Castle of Black Iron

Early on the second morning, before the sun rose, Zhang Tie had already fumbled around and arrived at the Secret Technique Pavilion of Hidden Dragon Palace.

The Secret Technique Pavilion of Hidden Dragon Palace was a 7-floor octagon. It was a traditional Chinese building like a pagoda. He had already caught sight of it when he was at the foot of the mountain.

The Secret Technique Pavilion of Hidden Dragon Palace opened 3 days a week, from 7 am to 3 pm. Zhang Tie had planned to arrive here at 8 am.

The moment he entered the gate of the Secret Knowledge Pavilion, Zhang Tie saw a 60-odd-year-old man sitting before a large tea table in the middle of the lobby on the first floor. He was leisurely tasting tea over there. The moment Zhang Tie entered the gate, he smelt the dense fragrance of tea.

Noticing Zhang Tie enter, the old man cast a glance at Zhang Tie as he put down the teacup and politely asked, "Young man, what do you want to learn, the preliminary fish-like diving skill or a battle qi technique?"

Zhang Tie estimated that the old man must have known that he was new here. That was why the old man directly asked upon seeing him.

Zhang Tie wanted to learn the preliminary fish-like diving skill; however, when he heard the old man mentioning the battle qi, Zhang Tie's heart had raced, "Can you tell me about battle qi?"

The old man cast another look at Zhang Tie, "You can exchange for one of the five battle qi techniques with 50 clan contribution points here; they are Fury-Wave Battle Qi, Robust-Ox Battle Qi, Raging-Flame Battle Qi, New-Crescent Battle Qi and Iron-Blood Battle Qi!"

Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could also learn Iron-Blood Battle Qi at the Secret Technique Pavilion. He was a bit amazed about that. However, after thinking for a second, he had already thought it through. For the battle qi and secret fighting skill that was widely spread in the Waii Subcontinent, even the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor, how could it not exist in Hidden Dragon Palace?

"Can you explain the features of the different battle qi?" As he had no teacher, Zhang Tie had not been familiar with much fundamental knowledge till now.

"Fury-Wave Battle Qi is powerful when one fights in the water; Robust-Ox Battle Qi could greatly improve one's strength; Raging-Flame Battle Qi could scorch enemy's skin; New-Crescent Battle Qi could improve the cultivator's fighting strength in the darkness and at night; Iron-Blood Battle Qi is extremely overbearing and unrivaled which could overcome many other battle qis. It was a secret technique of the imperial household of Norman Empire. Iron-Blood Battle Qi was a high-end battle qi, which would not be easily provided for you; however, it had been widely spread and could be hardly formed as less than 1 out of 10000 people could form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. Therefore, we put it here together with other basic battle qi. If you have just started your cultivation, I suggest you to choose one of the previous battle qis to cultivate to avoid wasting time." The old man patiently explained.

Zhang Tie became a bit pleased inside as he had not imagined that the Iron-Blood Battle Qi that he was cultivating could win such a high praise in Hidden Dragon Palace.

"If I choose a battle qi now, do I have to give it up when I meet other better battle qis in the future? Will it waste my time?"

Zhang Tie thought about it as he asked. Zhang Tie believed that there must be many collections of high-end battle qi techniques and fighting skills if so many battle qis are provided for newbies. If those people cultivating these basic battle qis at the beginning met any high-end battle qi techniques due to chance, will they give up cultivating them?

After asking this question, Zhang Tie found the old man becoming a bit stunned as he stared at him for quite a while like looking something strange. Zhang Tie remembered that it was like how some residents of Blackhot City saw those people who had been living in the wild.

"Hasn't anyone taught you about the properties and relevant theories on basic battle qi?"

Zhang Tie smirked as he scratched his head.

Seeing Zhang Tie's behaviors, the old man understood instantly, "No one is born with battle qi. Upon final analysis, battle qi is just a tool, which could be produced due to each one's potential and hard work. Because of different manufacturing methods, the tools also became different in terms of looks and effects. The functions of these tools would also be different for the same people. You can understand the alleged high-end battle qi as a tool being made of more sophisticated materials in more complex patterns with more powerful functions. Although these tools have more functions than that of the low-level tools, there was no essential difference between them. These surplus functions could be regarded as an upgrade of the previous tools. Am I clear?"

Zhang Tie nodded. He seemed to understand a bit, but he was still confused.

"Battle qi is a tool; however, the greatest difference between it and those tools that we usually see is that battle qi is born to be shaped. Its shape is not fixed when it is produced just like other tools in our daily life. The flexibility of battle qi is like plasticine. As long as you constantly add materials to it, you will gradually make a breakthrough and add new abilities to its original foundation. You can also directly use more plasticine with more functions to completely cover the smaller one. It will not be wasteful."

"You mean, if I practice Raging-Wave Battle Qi, I could also practice high-end battle qi in the future. In that way, my high-end battle qi not only has a higher starting point than others but also might have the feature of Raging-Wave Battle Qi——being powerful in water?"

"That's true. Different battle qis could be integrated with each other like how different tools could be combined. After the combination, the power of the battle qi would be much greater!"

Hearing such words, Zhang Tie instantly became thrilled, "According to you, the more battle qis a person practices, the greater he will be?"

The old man revealed a smile, "Young man, if you weld a pair of pliers with a screwdriver, you can truly turn them into a new tool with more functions. However, if you weld a pair of pliers that weighs 1 kg with the head of a steamer that weighs 2000 tons, what will you get? Can the pair of pliers still play its role? If you want to exert the functions of each battle qi after combining them, you have to follow the Equivalence Principle. If the two battle qi are greatly different in content, the functions of the battle qi with less content might not be exerted."

"What's the Equivalence Principle?"

"The Equivalence Principle is the most important principle in cultivating battle qi. You will know about it in the later. As you have not yet formed battle qi, you don't know the situation and feeling after level 6. Each one's battle qi could be measured by quantity and quality. The world of battle qi is very mysterious which can't be thoroughly explained in a short while. You should keep in mind that you reap where you sow. Especially on the road of cultivation, you have to practice hard. A person who's absent-minded in practicing Raging-Wave Battle Qi for 3 years and a higher-end battle qi for 4 years might not be able to defeat a person who had tried his full efforts to practice Raging-Wave Battle Qi for 10 years. Neither might he defeat a person who has practiced hard a high-end battle qi for 6 years!"

Zhang Tie was suddenly enlightened...

"Of course, there are also powerhouses who could combine different kinds of battle qi very well. Those who could do that have always been exceptions. However, among the three roads of upgrading and expanding battle qi, the combination of battle qi is more difficult. It can't be easily achieved. Comparatively, if someone has the chance and ability to form high-end battle qi, it would be better to use high-end battle qi to swallow low-end battle qi. In that way, although the attributes and functions of high-end battle qi could not be extended, one could increase the accumulation of high-end battle qi on absolute quantity at once. For the third road...", the old man shook his head as he picked up the teacup and slightly blew over it...

"What about the third road?"

"Fewer people can succeed on the third road. After forming battle qi, one might have a very small chance to promote his or her battle qi to another level and gain some more attributes and abilities. It's accidental and hardly duplicated. It's as rare as winning the lottery. After explaining so much to you, have you made your decision?"

"I've decided!"

"Which battle qi will you choose?" The old man solemnly asked as he picked up his teacup.

Zhang Tie seriously said, "I've decided to choose the preliminary fish-like diving skill..."

"Pfft..." The old man instantly spit out his tea. Seemingly choking, he coughed for quite awhile before recovering his composure.

The old man glared at Zhang Tie while the latter spread his arms in an innocent way, "We have to learn it."

Hearing Zhang Tie's explanation, the old man almost coughed again...

...

1 hour later, Zhang Tie touched his head which was in pain due to the old man's flick and left the Secret Technique Pavilion. He kept walking as he was recalling the preliminary fish-like diving skill that he had learned for the first time. The alleged great truths were the simplest; however, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the preliminary fish-like diving skill could be that simple. He just needed to constantly practice in order to master it.

According to the old man, as long as one mastered the preliminary fish-like diving skill, after practice, one could be able to dive longer than 15 minutes in water. Additionally, this secret technique is related to a person's spirit energy. The higher a person's spirit energy is, the longer they could he stay in the water.

When he returned to the Xingzhi Department, Zhang Tie saw that Zhang Kejie and the other guys had already prepared everything well and were waiting for him to head over in order to carry more navy-blue iron ores.

"Have you learned it?" Zhang Yunfei asked Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie nodded.

"Let's go make money then!" Wei Wu made a weird noise as the others burst out loud laughing and left...