Castle of Black Iron

“What a bad woman! What a crazy and lecherous woman! Who the f*ck knows you? Who the f*ck is thinking about you? You’d better stay out of my sight. If I see you again, I’ll tie you up and hmph… hmph...…”

Continuing on his way, he walked like a cripple as he used his spear as a crutch. Every time he thought back to how that woman had cursed him and kicked his shin, he would curse her. Like the male students from the national male middle schools, the female students from the national female middle schools were taught some fighting skills, and thus they were not as weak as normal women; in contrast, they were much more aggressive. Needless to say, those skills were targeted at men. At the very least, from that kick to his shin alone, Zhang Tie already felt that that red-haired woman with plump breasts had very powerful and fast kicks. Given that she had also targeted a cunning and accurate spot to attack, it seemed that she had always been practicing this skill.

“First, I framed Glaze’s group, then following that I was framed by another person. Is this karma? Will those framing others always be framed?” Zhang Tie started to feel frightened and awe-stricken. In the past, Zhang Tie could almost be considered an atheist, as he held no beliefs; however, ever since he obtained the Castle of Black Iron, his atheist view had gradually begun to collapse. In Zhang Tie’s opinion, both the Manjusaka fruit tree and the space in the Castle of Black Iron had already surpassed the limits that human beings could reach. Besides God, Zhang Tie could not think of another being that could create such things. But, what was a god? Was there truly a god out there that controlled everything, one who spins the wheel of fate?

Zhang Tie would never have imagined that the resentment between him and Glaze’s group would reach such a stage. Honestly, when Zhang Tie turned around earlier and cursed at Glaze’s group, he was only planning to make a joke, intending to turn them into laughingstocks, but they had instead been dealt a harsh punishment. Zhang Tie finally realized what Donder’s words meant. “A soft tongue can break hard bones”—language was an invisible, sharp blade that could kill people.

After leaving Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie went around the iron mine near the Wild Wolf Castle. Even though it was daytime, he was still not able to see anything a dozen meters ahead of him after entering the cave. As he had no other choice, Zhang Tie turned back, realizing that he needed a torch to mine within.

After having been ferociously kicked by that damned woman, Zhang Tie’s shin became swollen, thus he couldn’t freely move. As he didn’t have any lighting tools, Zhang Tie decided to turn back. Walking around the pine trees in Wild Wolf Valley, Zhang Tie was hoping to find wood that could be used as a torch and pine resin. As he knew it might be dangerous in the forest, Zhang Tie didn’t dare to venture too deep alone.

The wood that could be ignited easily were the ones by the trunk that had been soaked in a great amount of pine resin that was secreted from the trees. Compared to the other parts of the pine tree, the wood of the trunk was much easier to burn. Once it had been chopped off the tree, one could, without even drying it, ignite the wood. The wood could burn for a long time because the fire would not be able to be easily extinguished. Having been immersed in pine resin, they were the best natural torch in the wild.

As there were many wild pine trees in Wild Wolf Valley, one would be able to see many pine trees with diameters greater than 3 m everywhere. Arriving at the forest of pine trees, Zhang Tie saw many people, both male and female, at the edge of the forest. There were many treasures in the forest of pine trees. For example, pine resin had multiple purposes, pine cones could be consumed, and there were even many delicious foods, like wild vegetables and mushrooms that grew quickly during the rainy season between May and August, that could be found on the ground beside the rotting pine needles. Pine needles were even edible if they were fresh and had been placed in boiling water for a while. Even the wood from the pine trees of Wild Wolf Valley could meet many of the people’s basic needs.

While the female students collected pine resin, pine cones, wild vegetables, and mushrooms in the forest, the male students were doing laborious work. Especially when noticed by the girls, they would work even harder as they madly chopped the pine trees, as the wood from the trees were great firewood for making coal.

“Brother, can you do me a favor?”

Catching sight of Zhang Tie wandering the forest with an eye-catching basket on his back, a male student who was chopping wood stopped him.

“What can I do for you?” Zhang Tie moved over in a manner akin to a cripple.

“Brother, are you here to look for a torch to bring with you to the mines?”

Zhang Tie was amazed at that guy’s good observation skills as he nodded.

“That’s great. This pine tree should have a lot of wood that could be easily ignited. Help me out and we’ll chop this tree together, then we can cut it into three sections. You can take all the easily ignited wood, the pine resin, and half the pine cones. How about it?”

Glancing over at the pine tree that was as broad as a person’s waist, Zhang Tie saw the flowing pine resin and the many places on the body of the tree covered with a thick layer of pine resin. He estimated that the amount of wood that could be used as firewood inside was not little. Even if he couldn’t find any firewood, Zhang Tie would still be able to make a few torches since there was so much pine resin on it.

“Fine!” Zhang Tie immediately put down his basket and took turns with the other male student to chop down the tree. After chopping the tree for a while, Wood directly passed his axe to Zhang Tie, letting him continue with his axe, and threw himself to the ground, resting to the side as he idly chatted with Zhang Tie.

“I’m Wood, what’s your name?”

“I’m Zhang Tie. Are you from the Second National Male Middle School?”

“Yea. What’s wrong with your leg?”

“I was kicked by a mad woman!” Zhang Tie gloomily answered as he continued to brandish his axe.

“Haha, brother, you can’t use force against women. My mom once told me that men need to pretend to be gentlemen in front of women. Even though you can’t wait and want to throw them onto the bed, you definitely can’t show it; instead, you must coax them. When you want to sleep with them, you have to ask whether they’d like to take a rest…” Wood laughed out loudly as he pointed at Zhang Tie’s basket. “Also, if you want to attract women, you shouldn’t be mining. No woman wants their man to be a miner!”

“This guy is really interesting,” Zhang Tie said inside; however, he immediately retorted, “Does that mean they prefer their husband to be a charcoal maker?”

“It was my fiance who told me to make coal here. She didn’t want me to attract too much attention and wanted me to pay attention to my own safety. Thinking over it, making charcoal was the best option…” Wood replied proudly.

“You already have a wife?” Zhang Tie stared at Wood in amazement.

“Of course, we grew up together in a courtyard since we were young. Two years ago, when we played outside, I asked whether she would take a rest, then I made her my wife. She’s in another school. After this survival training, we will be engaged! Brother, you need to learn from me on this aspect…”

Wood’s words struck Zhang Tie once again. Zhang Tie realized that his relationship with the female students has been poor recently. Ever since he left school, he could not see Miss Daina anymore. When he was going to sleep with Miss Anna, he found out he needed to be circumcised. On the third day since the start of the survival training, he was forbidden by that damned Qili to stay with girls for more than three minutes. Afterwards, he was even fiercely kicked by an insane girl. Damn it! Being compared to Wood, he was really envious. That foolish looking guy had already gotten to enjoy the taste of a woman at least two years ago; in contrast, he had not even touched a girl’s hand.

Feeling as if he had taken a blow, Zhang Tie became speechless. He just lowered his head and kept brandishing the axe, seriously treating the pine tree as an enemy. Zhang Tie’s good strength really startled Wood. Finally, under Zhang Tie’s persistent efforts during the past ten more minutes of brandishing the axe at a high frequency, the pine tree slowly inclined as it fell to the ground accompanied by the sounds of cracking.

The falling of the pine tree attracted the attention of the three nearby girls who were carrying baskets, causing them to come over. Among the three that came over, one was a blonde beauty, while the other two were more beautiful than the average girl; they were all beautiful girls who were pleasing to the eye.

“Hello, can you gift us with the pine cones from the tree?” The girl speaking was definitely a beauty; she had blonde hair and a slim frame, her face was a snow-white that was akin to milk, her voice was as fair sounding as that of a yellow warbler[1], her smile was as warm as the sunshine, and her attitude was perfectly sincere.

At the sight of such a perfect beauty, Wood’s face blushed. He then raised his chest and said generously, “No problem! However, half of pine cones on this tree belong to him. If you want the other half, you have to gain his approval!” Saying this, Wood pointed to his side at Zhang Tie, who was panting as he held onto the handle of the axe.

The blonde-haired beauty kept smiling as she moved her eyes onto Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie, who was extremely dejected at that moment, glanced at her. Recalling the abnormal punishment he had received, he finally lost his temper. “Beauty? To me, a beauty is as useful as a fart right now. I can’t eat nor can I touch them. They might even lose their temper and kick me!” Zhang Tie thought inside.

Zhang Tie then immediately refuted her, “No way, I will take away all of my pine cones. I won’t give you even one!”

Hearing Zhang Tie’s words, the sunshine-like smile on that blonde-haired beauty immediately froze. Her face then became cold as if it were covered in frost, and the other girls beside her stared at Zhang Tie with mouths agape. Such a rude guy! Such a rough guy! This was their first time encountering such a person. Even Wood was staring at Zhang Tie in amazement. He started to doubt whether Zhang Tie had felt stimulation before. Afterwards, without caring about the people staring at him, Zhang Tie directly lowered his mining basket and ran over to pick up the pine cones.

Seeing Zhang Tie’s movements, the other girls looked at each other before they also ran over to pick pine cones as fast as possible…

[1] Type of bird.