Castle of Black Iron

After putting out the lamps in the bedroom, Zhang Tie stood before his window on the 3rd floor. He slightly exposed a corner of the curtain and looked at the courtyard. It was already past midnight and the lamps in the courtyard were still on. One bodyguard was sitting quietly in the corridor of the courtyard with his eyes widely opened.

On the other side of the house was another person who was also on duty. 2 other people were sleeping in the room beside the parlor on 1st floor. The above 4 people were left by Zhang Haitian, the grandpa of Zhang Tie, when he came here for Zhang Yang yesterday. They had worked for Zhang Family for over 10 years.

As Zhang Yang had experienced the abduction, with these people at home, Zhang family would feel safe.

Zhang Tie then put down the corner of the curtain and started to consider finding some bodyguards and sentries for his family members. Now that his elder brother had been abducted, it was hard to say whether similar events would happen on other family members. As the world was becoming increasingly chaotic, Zhang Tie thought that he had to pay attention to this issue.

At this moment, now that his grandpa had assigned bodyguards and sentries here, he didn’t need to find others for the time being. If he went for other bodyguards and sentries at this moment, he would face two problems, namely, the loyalty of the new bodyguards and sentries that he found, and his grandpa would think that Zhang Tie’s family didn’t believe in him, which would raise many doubts and misunderstandings.

Additionally, according to his elder brother, when Zhang Yang was in hospital, the intelligence department of Huaiyuan Prefecture found him and recorded the details of the abduction. Combining Zhang Yang’s statement and other clues, it would not be difficult for some smart guys to conclude that Zhang Tie was the only person who had mastered the secret knowledge of producing all-purpose medicament.

Therefore, it would almost be impossible for those people to gain the secret knowledge of producing all-purpose medicament from his family members. Of course, there might be chances that someone would force him to submit the secret knowledge on producing all-purpose medicament by abducting his family members. However, unless Huaiyuan Palace had declined to the worst scenario and lost its ability to protect the Zhang Clan’s posterity, this would not happen in a short period. Even though it truly happened, those people would definitely suffer a great punishment.

Therefore, whether they wanted to master the method to produce all-purpose medicament or to directly destroy this method, their main target was still Zhang Tie. After the recent events, they should be clearer about this point.

Zhang Tie realized that his number one priority should be to improve his fighting strength as soon as possible. He needed to find a way to gain seven-strength fruits so as to turn his precise throwing skill into his trump card.

After all his family members had gone to bed and he ensured that nobody would disturb him, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron.

Since he left Dragon Cave, it was Zhang Tie’s first time entering the Castle of Black Iron.

Before Zhang Tie entered the Castle of Black Iron, he held 2 bottles of liquor as he expected the new fruits on the small tree.

Although the fight in Dragon Cave 3 days ago was very fierce, Zhang Tie knew that it was time for him to reap the fruits.

...

After unlocking that marvelous arch door in his mind, Zhang Tie disappeared in the bedroom at once and entered Castle of Black Iron.

After Zhang Tie requested that Heller kept the time in the Castle of Black Iron synchronized with outside, it was also night in the Castle of Black Iron now.

It was very tranquil in the Castle of Black Iron. Without clamor of the daytime, everything was like a sweet dream. What covered this space now was not a colorful, brilliant rainbow any more, but colorful clouds that covered the bright moon. With the tender light, the whole space became a fairly visible.

In the dark, each leaf of the small tree was shining. With different shapes, those leaves were radiating lights of many different colors. As a result, hundreds of colors were shining on the small tree.

Watching that mysterious, small tree, Zhang Tie felt like he was enjoying a fabulous scene. He watched it for one minute before stopping himself from picking off fruits. With the two bottles of liquor, he entered his lab.

After turning on the lamp, the whole lab became bright.

On the table was lying that lotus seedpod of the fiery-flame lotus gifted from Zhao Yuan, Zhang Tie’s master. Zhang Tie put down the bottles and found an empty glass flask from a cabinet which could hold over 1 liter of liquid.

Since he bought these flasks from Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had not used them till now. After checking the flask, Zhang Tie found its inside was even a bit dirty, which might have been like that since it left the factory.

The air in the Castle of Black Iron was refreshing, natural, and filled of various plants’ reiki. There was almost no dirt or dust in the air. It was around 8 to 9 months ago when he cleaned the table of the lab. Now, it was still as clean as before. After touching it, he saw no dirt at all. If air could be sold, Zhang Tie even wanted to sell the air in cans.

Zhang Tie then held the flask and went to the stream. After cleaning it completely, he took it back into the lab.

‘If only I could install a waterpipe in the lab!’ However, Zhang Tie knew that he was unable to make something like that for the time being. It would be too boring for him to buy a water tower and water pipes and then bring them into the Castle of Black Iron.

"Welcome to the Castle of Black Iron, Castle Lord!"

While Zhang Tie was washing the flask, Heller arrived and met him at the entrance of the lab. He bowed towards Zhang Tie. At Zhang Tie’s behest, Heller finally didn’t add "Handsome and Magnificent" onto Zhang Tie’s title. Zhang Tie knew that he could enjoy it alone, but it would be unwise for him to make others join in with him.

Zhang Tie greeted Heller and they walked into the lab together.

After entering the lab, Zhang Tie hurriedly started his work while Heller just stood aside quietly.

Each bottle contained about 500 liters of liquor. Zhang Tie then opened the lids and poured the all of the liquor into the bigger glass flask.

The total of liquor filled about 80% of the flask.

After that, Zhang Tie held that lotus seedpod which was as heavy as a piece of ironwood. He then broke it and took out the lotus seeds from inside one by another.

Each lotus seed of fiery-flame red lotus was almost as big as a glass ball[1] that Zhang Tie used to play with when he was young. The crimson seeds were as heavy as iron. Zhang Tie pinched one but couldn’t break it at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie put one in mouth and bit it; however, he felt like biting a steel bead.

After trying it, Zhang Tie knew that his master was right. If he forcefully swallowed it, he would definitely excrete it in the same state as it currently was.

There was a total of 18 seeds inside the seedpod, which was a bit less than what he had expected. After soaking 10 lotus seeds inside the liquor, Zhang Tie only had 8 left. Glazing at those seeds, Zhang Tie instantly thought up an idea.

He almost jumped up——now that these were lotus seeds, why not sow them in Castle of Black Iron, then...

"Heller!" Zhang Tie instantly turned his face towards Heller who was standing beside him, "Erm, can we create magma here?"

"You finally got it, my lord. I was thinking about reminding you. It seems that it’s not necessary!" Heller then revealed a smile, "Of course, you could create an environment full of magma, it was nothing different than creating a surface environment. Your seeds are from silicon-based plants, which are rarely seen. They contain a very special energy. If they were sown, they would definitely be of great use to you and the Castle of Black Iron!"

"Silicon-based plant? You mean fiery-flame red lotus is a silicon-based plant?" Zhang Tie was amazed by this term. This was his first time seeing a non-carbon-based organism since he was born. He'd thought that he might not even see a non-carbon-based organism in his whole life.

"Of course, if it's not a silicon-based plant, how could it grow in such a high-temperature environment like magma? Carbon-based organisms could never do this!"

"Can we grow fiery-flame red lotus here?"

"This is where even the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree could grow. There's no plant cannot be grown here!" Heller replied confidently.

Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie’s heart almost burst out of his throat...