raising her snow-white butt in the air while on the bed and was f**ked so heavily by him that she even begged him to stop while wailing, Zhang Tie became slightly mind-absent.

"I...I have something to negotiate with you." Lv Shasha bit her lip.

"Negotiate what?" Zhang Tie’s eyes fell onto her butt, which was as plump as Fiona’s. "I wonder how it feels to f**k the butt." A thought flashed across Zhang Tie’s mind.

"Can we...call off the bet...? Feeling Zhang Tie’s eyes unscrupulously glancing over her body, Lv Shasha’s face blushed as she said, "I...I don’t want to bet anymore!"

"Cancel? It’s okay since we haven’t seen the result."

"What...that’s great!" The girl was so happy that she almost jumped up from the ground with gleaming eyes.

"The odds are now is 1:2.7. When we signed the agreement, the odds were 1:3. As your wager is 90 gold coins. If you want to call off the bet, you only need to pay me 9 gold coins."

"Argh..." The girl’s smile suddenly froze while she looked at Zhang Tie with a pair of widening eyes, "How could that be? Why do I need to pay you?"

Zhang Tie smiled as he crossed his arms and acted like dealing with an official business, "How couldn’t it be? Based on the odds 1: 2.7, if anyone wants to win 30 gold coins from me, one only need to pay 81 gold coins. While your wager is 90 golds coins as it is written on the agreement. If I sign the agreement with another instead of you, I have already made 9 gold coins due to changing odds. If you want to tear off the agreement, of course, you have to compensate for my loss!"

"Nine gold coins..." Lv Shasha mumbled. It was definitely a huge amount of money for her. She could only make over 10 silver coins a day. Tears already filled her eyes. Therefore, she looked at Zhang Tie in a poor way, "Is there any alternative method?"

"Any alternative method?" Zhang Tie rubbed his jaw as he considered. He then glanced over that girl and thought about how to tease her. To tell the truth, Zhang Tie really didn’t pay any attention to the gold coins at all. Especially when he noticed her poor look, Zhang Tie really didn’t feel like asking for gold coins from her at all. After a short while, Zhang Tie then came up with an idea to tease her.

"Heh...heh..." Zhang Tie smiled like a douchebag, "Once you promise me one thing, I will not let you pay the 9 gold coins!"

"What thing?" Under Zhang Tie’s gleaming eyes, the girl bashfully looked down.

"Nothing serious, you just need to move your mouth to..."

"Argh..." Before Zhang Tie finished talking, Lv Shasha had already exclaimed while covering her mouth with one hand and gazing at Zhang Tie with a fearful look. With a pale face, she moved several steps back, "No...no, I won’t promise you that. You douchebag, you lady-killer, bastard..."

After saying this, Lv Shasha escaped like a flustered rabbit.

Standing outside the door for quite awhile, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded about what she had done as he only wanted her to call him "good brother" twice. How could she be scared that way? She even cried. Was there any relation between that and a douchebag? To call him "good brother" was equal to that he was a lady-killer?

Wait. When she moved back, she seemed to be fixing her eyes on his crotch. Zhang Tie then lowered his head and found a firm tent raising high there. His mummy had been so grim inside, which seemed to be the natural response when he thought of Fiona just now...

"Damn!" Zhang Tie instantly understood why Lv Shasha was scared off. When a virgin lowered her head and watched his grim mummy, he told her——"Nothing serious, you just need to move your mouth to..."

"F*ck, I didn’t mean that. Listen to my explanation. Now, even if I had numerous mouths, I couldn’t explain!

"F*ck!"

"Girls are really sophisticated!"

Zhang Tie became extremely depressed.

...

In the next 2 months, no other "episodes" happened to Zhang Tie, nobody else came to disturb him either. Zhang Tie put all his efforts into cultivation. Each day it was like a gear for him as he was mechanically repeating the same thing between Iron Ore Beach and fish market on the wharf.

Pick up navy-blue iron ores——free fish——eating——cultivation——sleep——picking up navy-blue iron ores...

Zhang Tie was single-minded. He didn’t know that his real strength had gradually improved through such boring exercises.

Over the two months, Zhang Tie had gradually ignited 3 surge points on his spine was coming close to level 6. After he formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi, he would officially become a fighter.

After setting free sand-scale fish for over two months, Zhang Tie’s cold-resistance and sensitivity to water flow had improved by 612%. During the same period, Zhang Tie had also eaten 5 iron-body fruits. He didn’t know exactly how his diving skills had been improved. One day, Zhang Tie wanted to see how deep could he dive near Iron Ore Beach; therefore, he kept diving. When he reached deeper than 300 m, he noticed several big words on a huge reef.

——Zhang Taixuan arrived here at 17!

When he saw this line, Zhang Tie also became excited as he focused his Iron-Blood Untouchable Strength onto his finger and left a similar line beside it on the same reef.

——Haha, Zhang Tie also arrived here at 16!>_>...v

However, the first line of words were all unusually robust and beautiful; comparatively, Zhang Tie’s words were absolute chicken scratch.

The previous words carved on the huge reef were pretty magnificent; however, after Zhang Tie scrawled down his words, all the magnificence on the huge reef was destroyed. Besides, Zhang Tie also drew a funny ’smile’ and a rustic ’v’. When the two lines of words were put together with Zhang Tie’s ’drawing’, it looked pretty weird.

In the past two months, four people in the Zhixing Department had formed their battle qi and entered the Lingtian Department. At the same time, five more newbies entered Zhixing Department. On February 24, when Zhang Tie submitted the navy-blue iron ores in the Item Department, Zhang Tie knew that it was the right time for him to form his Iron-Blood Battle Qi.

On that day, Zhang Tie had in total, submitted 317643 kg of navy-blue iron ores to the Hidden Dragon Palace. He not only had 300 gold coins but also had prepared to form his Iron-Blood Battle Qi. His mentality and physicality were at their best condition.

Coming out of the Item Department, Zhang Tie came to the Middle Castle of Hidden Dragon Palace and left an oral message to his cousin Zhang Su by telling him that he had prepared to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi in the Dragon Cave.

The Hidden Dragon Palace was built against the mountain. There were a few castles and adventurous locations. The Lingtian Department was behind the Middle Castle. As Zhang Tie was not qualified to enter the Middle Castle, he could only contact his cousin by leaving an oral message.

At supper, Zhang Tie’s cousin Zhang Su truly appeared in the Zhixing Department.

"You’ve reached level 6?"

"Yes, I’ve ignited the eighth surge point a few days ago and reached level 6!"

"Have you prepared enough money?"

"I’ve prepared 300 gold coins!"

"Great, that’s my brother, I will take you into the Dragon Cave tomorrow to form battle qi. You give me your 300 gold coins. I will show them to the two guys. After they saw your wager, the agreement between you and them would officially take effect. As long as you defeat them, they will have to pay you 900 gold coins!"

"Fine."

Zhang Tie returned to his own room and handed all the gold coins to Zhang Su. After negotiating

the details on setting out tomorrow with Zhang Tie, Zhang Su took away the gold coins.

Zhang Tie then returned to his residence. On the way, he encountered some girls. Lv Shasha was saying something with some other girls. Once they caught sight of Zhang Tie walking towards them, they all stopped talking; instead, they glared at him. Only Lv Shasha looked weak and dared not to look at Zhang Tie.

In the past two months, Lv Shasha didn’t seem to have told other girls about that she had come to Zhang Tie. Neither had she revealed Zhang Tie’s weird request——letting her "use her mouth" to...It was estimated that she felt to it too shameful to talk about. Thanks to this, Zhang Tie didn’t become notorious among the girls of Hidden Dragon Palace.

Zhang Tie then slightly let out a sigh.

However, since that day, each time Zhang Tie saw Lv Shasha, he would feel a weird sense between them as an ambiguous atmosphere existed between them.

The moment Lv Shasha raised her head and glanced at Zhang Tie, she had already found Zhang Tie’s eyes stealthily fixing on her. Zhang Tie was even gazing at her small mouth. The moment they moved their eyes away, Lv Shasha’s heart had raced while her face blushed. She then dared not to look at Zhang Tie anymore.

"This lady-killer, he wants me to do such a disgusting thing for him with my mouth. That’s bastard. However, this lady-killer is really great. He could pick up so many navy-blue iron ores alone. He even dares to face the challenge of forming Iron-Blood Battle Qi which was hardest to practice. Additionally, after a careful look at him, I find this lady-killer and douchebag is really handsome..." Some ideas flew by Lv Shasha’s mind. In the mind of the young lady, although Zhang Tie was dangerous, lecherous and disgusting, he was exceptionally attractive.

At the sight of Lv Shasha’s bashful look, Zhang Tie felt very happy inside. He also had a special feeling about her. "That’s the joy of teasing young ladies. It really feels great making her face blush and her heart pound with only a glance." Zhang Tie thought.

"What are you looking at? If you keep looking at me, I will dig out of your eyes!" Du Yuhan on the side of Lv Shasha ferociously waved her fist towards Zhang Tie.

"I’ll give you some news. I’ll be going to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi tomorrow. I want to know whether you have prepared your gold coins. Don’t regret by then..." Crossing his arms, Zhang Tie "sneered".

Hearing this news, all the girls’ faces slightly changed.

"Humph, don’t be that arrogant; I don’t believe that you can form Iron-Blood Battle Qi!" A girl called Dong Yan said.

"By now, actually I can tell you my secret." Zhang Tie lied in order to tease the girls.

"What secret?" Zhang Wanjun could wait but ask. Although the other girls didn’t speak, they all looked very interested about it. Even Lv Shasha couldn’t help but raise her head and look at Zhang Tie out of curiosity.

Zhang Tie then looked at Lv Shasha’s small mouth once again, scaring her so much that she instantly lowered her head again.

"My secret is related to the Iron-Blood Fist that I’m practicing. I was struck by lightning bolts and suffered from the Post Lightning Strike Savant Syndrome. I know you haven’t heard of it. But it doesn’t matter. You only need to know that this syndrome could help me cultivate Iron-Blood Fist without any obstacles. So, go back and get the gold coins as soon as possible. Compound interest increase so fast...wa...ha...ha..."

Hearing Zhang Tie’s fake sneer, the girls’ faces turned slightly pale. After glaring at Zhang Tie’s pleasant look, Du Yuhan instantly turned her head, "Humph, let’s go..."

The girls then walked by Zhang Tie. Seeing Lv Shasha moving close to him and rubbing his shoulder, Zhang Tie’s left fingers casually drew on Lv Shasha’s palm.

Zhang Tie only felt the girl slightly quivering as her free-waving hand instantly shrunk back like touching a hot item. In a split second, Lv Shasha’s ears turned pretty red.

"Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out laughing loudly as he felt being like a douchebag playboy.

Zhang Tie felt really happy to tease those cute girls when he was free.

...