Castle of Black Iron

On the second day since Zhang Tie returned to the Golden Light City, the series of outcomes caused by his resignation had been gradually manifested...

Starting from Youzhou City, all the Morality Associations across Youzhou Province had been smashed by people in only a couple of days; however, the entire judicial system across Youzhou Province was just watching them being smashed on one side. Even if they had received the reports, they would just come and go in a symbolic way instead of catching anybody. They could do nothing to the encounter of the Immortal Associations of the Gobbling Party.

The judicial system in Youzhou Province only left one sentence——as the aftermath of the Heavens Reaching Church has not disappeared, commoners in Youzhou Province are still furious; any arrest of commoners would cause a big chaos. Who will take responsibility for that?

In Youzhou Province, the Gobbling Party had been notorious. Even the reputation of the around-the-clock imperial officials in the Censorate of Xuanyuan Hill was affected.

Besides Yozhou Province, in a few days, the news that the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province who was forced to resign after afflicting heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church was fermented under the push of all sorts of forces, arousing an uproar across Taixia Country.

Only after one week, based on the reports that Zhang Tie had received, over 1,000 newspapers across Taixia Country had reported this event in a very skillful way. Most of the newspapers only mentioned the memorial of Su Qianling, Zhang Tie's meritorious deeds and resignation. Who was right and who was wrong? The answer became very clear.

When the public opinion surged towards the Censorate of Xuanyuan Hill, Su Qianling's memorial turned into a steel ingot and forcefully pounded onto his own face.

However, knowing that Huaiyuan Palace had a great resentment with the Gobbling Party and the leader of the latter was the master of the crown prince, the newspapers in Taixia Country reported this event in a very proper way. They didn't reveal the resentment between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party. Even so, people could still pass it from mouth to mouth silently. In the eyes of some insiders, the Gobbling Party had been completely exposed this time. What was more, through this event, many people figured out that although the Gobbling Party advocated people to follow the so-called "mercy, righteousness and morality", their deed was very dirty this time; they just raised high the big banner; disregarded the facts; defended those who belonged to their own faction and attacked those who didn't regardless of the lives of the commoners. What they did was nothing to do with the so-called "mercy, righteousness and morality".

Under the stress of the public opinion, on January 18th, the Censorate of Xuanyuan Hill declared to dismiss Su Qianling from his post. Su Qianling was demoted to be a Level 16 financial minister in Yinzhou Province, a lower province.

In Xuanyuan Hill, although the 360 around-the-clock imperial officials in Censorate were not of high rank, they were extremely important. One around-the-clock imperial official could even control the public opinion in the country and the decision of the imperial court of Taixia Country. After Su Qianling's demotion, the Gobbling Party lacked a key voice in the Censorate.

From the perspective of the Gobbling Party, although Su Qianling's demotion felt like losing an arm, what was more annoying was the condemnation from the people.

Many times, like a clean dress, once being stained, it was hard to wash. Even if you could, there would always be a mark, which became a firm wall in front of the Gobbling Party in terms of an invisible poor impression in others' hearts.

After Su Qianling left the Xuanyuan Hill in an embarrassed way, besides the media in some provinces in Taixia Country, especially Tunzhou Province who supported Su Qianling weakly, the Gobbling Party didn't have any other movement. It seemed that the Gobbling Party ceased fire at once...

Huaiyuan Palace gained a complete victory in the first collision with the Gobbling Party when it returned to Taixia Country.

'However, this is also a narrow victory. If I didn't find the conspiracy of the Heavens Reaching Church, the party being roasted above the grill would be Huaiyuan Palace and I once the Heavens Reaching Church rose in revolt, plus the memorial of Su Qianling.'

Zhang Tie didn't feel happy as he understood the dangers in this wrestle between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party. 'As long as the memorial was confirmed, my family might be ruined; Huaiyuan Palace would also be inflicted greatly.' Although demotion of the motherf*cking imperial official in the Censorate was cool, Zhang Tie still felt that his punishment was not severe enough. However, through this battle, Zhang Tie knew that the Gobbling Party would not cause Huaiyuan Palace and him any trouble in a short period. Therefore, he and Huaiyuan Palace could be safe for a short time. However, in the future, unless one party could defeat the other, the resentment between the two parties would never come to an end.

This event was a warning for Zhang Tie.

It reminded Zhang Tie that Taixia Country was not a Shangrila either. Additionally, due to the resentment between his ancestor and the Gobbling Party, even the Eastern Continent was full of dangers for him and Huaiyuan Palace.

This time, Commander Cheng had told him in the most direct means about the sharp difference between him and a knight who had formed 4 chakras.

In the final analysis, power counted most in this world.

The word power contained many things, such as battle strength which was most direct and powerful, money, human relationship, influence and foundation, etc..

Zhang Tie had reached his target after Su Qianling was demoted. He could find another reason to go back to Youzhou City to be the dean of Provincial Court once again; Huaiyuan Palace had also made pavements for that. Everything could undergo very smoothly. However, through this event, after recovering his composure, Zhang Tie realized that it was very dangerous in the officialdom of Taixia Country and that he was incongruous with the officialdom of Taixia Country.

The position dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province was a double-bladed sword. Besides granting him a great power and an eminent identity in Taixia Country, this position also made him restrictive to the officialdom of the Taixia Country. There were a lot of uncertainties in this position. To be honest, Zhang Tie didn't think that he excelled at being an official. The key was that he didn't have any ambition about power; neither did he have spiritual energy and time to adapt to the system of the officialdom in Taixia Country; especially when the Gobbling Party took an absolute advantage in the officialdom of Taixia Country. 'Is it worth for me to adapt to those rules at the risk of being framed by the Gobbling Party for the compensation of over 2 million gold coins a year? How much will it improve the power of me and my clan?'

'If not being an official in Taixia Country, I would just enjoy myself in Golden Light City even though the Heavens Reaching Church toppled over half of Youzhou Province. How could they cause me trouble?'

This time, Zhang Tie was very lucky in inflicting heavy losses on the Heaven Reaching Church. He could not guarantee that he would also have such a good luck in the future by turning calamities into blessings. 'However, without such a luck, does it mean that I have to be bullied by the Gobbling Party?'

'Therefore, I don't have to take the office of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province!'

'Especially, given the demand for further wrestle with the Gobbling Party, it's actually beneficial to Huaiyuan Palace if I don't take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.'

After knowing Zhang Tie's thought, all the elders of Huaiyuan Palace were startled. Therefore, 3 days after the news that Su Qianling was demoted passed to Youzhou Province, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan who stayed in Huaiyuan Prefecture came to the manor of Zhang Tie's family in Golden Light City by airship and met Zhang Tie.

The 3 elders of Huaiyuan Palace negotiated with the major event which determined the future of the clan in a pavilion behind the manor of Zhang Tie's family.

The pavilion was surrounded by red maples which looked as fiery as flames after the baptism of the snow. Like polished red crystals, they were extremely brilliant in the fading winter scenery.

The greater part of the snow in the garden had melted; however, it was still a bit cold now; given the firm and verdant grasses that straightened up once again in the garden, Zhang Tie smelt a sense of spring.

In the pavilion, the furnace made of red mud was adjusted to a high temperature while the tea water was steaming. Sitting around the furnace, Zhang Tie, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan were silent while listening to the sound drifting from the furnace.

At this moment, the noise of the kids of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang drifted from the garden faintly. As the winter was going to disappear, it was the last chance for these little guys to have a snowball fight and make a snowman.

"Gulugulu..." When the tea water was boiled for about 1 minute, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and used a pair of pot tongs to nip the teapot in a very regular way. After that, he made a cup of tea for each of the other two elders.

The tea water was collected from the snow on the top of the pine trees on the mountain outside Golden Light City, which had just melted above the furnace. The tea was famous in Taixia Country, which was called Silver Frost. Of course, Silver Frost was the best item that "Master Jiang" had contributed to Zhang Tie selflessly. 0.5 kg' Silver Frost was worth 500 gold coins in Taixia Country. There was a great learning about the teapot. It was made of redware from Lanzhou Province while the firewoods being used for boiling teas were fresh osmanthus twigs in last August.

After the snow melted in the hot water, the silver frost formed mountain peaks in the water; instead of scattering. At the same time, a looming mist came into being above the tea water. In a split second, the tea leaves in the cup and the vapor over the tea water formed a scaled-down misty landscape painting; plus the faint fragrance of pine leaves in the tea water, only by smelling it, people had been brought into an immortal realm while all the boredom disappeared in the tranquility physically and mentally.

Zhang Tie let out a long sigh with a great sense of achievement. To be honest, if not Feng Cangwu, Zhang Tie really could not make such a good tea; neither did he know about such a big learning about a cup of tea. If not for Feng Cangwu, even Silver Frost would be spoiled by Zhang Tie.

"Honestly, I didn't know why Hua people were so proud of themselves and always belittled the other human races on other continents. Until now, after coming to Taixia Country for a few months did I gradually understand it!" Zhang Tie held the teapot and looked at it with an interested impression. Meanwhile, he sniffed the tea water and watched the landscape formed by the tea leaves and the vapor at the mouth of the cup, "The pride of Hua people originates from their unrivaled strength and culture. The culture is in a cup of tea. A cup of tea contains the entire world, which enables people to comprehend the natural laws in the world. None of the countries in other sub continents and continents could have such a profound culture. With a cup of tea water, Hua people could experience almost 1,000 years' historical details and the essence of natural laws. Compared to Hua people, those kings, princes, aristocrats and rich men on the other continents are just barbarians!"

Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan exchanged a glance with each other as if they had got something from each other's eyes. Now that Elder Mushen could make a tea in front of them at such a critical moment, it had revealed too many meanings.

"Has Elder Mushen made the decision?" Elder Muen asked.

This time, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan were not here only for themselves but on behalf of Zhang Taixuan.

Zhang Tie became silent. With a smile, he asked Elder Muen, "Elder Muen, who do you think hopes the most for me to return to Youzhou City and take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province at this moment?"

"All the members of Huaiyuan Palace even the head of Zhang Clan hope Elder Mushen to return to Youzhou City as fast as possible and take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province once again!" Elder Muen replied.

"Of course, I know the intention of Zhang Clan; however, the one who expects me to return to Youzhou City and take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province as soon as possible is the Gobbling Party!"

"Gobbling Party?" Elder Muen faintly frowned as if he had imagined Zhang Tie's answer.

"If I returned to Youzhou City and take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province once again, this event could only cause the face of Gobbling Party to swell; however, after a few days, it would recover. If I didn't go back, not only would it be a slap on the face of Gobbling Party but also a stab in the key part of Gobbling Party, which they would not recover from in the future. As a result, Gobbling Party would bleed at any time! If I came back to Youzhou City, the competition between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party would be mainly on tricks even if Huaiyuan Palace took the advantage for the time being by chance. If I didn't come back to Youzhou City, the competition between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party would be mainly on morality and Huaiyuan Palace would take the advantage forever!"

Elder Muyuan's eyes brightened up, "You mean?"

Zhang Tie then answered, "I'm a gentleman. Gentlemen are harmonious with each other although they have their unique opinions; by contrast, villains just blindly follow others' opinions yet don't seek for the true harmony!"

After hearing the first part of the answer, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan became slightly stunned. However, when it came to the second half of the answer, they were shocked before taking in a deep breath at the same time...

...