Castle of Black Iron

As it was the first day of the new year, there was almost nobody on the streets across Youzhou City in such an early morning.

The guards were still sticking to their posts. When Zhang Tie approached the city gate, that soldier just threw a glance at him before allowing him in.

In Taixia Country, the ceremony of "washing hands in gold basin" was very solemn, which indicated that the main characters were going to exit that industry by washing their hands in a gold basin in the public. Generally, two kinds of people would hold such a ceremony: first, the important figures of non-governmental organizations in Taixia Country, who held such a ceremony so as to declare to the public that they were going to make a clean break with his past; second, some senior professionals in Taixia Country such as master swordsmith, rune equipment maker and appraisers who held such a ceremony so as to express that they would not return to their former careers from then on.

Both the first and the second kinds of people had a commonplace, namely, they were both big, respectable figures in local areas or in certain industries. Trivial people didn’t need to hold such a ceremony at all; as they could leave as long as they wanted and nobody would remember them.

Wang Wu was the local snake, a rascal who was familiar with Youzhou City. Of course, that altar head who would hold the "washing hands in a gold basin" ceremony, timely got hang of Zhang Tie movements and could have Law Protector Zuo gift Brain Shattering Pill to Wang Wu was in Youzhou City; otherwise, if he was in another prefecture, his subordinates could not make any response to Zhang Tie’s movements so fast.

As it was the first day of the 900th year of the black iron calendar, we had to say today was a good day for holding the "washing hands in a gold basin" ceremony.

...

Like taking a casual walk, Zhang Tie was loitering on the streets of Youzhou City while the map of Youzhou City occurred to his mind. While some areas were gradually moved out of the map in his mind, Zhang Tie selected the optimal routine in his mind and continued to loiter in the remaining areas.

Although Youzhou City was large, its urban planning was very methodical. Except for the jia farmlands, the locations of government agencies, the residential areas of commoners, the industrial and commercial areas, few were left.

It had stopped snowing. A small part of a smile had appeared in the sky, which indicated a nice weather.

After loitering in Youzhou City for over 2 hours, Zhang Tie knew that he finally arrived at his destination.

It was less than 10 miles away from Huaiyuan Mansion, which was close to the Fengyang Lake in Youzhou City. The bank of the lake was planted with 7 miles’ willows, which looked pretty nice. This was the habitation of rich people across Youzhou City. What attracted Zhang Tie’s eyes was an extremely remarkable manor and courtyard in this habitation, which covered about 470,000 square meters. The high, vermilion wall of the manor occupied 1/3 of the street outside.

As it was the first day of the lunar new year, many stores didn’t open today. However, a lot of vehicles and servants in tidy uniforms had been busy receiving guests outside the manor. Some airships directly landed at the airport behind the manor. After someone got off it, it flew off.

This was the most boisterous place across Youzhou City today.

"As master will wash his hand in a gold basin today, about 1,000 influential figures would arrive here today. We’d better be spirited up. Don’t make any trouble. After today, Steward Zuo said he would award each of us 3 gold coins." A person in the uniform of steward shouted at the side door outside the manor while guiding those servants to carry the food ingredients into the kitchen of the main mansion from the side door. Of course, the guests could not just watch the performance here, they had to enjoy food and drinks here, "Did Jiang Si’s group come back? I told them to take fresh venison from Linjia Village."

"Not yet."

"Take some people to find them. Hurry, the cooks are waiting for it. Venison and deer blood are required for two dishes tonight!"

"Yes, sir!"

After hearing this, Zhang Tie turned around and entered a teahouse on one side.

Like hotels and pubs, this teahouse still ran in the new year festival. There were also many people inside it when Zhang Tie entered.

Gathering around a circle in the courtyard in the teahouse, those people were having tea water, desserts, melon seeds, peanuts and listening to a man in a madarin jacket over a gown telling a story vividly with a fan in hand in front of a small square table. In the expression of Taixia Country, they were not listening to a story, but pingshu.

The roof of the courtyard was half sealed. Although it was precious to light and air, it didn’t leak rain or snow; there were still some vigorous green plants in the courtyard, making it a special scenery.

Of course, many people were also watching the grand occasion in the manor. Some were whispering or discussing the event in the manor which was not far from here with low exclamations.

"Welcome, welcome, come in!"

The moment Zhang Tie entered the teahouse, an argute lad had walked towards him and greeted Zhang Tie with a big smile.

Zhang Tie flicked a silver coin towards him.

"Give me a tranquil private room. I don’t wanna be bothered. By the way, bring me your best tea water and pastries!"

The lad immediately caught the silver coin before turning around and shouting, "VIP in No. 17 Heavens private room, Floor 3!"

Zhang Tie directly went upstairs to the 3rd floor while another lad greeted him at the end of the staircase and led him directly to a private room which was a bit farther than the courtyard. After opening the door of the private room for Zhang Tie, he invited Zhang Tie in.

This private room covered over 20 square meters while being matched with soft seats and a teapoy. There was also a window inside, from where Zhang Tie could watch the manor in the opposite. Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this room.

"Sir, what can I do for you?"

"Bring me the best tea water and pastries!" To be honest, as it was Zhang Tie’s first time to enter such an entertainment venue in Taixia Country; therefore, Zhang Tie didn’t know what to order.

"Okay, sir, I find you’re new here, you might not know the price of this private room; being different from those seats outside, you need to pay 50 more copper coins per hour here. You can stay here until we close it for the night. As "honesty and integrity management" is our service ideology, we don’t cheat any customer!"

"Good, no problem, you can leave!"

After the lad left the private room for a short while, he took in a pot of tea and some plates of pastries. After arranging all of these items on the teapoy, he asked whether Zhang Tie needed any other service or not. Watching Zhang Tie nodding his head, he left the room while closing the door for Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie picked a piece of tea cake and ate it. At the same time, he listened to the discussions of those people in the teahouse. When he ate one plate of tea cakes, he almost got the information that he needed. Zhang Tie finally learned about the background of the "altar head of Heavens Reaching Church" who was going to wash his hands in a gold basin here today.

The altar head surnamed Jiang. Everyone called him Master Jiang. This person was famous in Youzhou Province, even in the entire Northeast Military Region.

Master Jiang’s ancestors were all blacksmiths. He started to help his father in the smithy when he was only 8 years old and showed a very high talent for casting. His experience was amazing. He became an artisan apprentice at 12, an artisan at 16, when his casting skills exceeded that of his father; when he was 20 years old, he had promoted to a copper hammer artisan. In the next 100-odd years, Master Jiang constantly promoted to a silver hammer artisan, a gold hammer artisan, a mithril artisan and a secret runes artisan. Master Jiang had promoted to a master artisan 4 decades ago.

If one person could promote to a master artisan, he would be famous wherever he was, even in Taixia Country.

Before promoting to a master artisan, Master Jiang had taken the office of deputy director of the Provincial Construction Administration in Tongzhou Province. After promoting to a master artisan, Master Jiang took the office of director general of the Provincial Construction Administration. He worked 2 decades in this position before applying for resignation and gaining his freedom once again.

Master Jiang didn’t stop cultivating these years after he resigned. As a result, his reputation grew louder. He used to produce elite rune products. As Master Jiang was excelled at casting weapons, especially at casting swords, his mansion was frequently visted by people who invited him to cast weapons for them. Therefore, Master Jiang had established deep human relationships over the past years; additionally, his reputation grew louder and spread farther.

Master Jiang’s old home was in Youzhou Province. After Youzhou became established, Master Jiang moved to Youzhou Province and settled down there.

The great part of the industry in the craftsmen’s street in Youzhou City belonged to Master Jiang, his apprentices or his apprentices’ apprentices. This indicated Master Jiang’s influence in Youzhou City.

When Master Jiang was celebrating his 149th birthday last year, he declared to wash his hands in a gold basin and would not touch tools that were used to cast rune equipment this year. He wanted to improve his health physically and mentally and sense the natural laws so as to make further progress in casting rune equipment.

The day arrived today when the entire Jiang Mansion became busy.

Master Artisan——even Zhang Clan which was famous for casting rune equipment in Waii Sub-continent only had one Master Artisan!

After knowing this guy’s background, Zhang Tie became excited immediately as he knew that he caught a big fish...