Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie was repeating the extremely boring process of cultivation using his

spiritual energy in the void... This process was so monotonous that it almost drove Zhang Tie mad. After gathering the two energies in the void, Zhang Tie would let them dissipate

themselves. Zhang Tie repeated this process tens of thousands of times. He still continued it even when he became completely numb spiritually and turned the whole process into an instinctive and mechanical response. Zhang Tie hoped that he could mobilize the two energies as freely as taking a breath one day. In order to reach this goal, Zhang Tie had to complete this process as easily as

taking a breath. He had to repeat the hard process of cultivation for numerous times to make a bit of progress. In the process of cultivation, he was accompanied by

loneliness. Very few things were fair in the world. Perhaps, the only fair thing was time. Everyone had 24 hours a day. The only dierence between people lay in which

had you spent time in? As time passed by, the seeds that you watered would

strike roots and sprout. One day, they would grow up with luxuriant foliage, blossoms and fruits. Some fruits were kind; some were evil; some were beautiful; some were ugly; some tasted sweet; some tasted sour... There were powerhouses in each industry. The so-called powerhouses must have spent the most time in that industry. It was the rst ocial secluded cultivation that Zhang Tie entered since he

came to Motian Realm. In secluded cultivation, Zhang Tie forgot about time and the disturbance from

the secular world. He was fully immersed in cultivation. Not until his portable

jade plate started to wobble continuously did he exit the realm and open his eyes. It was a message from Leng Manxue——Your Majesty, Wu Qiankun of Emperor NvWa Palace is waiting for you. ——Take him to Yangxin Palace. I will be there soon. ——Yes, sir! After replying to the message, Zhang Tie stood up and did some warm-ups. He made some dicult movements that the others could never imagine, causing his muscles and bones to crack like recrackers. After doing that, Zhang Tie felt that his mindset, spirit and body became active again. Zhang Tie took a look at the loop of special candles on the candlestick at one

corner of the back room as he found one of them had already died out, leaving one foundation. The other 33 cm high candle which was divided into 30 scales had lost 12 scales. The rest 12 scales had not been lit yet, which meant that Zhang Tie had already stayed in the back room for 42 days. As there was no table clock in Motian Realm, they used candles to mark time. The candle was a specialty in Motian Realm which was called Jade Candle. There were several kinds of jade candles. The most common one was 33 cm in

length, which could be divided into 30 scales, each scale for one day. Given the

consumption of the jade candle, people would know the time. It was pretty

convenient. Some jade candle could be burned for one year. The most endurable

jade candle could last 60 years. Besides marking time, jade candles would produce a faint bizarre fragrance after being burned, which could drive away insects and beasts and could prevent people from being possessed with devils in cultivation. Therefore, jade

candles became a daily product even a necessary item for cultivators and

immortal generals in Motian Realm during cultivation. Jade candles gave out warm yellow light, making the corner of the back room a bit warmer while the greater part of the back room was in the dark. Zhang Tie came to the front of the candlesticks and blew them out. After that, he opened the cover of the luminous pearl, making the backroom bright at once. Zhang Tie then pushed open the gate of the backroom and entered a secret

tunnel. Next to the secret tunnel was a ight of staircase leading upwards. The

staircases were made of white marble stones. On both sides of the staircases, there were luminous pearls in each a few meters. Zhang Tie then went upstairs along the winding white steps. After walking about 200 m upstairs and passing

by some special preventive facilities, he entered Jiaotai Palace. Of course, the others were forbidden in the place which Dragon Emperor used

for secluded cultivation. Nor could it be easily destroyed. Of course, Zhang Tie

could also cultivate in Jiaotai Palace for a short period of time; however, he preferred to enter the underground backroom of Jiaotai Palace for a long period

of time for the sake of safety. Some secret tunnels connecting the underground backroom with the other places around Dragon Emperor City. The longest tunnel led to a mountain

outside Dragon Emperor City. After building those secret tunnels, all the

relevant workers’ memories were wiped out by medicine. Therefore, only Zhang Tie and Leng Manxue knew those secret tunnels across Dragon Emperor City. When Zhang Tie walked out of the gate of Jiaotai Palace, he felt coming back to

the crowd as he felt the dazzling sunlight and the jubilant twitters. “Your Majesty...” Some immortal generals gave a salute to Zhang Tie together with Leng Manxue. During the period when Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation downside there, the immortal generals in Forbidden City were on alert outside Jiaotai Palace by

shifts ceaselessly. Leng Manxue especially came here to wait for Zhang Tie. “I appreciate your hard work!” Zhang Tie told those immortal generals with a

smile. “It’s our responsibility!” those immortal generals felt being overwhelmed by

an unexpected favor as they hurriedly replied in unison by bowing their bodies. “If everyone could fulll their responsibilities, our Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would reinvigorate one day!” Zhang Tie encouraged them as he nodded. After that, he went to the Yangxin Palace with Leng Manxue. On the way, Leng Manxue stealthily glanced at Zhang Tie for a few times as she kept one step behind him. “What? Are there owers on my face?” Zhang Tie asked. “Your Majesty, you might...might be much more relaxed after secluded

cultivation!” Leng Manxue replied. Sometimes, women’s instinct was even

greater than the knight’s consciousness of sage-level knights. Leng Manxue

could easily catch something dierent just from Zhang Tie’s look. “Really? I also think so!” Zhang Tie replied as he nodded. As for Zhang Tie, he

jettisoned sex, food, fame and sleep for dozens of days during the ascetic

cultivation. As a result, he became relaxed spiritually. Additionally, he felt being completely free from the trivial aairs in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace just like struggling out of the mire and winning freedom once again. However, in many cases, people’s daily life was paradoxical. Zhang Tie didn’t mean to become Dragon Emperor; however, as he had paid a lot in this position, Zhang Tie could also enjoy many privileges and enormous resources

that he could never enjoy before. “What does Wu Qiankun bring here?” Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue. “He’s followed by some immortal generals of Emperor NvWa Palace. Those

immortal generals bring here 5 huge iron boxes. According to Wu Qiankun, they’re demanded by Your Majesty. They don’t want me to check it. Therefore, I had them wait outside Yangxin Palace with the huge iron boxes...”