Castle of Black Iron

The lobbyist arrived faster than Zhang Tie could imagine.

Zhang Tie didn’t even enter his room in the Flyingdragon Manor. When Zhang Tie, Jiang Ruoxin, and Ji Yuelan were leaving Flyingdragon Manor with Liu Yong and Liu Meng, they saw an aged, gentle immortal general with elegant bead getting off his flying lizard and was asking a butler of the manor about something at the entrance.

“Has Head Huang’s group from Heavenly Square City of Nine Heavens Big Domain arrived here?”

“Yes; they have arrived just now…” Watching the silver dragon pattern of 8 threads on the old man’s wristbands, the butler almost bowed his head to the ground.

“Head Huang is my old friend. Quick, show me the way…”

“Yes, sir; please come with me…”

When that visitor encountered Zhang Tie’s group of 5, he revealed a smile at them. Zhang Tie also nodded towards him. After that, they passed by each other silently.

After leaving Flyingdragon Manor, Liu Yong whispered, “Ah, that man…”

“Hahaha, he’s a friend of Head Huang. He must be paying a visit to his old friend!” Zhang Tie replied with a smile.

“How do you solve the problem?” Ji Yuelan continued to care about the housing.

Zhang Tie smiled as he pointed at that village on the opposite of the river, saying, “It’s not far from Flyingdragon Manor. We will know it right away over there if something happens here. Let’s go to that town and renovate a house!”

“You can renovate a house?” Jiang Ruoxin asked as he took an amazed look at Zhang Tie. If Zhang Tie said he could kill people, the two women would never doubt him; however, it was really unbelievable that he could renovate a house. Even Liu brothers watched Zhang Tie in an unimaginable way.

“You will see it!” Zhang Tie smiled. After exchanging a glance with each other, Liu brothers and the two women all became curious as they urged to go there with Zhang Tie.

However, Zhang Tie didn’t feel strange about their response; because the professions in Motian Realm were sharply different than those in the world where he came from. There was no coal or petroleum in Motian Realm; neither could steam engines or powerful machines be invented here. Perhaps people here didn’t think about developing those things which appeared useless. Generally, there was no common ground between engineers, common workers and immortal generals. By contrast, rune instrument master shared common grounds with engineers, common workers and knights in Taixia Country. At the low level, rune instrument masters would make a lot of things that were closely related to common lives. Even a rune instrument master was not a professional engineer, after promoting to an immortal craftsman, a rune instrument master could almost make everything that he saw using metals. On this occasion, it was a piece of cake for an immortal craftsman to act as an engineer and renovate a house.

After passing by the river, the group of five came straight to the village along the flagstone pavement on the riverside.

After staying with each other and executing tasks for so many days on the airboat, those women were getting along well with each other and almost became good sisters. Previously, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan wanted to call Leng Manxue to go together with them; however, they remembered that Leng Manxue had already left Flyingdragon Manor the moment she arrived.

With over 600 households, this village was full of apricot blossoms. There was a large apricot wood on the hillside on one side. As it was close to Dragon Emperor City, villagers lived well. There was even a small shrine in the village. On the side neighboring an avenue of Dragon Emperor City, there were some hostels for travelers from all walks of life. Across the village, there were 20-30 households which looked nice. Outside the village, some courtyards looked pretty nice; those who lived in there might not be local villagers. After circling around the village for a while, the group of 5 focused on a new courtyard.

Being built on the riverside, that courtyard in shape of the Chinese character “目” covered over 2,000 square meters. It was over 600 m away from the public road towards Dragon Emperor City, with an apricot wood in between. Therefore, it looked pretty tranquil. Two bluestone trails were connected to the village and the public road.

After knocking at the gate, they waited there for half a minute before an old servant opened it. He took a look at the group of 5. When he noticed their special costumes of the immortal palace, the old servant instantly lowered his body to show his respect.

After acknowledging their purpose, the old servant became stunned for a second as his smile became more passionate. He then hurriedly invited them in and called out the slightly fat master in brilliant silk clothes.

“Are you introduced by Head Huo of the village’s shrine?” the master asked them out of curiosity.

“No!” Zhang Tie replied as he shook his head with a smile.

“Ah? If you’re not introduced by Head Huo, how did you know I was going to sell this house?” the master asked as he became more curious.

“It’s a coincidence. We’ve just arrived at Dragon Emperor City today and are living in Flyingdragon Manor. Because it’s a bit inconvenient over there, we would like to buy a courtyard in the nearby. As your courtyard looks decent and is tranquil in the surroundings, we especially came here to ask whether you want to sell it or not!” Zhang Tie talked with the owner of this house as Ji Yuelan, Jiang Ruoxin and Liu brothers watched from aside.

The master took a look at Zhang Tie, then Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers, then Zhang Tie again as he instantly understood it and nodded hurriedly, “It’s true; it’s true. I’ve been told that many immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace came back from other domains these days, you must feel inconvenient living with the other immortal generals as you have wives and concubine and guards. However, my courtyard has recently been built at a high cost. I’ve just started living in it. Previously, it was built by my son for me. However, in the late couple of months, I urgently needed money because of business; otherwise, I would not sell it. Look at the furniture in the house, they’re all of the top quality. I don’t plan to remove these pieces of furniture anymore. The pond, the rockery and the woods took me too much time and money…”

Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers didn’t even change their face when they heard the master’s words. Ji Yuelan even glanced at Jiang Ruoxin. Jiang Ruoxin even pinched Ji Yuelan stealthily with a blush.

“It’s okay, how much do you want?”

After watching Zhang Tie for a while, the master gritted his teeth before answering, “At least 620 purple crystal coins…”

Zhang Tie directly took out an earth element crystal and put it on the table, saying, “I’ve not brought so many purple crystal coins. You must have seen the world and know what is this. This item is far more valuable than 620 purple crystal coins. How about exchanging your house with this element crystal?”

Goggling at the element crystal on the table, the master screamed, “Are you…are you sure?”

“Sure…but I need you to move out as soon as possible. We will live in tonight. As it’s not far away from Dragon Emperor City, you could have someone take you to the downtown to your son. Is there any problem?”

“No problem, no problem. I could rent a flying lizard from the hostel on the roadside. If not, I could live in the hostel for one night…”

“That’s the deal…” Zhang Tie smiled as he gave the earth element crystal to that master…

…

Only after 10 minutes, an old servant of that master had already rent a flying-lizard vehicle and pulled over outside the gate of the courtyard. After loading on the master and some packages that his two servants had prepared, he drove away happily.

Referring to the contract, Zhang Tie jostled down a list of items and gave it to Liu Yong, telling Liu brothers to rent two mounts from the hostel and inquire about the stores and markets where they could buy these items. Liu brothers were asked to come back as soon as possible.

Taking Zhang Tie’s list, Liu brothers hurriedly left.

“How did you know he was going to sell this house?” Ji Yuelan asked as she widely opened her eyes.

“It’s a coincidence, more like God’s will!” Zhang Tie replied with a smile. After that, he started to take a tour of the house.

This house was indeed a new one. Nobody had lived in it before. It’s proper to renovate it. Additionally, the furnishings inside the courtyard were not luxurious. With a small bridge over the pond, a rockery, green willows and red flowers, it was pretty tranquil.

In over 2 hours, the night fell when Liu brothers came back with an assistant by two flying lizards full of loads.

The vehicles were full of items, which were rightly what Zhang Tie had jostled on the paper——building materials, including iron sheets, copper wire, golden lacquer, silver sheets, lead foils and some processing tools.

Under the gaze of the other 4, Zhang Tie adroitly used those tools. On a worktop, he extended a roll of an iron sheet before tailoring it into a vivid image of blossoms by a pair of scissors which could be pasted onto the wall. After fixing the image onto the wall, Zhang Tie dipped golden lacquer by brush and touched it on the image. In a split second, a bizarre rune appeared as it became alive; closely after that, it lurked in the image…

“The skill of runes…” Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers were startled at the same time.

Zhang Tie turned around and took a look at Liu brothers, saying, “What are you staying there for? Give me a hand. Measure the size of those stone bricks on the floor of rooms and toilets and cut those copper wire into sections as long as the diagonal line of those stone bricks. I will use them after a while…”

After that, Zhang Tie told Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan, “You two cut those lead foils into the shape of stone bricks…”

Not until then the did the four people wake up.

…

Four hours later, the first renovated room was completed.

After Zhang Tie’s renovation, the common room became an artwork. The walls and floor had been covered with thin iron sheets in the shape of flowers which carried three-dimensional effect, leading to a bizarre space themed by a park. After being processed, those dead metals became completely alive. The perfect allocation of colors and those patterns that Zhang Tie drew on the walls were exceptional.

Of course, those metals were not only for a good look or aesthetic effect. The runes that lurked in those metals had made this room a private space that couldn’t be peeped in from outside.

No matter what, Zhang Tie was an immortal craftsman. Even though not too many rune skills were applied in renovating this room, numerous people would queue up to live in such a room in Taixia Country.

Watching such a grand room, Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers were shocked too much that they couldn’t utter a voice for quite a while. They could never believe that this perfect room was renovated by Zhang Tie if they did not watch him do that.

Especially Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan, who felt this room was more like a piece of delicate jewelry.

“Time limit, I couldn’t demolish the walls and add something inside. Therefore, this is the best that I could do for the time being. With these furnishings, the effect of privacy and safety inside the room would be a bit better than that of our hatch rooms on the airboat. It’s enough. Additionally, I’ve set some runes of recovery inside the room. As a result, people would sleep well inside it. It’s also suitable for cultivation. I’ve already improved the lock and the fixed structure of the door, it becomes firmer now. This room belongs to me. It’s a template. If you have any suggestions, just let me know. I will make a better one for you!”

After exchanging a glance with each other, the two women uttered in unison, “What? Your room? It’s our room. Go, go, go…”

Before Zhang Tie and Liu brothers made any response, they had been pushed out of the door by Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan.

With a loud sound “bang”, the three men looked at each other outside the door…

“Boss…” Liu brothers changed their appellation to Zhang Tie as they rubbed their hands and watched him with fawning smiles, continuing, “Look, they’ve got one. We brothers are not inconvenient in Flyingdragon Manor either, how about…”

Zhang Tie then let out a sigh, saying, “Alright, I owe you!” Closely after that, he turned solemn, adding, “But here’s the deal, your room won’t have so many flowers. Additionally, you two will live in one room. I don’t have time to make one room for each of you!”

“Hehheh, we know, we know, just make it a bit private so that we could sleep a bit better!”

“Which one do you want?”

The two brothers then pointed at a room far away from here in another courtyard, saying, “That one!”

“Hmm, but I will make it in the end. I have to make one for General Deacon Leng and me respectively first. Am I clear?”

“Clear, boss, you could make it whenever you’re free!”

…

Zhang Tie was busy for one night with the help of Liu brothers.

When the day broke, Zhang Tie had already completed the renovation of two more rooms, one for Leng Manxue, the other for Zhang Tie himself.

Watching the room of his own, Zhang Tie heaved a sigh satisfactorily…

‘No matter how long would I stay in Dragon Emperor City for nothing, I finally got a place to take fruits and promote to five change realm of shadow knight.’

‘Flyingdragon Manor is too populated and disordered. What is more, it is far from privacy and safety. On April 1st, I only took the fruit of brilliance. It took me more than one day to fully assimilate it. There’re still a lot of fruits on the small tree. Half of the new wind elements have not been refined and integrated yet. On this occasion, I couldn’t hide somewhere for one fruit in each half month. If I always do that, intentional persons like Zhou Baifei might find my loopholes. That would not be good!’

‘Therefore, the best way is to stay in his eyes. As long as I close my door, he would not know what I’m doing inside….’

When Zhang Tie was renovating his nest not far from Flyingdragon Manor, he didn’t forget about noticing the talk between Huang Baimei and his “old friend”.

As was imagined by Zhang Tie, that visitor was on behalf of Elder Xiong, one of five elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.

What surprised Zhang Tie was that Huang Baimei refused Elder Xiong’s olive twig…