Castle of Black Iron

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As more and more people, with faces covered in tears, were affected by the sacred and holy atmosphere and dripped their fresh blood into the stone pit in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie knew that he had succeeded. Yes, he had made it. Later on, whatever he would say, these people would no longer doubt his words.

Zhang Tie clearly knew how these animals were feeling. In the past, he was also like these guys whose emaciated shoulders were overwhelmed by this age. In the past, when he was alone, he would always feel lonely and anxious deep into the nights. Facing this world, he would usually feel as if he were a trivial figure, and thinking of the future, he would always be filled with an irrational fear. He also had a lot of dreams which he knew may very well never come true in his entire life. That was actually a kind of torturing despair.

Today, under the fabricated sacred and holy atmosphere in the mysterious mining cave, which continuously moved and shocked the animals because of their desire for the illusory mysterious knowledge, these guys couldn’t control their feelings anymore and finally burst out into tears.

As a drop of water could converge into the ocean, then why couldn’t a youth’s desire to be great? Such a realization suddenly flashed across Zhang Tie’s mind, completing forcing him to give up on the attitude of treating this as a joke. He started to seriously take on the responsibilities of the “Enlightener”.

Even if were just simply a dream for those guys, Zhang Tie had to assume the responsibility of building the dream which they have imagined. ‘Zhang Tie, you must exert your utmost efforts to give them hope, even if that hope may never be realized. For those guys who might join the army and lose their lives on the battlefields after this survival training, a life without hope since the day they were born is the most tragic.’

‘If they want mysterious knowledge, then just give them one! Use all your wisdom, all your strength, all your mysterious knowledge! Even at the risk of your life, you have to give them hope! At this moment, you have to make them happy and show them the hope for a bright future. Just this one time, even if it’s only this one time, please!’

Zhang Tie shouted to himself inwardly. When he glanced over those devout expressions, Zhang Tie felt as if he were looking at himself through a mirror. Suddenly, his face felt slightly cold. Not knowing when, Zhang TIe’s face had already been covered in tears. Zhang Tie didn’t know whether he cried for others or for himself; he only knew that he was suddenly moved and felt extremely sad, and he even felt an impulse to sacrifice everything for those guys who placed their trust in him...

The stone in front of him had been covered with fresh blood and tears, and a puddle of fresh blood had already formed in the stone pit, though it was not completely filled yet. Because of the texture of the stone, some of the fresh blood had already seeped into it, causing it to look dimmer. Seeing this, although Zhang Tie’s eyes were filled with tears, he smiled.

“This is the blood of your brothers. Before the completion of the inheritance ceremony of the Big Blessing Skill, how could you dry up?” As he said this, Zhang Tie turned over his dagger, and with the flash of an edge of the dagger, Zhang Tie made a cut on the blood vessel on his wrist, causing his blood to spray over the stone.

“Ah, don’t do that...”

“Use mine, use my blood...”

“Bastard...”

For those youths whose faces have already been covered in tears, at the sight of Zhang Tie cutting the blood vessel on his wrist with a smile in order to completely fill that stone pit, everyone rushed forward, as they had realized Zhang Tie was sacrificing himself in order to complete the inheritance ceremony of the Big Blessing Skill. As for those who only had their eyes turn red, at this moment, tears also began to drop from their eyes. Meanwhile, a scarce number of smart guys who had remained sensible among the crowd were also shocked at the sight of Zhang Tie’s action. Seeing that Zhang Tie cut his wrist, causing his fresh blood to spray over the stone like water, they were deeply shocked. They then confirmed that everything had been true, as no one would slit their own wrist just for a prank. Zhang Tie was obviously completing the ceremony at the risk of his own life.

The Big Blessing Skill is real! At that moment, everybody was convinced. Like what Donder had told him, even Zhang Tie had already been cheated by himself, completely absorbed into this role, so who else would doubt him?

Like raising a wall, Zhang Tie raised his hand, instantly stopping those animals with tear-filled eyes who wanted to rush forward to stop him.

“It’s my responsibility and my honor to do this as the Enlightener. Please do not stop me...” Zhang Tie smiled, radiating a brilliance that came from the soul. Everybody then witnessed Zhang Tie’s wrist constantly bleeding until it completely filled that stone pit, splattering everywhere. After experiencing that incident with Huck and Snade, Zhang Tie had already become well-versed as to how to deal with such wounds as well as controlling the bleeding. Although it seemed like he had bled a lot, in reality, it was not that much; it was merely between 200 ml and 300 ml, an amount he could still stand.

The moment Zhang Tie moved his hand away, Potter and the other two guys who were not far from him immediately rushed forward. Using his dagger to make a cut on his sleeve, Potter fiercely tore off a piece of cloth from the sleeve, while the other two guys took out some medicine and applied the medicinal powder over Zhang Tie’s wounds before wrapping it with the cloth.

Zhang Tie’s wounded hand naturally hung down as the other three people kneeled on one knee as they started to treat his wounds with eyes filled with tears.

“Please kneel together with them. Follow me and make the Blood Oath of Brothers and accept the inheritance of the Big Blessing Skill. You can swear after me. When I say the word “Oath-taker”, you need to say out your own name! Afterwards, I will read the sutra of the Big Blessing Skill and the relevant passages that you need to recite. You need to listen with the most sincere attitude while kneeling on the ground. After that, you need to draw three horizontal lines that are like wrinkles on your forehead using your own fresh blood before coming in front of me to complete the final step of the Big Blessing Skill. I will then execute the Big Blessing Skill on your body by drawing a vertical line on your forehead. That’s what we need to do, am I clear...” Zhang Tie solemnly said.

“Clear!”

“Well then, please kneel down!”

At this very moment, nobody hesitated. They all knelt down in front of Zhang Tie on one knee, while the other three who were tending to Zhang Tie’s wound simply knelt down in front of him as closely as they could to Zhang Tie...

“The Lord who controls everything, the karma which predominates everything...” After saying each sentence, Zhang Tie would slightly pause...

Everybody then repeated after Zhang Tie. “The Lord who controls everything, the karma which predominates everything...”

“Today, in the name of the bloodline of my brothers, I will make this sacred oath and agreement...”

“Today, in the name of the bloodline of my brothers, I will make this sacred oath and agreement...”

“Today, everything that I have seen in this cave will not be released to anyone, not even my parents, my wife, nor my children. Even when facing blades, swords, and cruel torture...”

“Today, everything that I have seen in this cave will not be released to anyone, not even my parents, my wife, nor my children. Even when facing blades, swords, and cruel torture...”

“The acceptance of the blessing of the Big Blessing Skill is a top secret of my brothers, who have mixed their blood with mine. I swear to protect this secret, even at the cost of my life...”

“The acceptance of the blessing of the Big Blessing Skill is a top secret of my brothers, who have mixed their blood with mine. I swear to protect this secret, even at the cost of my life...”

“If I violate today’s oath and agreement, please turn this blessing into a curse. Please kill me with the blades of my brothers who have mixed their blood with me, the Oath-taker...”

“If I violate today’s oath and agreement, please turn this blessing into a curse. Please kill me with the blades of my brothers who have mixed their blood with me, the Oath-taker...” Everybody then said out their names. Afterwards, they continued to listen to Zhang Tie’s sutra of the Big Blessing Skill...

“Shun became outstanding among the farmers, Fu Yue became famous among the plasterers, Jiao Ge became well-known among the fish and salt sellers, Guan Zhong became a prime minister after he was set free as a prisoner, Sunshu Ao lived alone beside the ocean before being introduced into the imperial court, Baili Xi was also promoted to be a prime minister from a common citizen. Thus, when the gods wanted to deliver a major mission to a person, he would definitely make him suffer pain inwardly, make both his veins and blood fatigued, make him starve, make him lack money, and make him unsuccessful. The gods would use these methods to enable him to be diligent inwardly, to make him stubborn, and to increase the abilities that he has never had before.”—Zhang Tie was forced to recite a paragraph of ancient Chinese warnings by his parents since he was young. He said it extremely quickly and had even changed the way the words were enunciated, causing some of the words to sound longer, while others sounded shorter. He also read some words in the form of short voice or lingual voice, even in the form of vibrato or changing the pronunciation of the words after translation. The people in front of him didn’t know Chinese, and even if they did, they would never be able to figure out what Zhang Tie was talking about. This was the “Sutra of the Big Blessing Skill” fabricated by Zhang Tie. After all the others finished reciting that strange sutra, Zhang Tie immediately changed his tune and started to hum the words for praying, which were words they could understand.

“The Lord who controls everything, the karma which predominates everything, the innocent and foolish humans are usually puzzled by the outward forms of things and take the blessings of God as sutra and bitterness. Only those with true wisdom and perseverance can figure out the truth and be puzzled by the outward forms of things. Only those with true wisdom and perseverance are qualified to accept the best blessing in this secular world. Those people will extend their gratitude to this blessing, embrace bitterness, and finally complete your undertakings.”