Castle of Black Iron

A couple of minutes later, Zhang Tie carried that heavy crossbow back to the place of these teenagers with a big smile.

At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like a ferocious beast seeing a grand meal or like a whoremaster seeing the brand prostitute in a brothel. He was so happy that he even wanted to hum a song.

This time, he killed the whole pack of 28 iron-teeth hyenas. Plus those he killed yesterday and this morning, he could get one more ripe iron-teeth hyena’s seven-strength fruit on the small tree. The moment he thought that he could eat another seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie felt so cold taking a bath in the ice spring in hot summer.

He made the right choice to be here. Only arriving here after 3 days, he was going to eat the 2nd seven-strength fruit.

Watching him smile, those teenagers felt very strange. Therefore, as Zhang Tie walked towards them, they all gazed at him nervously instead of being relaxed after the death of those iron-teeth hyenas.

As they were in the wild, encountering such a weird person, all the teenagers felt flurried inside. Now that he could kill all the 20-30 iron-teeth hyenas in a wink with that terrifying weapon, he could also easily kill them.

Nobody knew whether he was their enemy or a friend.

When Zhang Tie was closer to them, he noticed them panic. He then knew what they were concerned about, Zhang Tie was not angry about that. If he was one of those teenagers, he would also be alert in that case. As these teenagers were born in Ice and Snow Wildness, they were used to be hostile against everything. Therefore, it was normal for them to be precocious. This also explained why they came out for hunting at such an earlier age.

After placing that heavy crossbow on the ground with its muzzle against the ground, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Are you all right?"

Watching this, these teenagers finally looked reassured.

"Yes. Thanks for your help. We are okay! If not for you, we might be in a great danger!" Evan replied.

"It’s easy. I was just doing that by the way!" After saying this, Zhang Tie lowered his body and pulled one bloody bolt out of the ground. After cleaning off the mud and blood stains, he put the bolt back into one of his bolt containers over his waist.

When Zhang Tie collected his own metal bolts, those teenagers exchanged glances with each other before came close to help him. In a short while, they had helped Zhang Tie collect all the metal bolts.

Those metal bolts were very heavy. Although having been used by Zhang Tie, they still looked like new ones after being cleaned as no scratch could be seen on them. All the teenagers were amazed about this.

"Oh, can we know your name?" After helping him collect all the bolts, Evan courageously asked Zhang Tie, "As you’ve saved us, we will have to pay you back!"

Finding these teenagers interesting, Zhang Tie then replied, "I’m Peter, what about you?"

"I’m Evan!"

"I’m Choy!"

"I’m Tavnov!"

"I’m Zoan!"

...

All the 8 teenagers then started to introduce themselves while raising their chests.

After introducing themselves, everybody then felt harmonious with each other’s atmosphere. At this moment, those teenagers were not cautious about Zhang Tie anymore. After all, seeing Zhang Tie’s fighting strength, if he wanted to kill them, he didn’t even need to talk so much with them. Additionally, they didn’t think that they were valuable to Zhang Tie.

After taking the crossbow from ground, Zhang Tie looked at the weather and asked, "Evan, where do you live?"

"Right in the Kurgan village over 10 km away!"

Zhang Tie knew that the village that they referred to was the smallest tribe on Ice and Snow Wildness which was only surrounded by barriers and a cob wall. Except for Eschyle, above 99% of people on Ice and Snow Wildness were living in the form of tribes. In this place, tribes were divided into different ranks. The tribe with the highest rank had a population of over a million of those tribes that can be hung as the tribal totems. The alleged Kurgan village was actually a small Slav tribe which only contained less than 2000 people.

"As there are some dangers in the wild, I’m not sure whether you will meet other iron-teeth hyenas on your way back. So I decide to accompany you back in case of emergency!"

Hearing this, all the teenagers felt that Zhang Tie was a kind person.

"Erm...do you need these iron-teeth hyenas?" One teenager named Basa hesitated a moment, asked Zhang Tie while pointing at those iron-teeth hyenas on the ground.

"I don’t need them. If you can take them back home, I will gift them to you!" Zhang Tie replied generously. He truly didn’t need these iron-teeth hyenas. He had tried to eat their meat 2 days ago. Although they were edible, their meat was too fishy and oily that made Zhang Tie disgusted even now.

As for their furs, even Zhang Tie was frugal, he would not choose to exchange those furs for only a few silver coins from those felt mongers. At this time, Zhang Tie was also not sure whether the message that he had left Eschyle after changing the name was exposed or not. After all, besides those people from Magical Snake Island, even that barber who had cut his hair in Eschyle might also leak his trace. It would be very risky for him to contact any business group in Eschyle at this moment. After all, over 1000 gold coins was not a small amount for many people.

After a round of choices, each teenager finally selected one iron-teeth hyena respectively before stepped on the way back. Zhang Tie just stayed with them as a bodyguard.

As they walked, they started to chat with Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie also learned much information about the Grey Hill.

"Peter, you’re so sharp. Are you a bear-killing fighter from Eschyle City to deal with the animal tide here?" Choy peeped at Zhang Tie’s terrifying metal crossbow as he asked with a special brilliance in his eyes.

On the way back, all the teenagers kept staring at Zhang Tie’s weapon. It was really their first time to see such a sharp weapon. Being different from common metal crossbows that they used to see, Zhang Tie’s weapons could release fire with great destructive force. The moment its bolt touched an iron-teeth hyena, it would penetrate through its body at once. Furthermore, the metal bolts that matched this crossbow were also not common.

"I’m not a bear-killing fighter!" Zhang Tie waved his head. He knew what did Choy mean by bear-killing fighter. They were a special Slav fighter on Ice and Snow Wildness. All the bear-killing fighters were above LV 6; however, not all the fighters above LV 6 were bear-killing fighters. The key point to be a bear-killing fighter was to master the maniac ability to increase his fighting strength in a short time. With the help of the maniac ability, a common fighter could increase his fighting strength greatly in a short time so that a LV 6 bear-killing fighter might defeat a common LV 7 fighter or a LV 7 bear-killing fighter could challenge a common LV 8 fighter.

"You are not a bear-killing fighter?"

Zhang Tie’s answer made all the teenagers surprised.

"Of course not!"

"Why are you here then? It seems you’re being interested in hunting iron-teeth hyenas!" Out of great curiosity, Choy put it straightforwardly without being afraid of violating Zhang Tie’s privacy.

"Actually, I’m a devoted follower of the school of patron!" As this was not Zhang Tie’s first time to fabricate it, he had been looking very devoted and easygoing as he told him. Zhang Tie found that when he took the school of patron as an excuse, he could explain what he had done easily. This excuse was as useful as tiger balm. No matter what he had done, as long as he connected it to this school, he could make his deed full of righteousness, "It’s the fundamental rule which the school of patron always used to maintain the balance between the basic laws of the mother nature and all the species. I think the animal tide on the Grey Hill could influence the balance between species and the mother nature, here come I!"

"Ah, you’re also a member of the school of patron?" Evan watched Zhang Tie with widening eyes, "Another man of the school of patron also came to our village several days ago!"

Hearing Evan’s words, Zhang was stunned. After leaving Blackhot City, it was Zhang Tie’s first time to hear the news of another member of school of patron. For this mysterious school, Zhang Tie knew nobody else than the benign, Grandma Teresa. The moment he heard this teenager’s words, Zhang Tie also became curious.

"Wuh, what did that person come to your village for?"

"I don’t know. He left after talking with uncle Zieg in our village for several hours!"

...

"Why did school of patron dispatch a member to a small village on Ice and Snow Wildness?" Zhang Tie kept thinking about that before he arrived at the village.

After over 10 km, a team of men who were all elder than 20 years old with weapons in their hands encountered Zhang Tie’s group on the way.

"Evan, Zoan, it’s so nice to see you are safe!" An elder and stronger man instantly let out a sigh the moment he saw those teenagers. He ran towards them, "As too many iron-teeth hyenas appeared in a place not far from the village, uncle Zieg let us to find you and accompany you back as soon as possible!"

"Hmm, we’ve met over 20 iron-teeth hyenas just now. We almost could not come back!"

"What happened?" Hearing this, those youths instantly held fast their weapons, "But where are the iron-teeth hyenas?"

"Thanks to Peter, we’ve killed them all. If not, we’ve been chewed!"

Hearing Evan’s introduction, those youths stared at Zhang Tie seriously.

"Evan, if so many people have been here to protect you, I will leave. See you later!" Zhang Tie smiled as he prepared to leave and eat his latest seven-strength fruit.

"It’s almost dark. Why not take a rest in the village? If uncle Zieg knew that we let you go, he would definitely beat us and blame us for being impolite to you..." Evan urged.

"That’s it..." All the others agreed with Evan almost in unison.

"You’ve saved the lives of 8 men in Kurgan village. Therefore, you are our most honorable guest. Please come with us and taste our Buckthorn wine!" One of those youths invited.

Thinking of that member from school of patron who came to Kurgan village several days ago, Zhang Tie then nodded firmly, "Well, I’d like to taste your Buckthorn wine!"

Seeing Zhang Tie being that straightforward, everybody burst out into laughter.

On the way back, Evan and the other teenagers told those youths how they met Zhang Tie and how Zhang Tie saved them. Hearing the whole process, the team of youths glanced at Zhang Tie with respectful looks. Some of them even wanted to challenge Zhang Tie as what young men would always do when they see their peers being better than them.

Zhang Tie was about 3 years elder than Evan and the other teenagers yet was 3 years younger than those youths. Some of the youths felt that Evan was exaggerating when he described how Zhang Tie killed 20-30 iron-teeth hyenas himself. According to Evan and the other teenagers, Zhang Tie might have become a bear-killing fighter now. However, a bear-killing fighter of 17-18 years old had not been seen in Kurgan village for a long time.

"Peter, is that huge weapon in your hand a heavy crossbow? You killed over 20 iron-teeth hyenas with it just now?" A youth named Burman asked straightforwardly.

Zhang Tie had seen so many people like Burman. Actually, he felt much easier to get along with such a person, "Yup, You want to have a try?"

"Sure!" Burman rubbed his hands full of excitement.

Zhang Tie then passed it to him with one hand. Seeing Zhang Tie moved it so easily, Burman also prepared to receive it with one hand.

"It’s a bit heavy. Are you sure you want to take it with one hand?" Before releasing the crossbow, Zhang Tie warned Burman out of kind intention.

Burman replied with a cold harrumph as he seemed being unhappy about being belittled by Zhang Tie.

Watching Burman’s look, Zhang Tie directly released his grip after seeing that Burman had held it fast.

However, the moment Zhang Tie released his grip, Burman had turned his face. With a tilt, he almost fell to the ground together with that heavy crossbow. Before he tumbled over, he roared as he hurriedly took over that heavy crossbow with the help of another hand. Although he finally saved his face, his face had already turned red due to sudden strength. Although Zhang Tie could walk freely with this weapon, he could only barely carry it.

"Argh, Burman..." At the sight of this, the other youths responded with dumbfounded looks at the same time, "Isn’t this weapon light in Peter’s hand? How come Burman look so embarrassed! Burman has a great strength!"

"How come..." Burman looked at Zhang Tie amazingly, "This...this crossbow is...at least 300 kg..."

"What? 300 kg? How come!? Even it’s made of steel and iron, it would not be that heavy!" Another youth shouted as he also stretched out his hand, "Give it to me, I will have a try..."

When Burman passed that heavy crossbow to the other youth, the latter one also turned his face, "Damned, It’s really...too heavy...how come!?"

All the youths then crowded round to have a try. However, after trying it, everybody looked at Zhang Tie as if they saw a ghost in the daytime.

Even Evan, Choy and the other teenagers came over and tried it. However, for those teenagers, that heavy weapon of over 300 kg was absolutely out of their endurance. As for those teenagers, 1 people could barely hold it fast; 2 people could not even carry it; 3 people could barely carry it.

As they imagined how Zhang Tie moved agilely with this weapon, they all worshiped Zhang Tie so much.

"Peter, how come is it so heavy?"

Touching his nose, Zhang Tie replied, "I don’t know why. I didn’t make it. But I know that a material called aerosiderite was used to make it. With that material, the key arcualias that could sustain stress would not be worn even after being used for tens of thousands times."

Hearing Zhang Tie’s explanation, everybody understood it. Some youths who knew how to use such a heavy crossbow tried to put it on the ground by foot before trying to load on a bolt with the help of the hydraulic sliding bar. However, although with blushes on their faces, they failed to press the sliding bar to the bottom.

Watching them being that hard, Zhang Tie directly took over the crossbow. With one hand on the handle, he pinched that hydraulic sliding bar and dragged it back so easily. With a low sound of "kacha" and an euphonious buzz of the rotating gears, Zhang Tie had loaded on one bolt.

Watching Zhang Tie, those youths completely gave up their challenging thoughts...

Before sunset, Zhang Tie accompanied them to their village...