Castle of Black Iron

Sometimes, a person would not do something 100% rationally; for instance, Zhang Tie set free a great number of slaves this afternoon.

Perhaps it was out of his appreciation towards life, his pity for those slaves, or his selfish desire to earn a fruit of redemption.

Thus, Zhang Tie spent over 1,000 gold coins to set free a number of "cheap" slaves. In many people’s eyes, at least in the eyes of Davinci, Zhang Tie was a spendthrift who didn’t know it was very hard to make money.

Upon hearing that Zhang Tie had a castle, Davinci naturally thought it was built by Zhang Tie’s clan for him. As a guy who was qualified to have a castle on Hidden Dragon Island and surnamed Zhang, undoubtedly, Zhang Tie must be a key apprentice from the leading clan of Huaiyuan Palace.

Davinci believed that he was right. Although Huaiyuan Palace was very large, few young men could buy hundreds of slaves at the price of tens of thousands of gold coins without any hesitation like Zhang Tie.

’Perhaps I should find a big backer like Zhang Tie. It wouldn’t be bad to have the backing of a big clan behind me.’ Davinci thought. Additionally, in Davinci’s opinion, he believed that Zhang Tie was not vicious. A person who could be pitiful about those humble slaves, and was respectful to even the most humble ones, could not be bad.

Zhang Tie drove Davinci into another street nearby Paradise Lost.

"I’m in a sophisticated environment. Many people want to kill me or don’t want me to grow mature; if they knew that you are working for me, you will almost definitely die. I don’t want to see you lie in a ditch of Stars Viewing City. Am I clear?" Zhang Tie told him seriously, as Davinci got out of the car.

As Zhang Tie wanted to find someone to work for him in Stars Viewing City secretly, he’d better tell him the truth in case he got involved in any conflict due to Zhang Tie’s business.

Hearing Zhang Tie’s warning, Davinci shrugged his shoulders as he looked aside and forcefully swallowed his saliva, "Don’t worry, I will take care of it!"

"If I need you, I will have someone come here for you. If you need me, you can also come for me. Do you know where to find me?"

"Your castle on Yunju Mountain, Hidden Dragon Island!" Davinci replied in a low voice.

Zhang Tie then nodded, "There’s only one castle over there. You can easily find there. As long as you don’t violate the law of Huaiyuan Prefecture and become wanted by the police, I’m sure you will be safe there!"

Davinci then felt a bit better, "Hmm, you’ve not named your castle, right?"

"Right, I’ve not thought about it yet!" Zhang Tie smiled, "Well, see you then!"

Waving his hand, Zhang Tie stepped on the accelerator. With a light boom, the Faerie Dragon T9 rushed out at once.

...

2 minutes later, Zhang Tie parked outside a pioneering shop in an avenue of Stars Viewing City. He then entered the shop.

Pioneers were commonly seen everywhere in this age, even in Jinyun Country. Even though it was in the territory of a country’s map, there were still many places yet to be reclaimed. These undiscovered places were as luring as gold mines waiting to be exploited.

Most of places in Huaiyuan Prefecture were populated. Cities in Huaiyuan Prefecture were situated close to each other; however, in places 800 km away from Huaiyuan Prefecture were increasingly more regions yet to be discovered. Therefore, there were still many pioneers based in Huaiyuan Prefecture.

For young men with good family backgrounds in developed areas like Huaiyuan Prefecture, wasteland reclamation became a pastime, almost, that combined adventure, travel, and self-improvement. It was not only for gold coins.

Each shop that sold pioneering products was branded by package, long sword, gold coins, beasts, and similar themes.

Therefore, Zhang Tie parked beside such an eye-catchingly branded store.

The moment Zhang Tie entered the door, a white, attractive girl walked towards him and asked politely, "What can I do for you, sir?"

Zhang Tie then glanced over the products in the shop. The shop floor was over 1000 sq meters, filled with various commodities. It included many more commodities compared to the pioneering shops in Blackhot City. Even the weapons here were no less than common weapon stores.

"Do you have a map?"

"Yes, what kind of map do you want?"

"Maps of Stars Viewing City, Huaiyuan Prefecture, and Jinyun Country, one of each!"

"Well, we have common maps and professional water-proof maps; the latter ones are a bit more expensive. Which kind do you want?" the girl asked.

"Waterproof maps!"

The vendor took out three rolled-up, waterproof maps rapidly.

Being held in slim cylinders covered with copper shells, waterproof maps were made of a special resin. When in need, you could spread the map to check it; when you didn’t need it, you just roll it back up like a tape measure. Although this kind of map was waterproof, it was not fire resistant; aluminum maps that could resist both water and fire were much more expensive.

"The price of each map of Stars Viewing City and Huaiyuan Prefecture is 3 silver coins. For the latest map of Jinyun Country, as some undiscovered areas were confirmed on it by pioneers at the end of this May, it’s a bit more expensive, 18 silver coins."

"No problem, I also need a high-powered spyglass!" Zhang Tie pointed at a monocular in the counter over there.

The salesgirl then took the spyglass for Zhang Tie. After checking its power, Zhang Tie nodded.

"What else, sir?"

"What’s the most popular type of armor-breaking bolts?" Zhang Tie asked.

"The most popular armor-breaking bolts are Breaking-Wind 6 Armor-Breaking Bolts without tail feathers. This kind of armor-breaking bolt was adapted to the latest small and medium-sized metal crossbows made in terms of GM760 on human weapons. With a medium-sized metal crossbow, you could penetrate through a LV 6 pangolin within 80 m. Many troops of the Hurricane Army and Jinyun Country are equipped with this kind of bolt!" the salesgirl explained very smoothly.

"Show me one, please."

The salesgirl rapidly took out a black bolt with a grim three-sided head, which looked like a poisonous snake’s head, and handed it to Zhang Tie.

Holding it, Zhang Tie took a look and felt it; then, the precise data about this armor-breaking bolt appeared in Zhang Tie’s mind.

Breaking-Wind 6 Armor-Breaking Bolts without tail feathers

Length: 42.7 cm.

Width of head: 3.5 cm.

Total weight: 721 grams.

With a length of over 40 cm, this bolt was made in terms of the most popular aerodynamics in this age. The body of the bolt was divided into 4 sections of different thicknesses and lengths. It seemed to be made in terms of some strange rules as it felt very comfortable.

Weighing it in hand, Zhang Tie then glanced outside. In a split second, Zhang Tie had locked his spiritual energy onto a lamp hanging outside a shop 100 m away on the other side of the avenue. Zhang Tie then revealed a smile, ’Although this bolt is not as light as my handbolt, its destructive power is not smaller than my handbolt.’

Additionally, due to its heavier weight, its destructive power would be a bit greater. Its effective shooting range in Zhang Tie’s hands was about 140 m which was almost equal to that of a small javelin.

After experiencing the assassination attempt, Zhang Tie knew that for some people, the fact that he had awakened his ancestral bloodline and customized 2000 handbolts in the Items Department of Hidden Dragon Island might not be a secret at all. If he kept killing people with his handbolts, even though he could recollect all the handbolts, the wounds on the victims would still expose a lot of information, which would undoubtedly arise others’ doubts about him.

Therefore, he decided it would be better to purchase some popular weapons to hide his tracks.

Zhang Tie then ordered 2 containers of those bolts, making 48 bolts in total. For such weapons that were available in mass production, their cost would be much cheaper than that of Zhang Tie’s handbolts as each kind of bolt only cost him a bit more than 1 silver coins.

After buying the armor-breaking bolts, Zhang Tie bought another two common heavy swords, a set of military slacks, and a multi-purpose backpack. After putting all the items into his backpack, Zhang Tie left this shop with his backpack.

Among all the items that Zhang Tie had bought, the most expensive were the 2 heavy swords; however, the total price of the two heavy swords was less than 5 gold coins. Each sword was even lighter than 20 kg. For a man who had used "Man’s Certificate", this kind of heavy sword was really too ridiculous for Zhang Tie in terms of both size and weight.

However, it wasn’t a matter of whether it was ridiculous or not, as long as it was destructive.

...

1 hour later, Zhang Tie settled down in a luxury suite on Floor 28 of Milkyway Hotel, the most luxurious hotel in Stars Viewing City.

Pushing a luggage cart, a bellboy guided Zhang Tie into his room and politely asked, "Sir, here’s your room. What else can I do for you?"

Zhang Tie peered outside the window of the room and revealed a smile.

"Please bring me my backpack from the luggage cart." After saying that, Zhang Tie gave a silver coin to that bellboy as a tip, "Thanks, there’s nothing else; I want to have a rest."

"Fine, sir. If you need any room service, just ring the bell here. If you want to relax or try your luck, there’s a gambling house on the floor above; the dining room is on the 2nd floor..." explained the bellboy as he closed the door.

Putting down his backpack, Zhang Tie walked through the corridor to lock the door from inside before walked back.

Squatting on the ground, Zhang Tie opened the lock catch and the zipper on the backpack and took out the rectangular package of that high-power spyglass.

Zhang Tie rapidly assembled the spyglass and inserted the lens. After that, he carried the spyglass to the front window of his bedroom. He firstly adjusted the distance between the blinds to change brightness; he then drew the silk curtains. Finally, Zhang Tie placed the lens of his spyglass between two blinds and aimed at a place one kilometer away from the hotel.

After slightly adjusting the angle and focus of the spyglass, he could see clearly that place.

— Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City —

A huge sign with golden words appeared in Zhang Tie’s vision. Below that sign were some ferocious entrance guards in black uniforms. As it was only one kilometer away, Zhang Tie could even see clearly the expressions of the guard to the left of the entrance.

Zhang Tie kept his eyes fixed on that place for about an hour. He moved his eyes away until the dusk fell outside.

After leaving the window, Zhang Tie turned on the flourite lamp in the bedroom and took out of his map of Stars Viewing City...

Zhang Tie pointed at the region between the Milkway Hotel and that Zhen Clan Mansion and studied each street and ally, including each building over 10 times. After that, he put it back and took out the map of Huaiyuan Prefecture.

On the map of Huaiyuan Prefecture, Stars Viewing City only occupied a small area. Due to different scales, details being presented were different.

"Gulu... gulu..."

Right then, Zhang Tie heard his stomach sounding. Touching his stomach, Zhang Tie remembered that he’d only eaten breakfast that morning and had missed lunch.

...

Zhang Tie left the room for the dining room on the 2nd floor of the hotel. The moment he walked out of the lift, he had crashed with a person.

"It’s you?"

With colorful earrings and in a blue cowboy vest, that girl was pretty amazed at the sight of Zhang Tie. Before Zhang Tie reacted, that girl had already put her arm around his neck and kissed on his face rapidly as she said in a spoiled voice, "Hubby, why are here so late. I really miss you!"

Hearing those words, Zhang Tie realized that he’d obviously become a scapegoat. Soon after that, he saw some ferocious, tough men walking towards him...