Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie returned to his room, No. 7, in Songtao Pavilion while taking cold breaths. He was taking cold breaths because of the pain from his wounds; however, at the same time, he revealed a slight smile.

After eating iron-body fruits for so long, Zhang Tie had not enjoyed the benefit of iron-body fruits in real battle until today. When Zhang Tie fought with that person just now, the benefits of the iron-body fruits truly showed and helped him win the fight. If there were no iron-body fruit, even though he could've won the battle, it would never have been that easy. Neither could he carry a crate of 400 to 500 kg back after such a fierce battle.

When he left a chance to that person and pinned that person's hand, he was betting that he could stand that person's strike instead of being heavily wounded, being killed, or being sent flying away. He guessed right. After eliminating that guy's advantage by fixing his foot, Zhang Tie won the battle. His confidence came from the iron-body fruit which formed when he dove in water in recent days. Now that the iron-body fruit could help him resist against greater pressure from sea water, it could definitely bring him a greater strike-resistant ability.

If he didn't beat that guy and prevent him from moving, to tell the truth, Zhang Tie wouldn't know the outcome of the fight. That guy moved so weirdly. If they were fighting in another place where there were no onlookers, that guy would actually find it impossible to lose the battle because of his weird moving skills.

That douchebag was first beaten by Zhang Tie's self-respect, then the iron-body fruit, and finally Zhang Tie.

Thankfully, Zhang Tie won his bet.

On the way back to the Songtao Pavilion, Zhang Tie recalled how he fought that guy and summed up the experience.

'If that guy had a sword, there might have been a different outcome. I wonder what he used to use. Certainly, if I have a javelin, that douchebag is doomed to die.' Generally speaking, both people had exerted their full strength. However, they didn't use all of their fighting skills. If various fighting skills were available, Zhang Tie was confident to finish that person in the shortest period.

Zhang Tie admired that person's weird and agile moving skills inside. He had determined to learn fundamental movements soon after he got enough clan contribution points. As he had not received systematic training, he was weak in moving skills. As long as he mastered the fundamental movements, he could definitely increase the power of iron-blood fist many times over.

After returning to his room, Zhang Tie put down his crate as he felt a sharp pain in his lungs.

Zhang Tie couldn't help but cough up some blood...

'That guy's punches are too heavy!' Zhang Tie knew that he had suffered internal injuries.

Zhang Tie went to the washroom to spit out the blood. He then cleaned himself up before going to the cultivation room.

The Xuan No. 7 cultivation room of Songtao Pavilion was not large as it only covered a bit more than 10 square meters. The room was paved with refreshing pine wood floor. As sun light was cast in the cultivation room for most of the daytime, the cultivation room would feel warm and very comfortable at night. Zhang Tie walked towards the cattail hassock and sat on it. Looking at the setting sun in the distance, Zhang Tie slowly adjusted his breathing as he closed his eyes and became relaxed enough to sense inside his body...

Two hours later, dusk fell. After studying the inside of his body, Zhang Tie felt that his wounds were recovering in way faster as he opened his eyes.

Benefiting from the effect of preliminary recovery body, after sunset, the healing and recovery ability of Zhang Tie started to accelerate from 215% to 430%. At this moment, Zhang Tie's recovering speed had reached 4 times that of normal people. That meant, it only took Zhang Tie 1 hour to reach the effect of 4 hours' recovery of most people.

Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile as he stood up from the cattail hassock. Finally, he witnessed the powerful combination of the preliminary recovery body and iron-body fruit.

Feeling a bit hungry, Zhang Tie left the Songtao Pavilion and entered the canteen of the Breaking Heaven Department.

The conditions in the canteen of the Breaking Heaven Department were better than those of the Zhixing Department. With the payment of 1 gold coin a day, Breaking Heaven Department provided various free buffets around the clock in order to meet different people's schedule. Therefore, one could enjoy food here at any time. Zhang Tie was very satisfied about this.

The preliminary recovery body could not only bring Zhang Tie a great physical recovery ability, a higher toxin immune ability, and a fatal wounds endurance ability, but also bring him a better appetite. Especially as he didn't eat lunch, in the evening Zhang Tie easily ate two men's worth of food. He didn't leave until he was almost full.

After exiting the canteen, Zhang Tie only walked less than 1 minute before he met a person and asked him about the location of the Qinyun Palace.

Qinyun Palace was definitely more boisterous in the evening than it was in the daytime. From afar, Zhang Tie had already seen the magnificent building. When he was close, he saw many senior brothers of Breaking Heaven Department accessing here. As Zhang Tie was too common, nobody even glanced at him.

After entering the main entrance of Breaking Heaven Department and passing a porch, Zhang Tie arrived at a brightly-lit hall. The moment he entered the hall, Zhang Tie was attracted by the four 10-m high lists.

Above the four lists were three golden words "Hidden Dragon List", closely below which were a line of smaller words, "Hidden Dragon Wealth List", "Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List", "Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution List" and "Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List". Each sub-list contained 50 names.

After taking a careful look, Zhang Tie found a pattern, namely, 7 of the top 10 in the "Hidden Dragon Wealth List" could be found in the top 10 of the "Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List" except for a small difference in ranks. Similarly, many people of the top 10 in the "Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List" occupied the top ranks in the "Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution List".

After a short while, Zhang Tie figured it out. Those who could enter the "Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List" were definitely elites who cultivated various professions in the Breaking Heaven Department, such as rune manufacturers and alchemists. As long as they had gained some achievements, it would be easy for them to make money. Likewise, those in the "Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List" were definitely able to complete highly difficult clan tasks and gain more clan contribution points.

What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that his cousin Zhang Su's name ranked 46 in the "Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List". No wonder Zhang Tie felt his cousin was a bit arrogant most of the time.

When Zhang Tie glanced over the 4 lists, the gate was thrown open and a senior brother rushed into the hall while waving something. He shouted so loudly that everybody could hear, "Urgent news, urgent news! Demons were found on the Hurricane Plateau in the west of Golan Empire, demons were found on the Hurricane Plateau in the west of Golan Empire!"

The moment he shouted out, the noisy hall suddenly became so quiet that even a needle falling onto the ground would've been heard.

10 seconds later, someone asked, "Are you serious?"

"This is the brief on the intelligence of the continent transmitted by the clan from Yiyang City. Two days ago, when a cavalry unit of a Celtic prefecture in the west of Golan Empire conducted their routine patrol along the border of the Hurricane Plateau, they met a small troop of demons. Finally, less than 1/10 of that cavalry unit returned. Because it was related to demons, Golan Empire has already reported this battle to the Waii Sub-Continent Human Central Countries Alliance. Additionally, yesterday, Golan Empire released the Demons Killing Order and opened the border between the Celtic Prefecture and Hurricane Plateau to all the pioneers, adventurers and fighters across the Waii Sub-continent."

The hall became quiet once again...

"This might mean nothing. Since the 2nd holy war between human beings and demons, small demon troops were always found slipping into human territory suddenly. The latest demon troops were found 27 years ago on the Waii Sub-continent..." Someone said loudly.

"There's one more possibility. The demons have already broken through the underground channel from the Dark Continent to the Hurricane Plateau. If so..."

A chilly sense was felt in the hall...

That person didn't talk any more while everybody else understood what he meant. If the demons truly had broken through the underground channel from the Dark Continent to the Hurricane Plateau, from now on, there would be more and more demons on the Hurricane Plateau. As soon as the demons prepared well, the demons' army would gather on the Hurricane Plateau, which meant the 3rd holy war between human beings and demons would arrive.

Each corps of demons included around 400,000 to 500,000 demon fighters. In each holy war, the demons would send out hundreds, or even thousands of corps while each demon corps was the nightmare of human kind!