Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie’s qi sea was empty. After clashing against Versatile Demon Emperor, all the silver secret items including the heavy mace and hammer in his qi sea had been destroyed. What counted the most was that all the battle qi in Zhang Tie’s qi sea had disappeared; instead, a sort of grey energy was occupying Zhang Tie’s qi sea like fog, which devoured all the battle qi in Zhang Tie’s qi sea.

Zhang Tie was familiar with this sort of energy very much as it was the same as that left by the thunder of nirvana in his body last time.

Zhang Tie almost spurted out blood due to this discovery. As for the energy of the thunder of nirvana in his body, if not the help of golden sage and silver sage, Zhang Tie didn’t even know whether he could find the solution or not. He had not imagined that he could encounter the same thing in Motian Realm for the second time.

‘No, I should not be that hapless. Now that I could survive the strike of Versatile Demon Emperor, I should not lose my battle strength and become a good-for-nothing; additionally, I was not hit by the thunder of nirvana directly this time…’

Zhang Tie consoled himself. Closely after that, he recovered his composure and continued to observe that energy in his qi sea.

Through serious observation, Zhang Tie finally discovered the difference between this energy and the one left by the thunder of nirvana last time.

This energy was not as much and terrifying as that in his qi sea last time.

If the energy left by the thunder of nirvana in his qi sea was like a black hole with great suction which could devour everything, this energy was smaller, thinner and sparser like a huge dry piece of sponge. Last time, the energy was like real which made his qi sea a sieve. By contrast, this energy was like a grey fog which didn’t have such a great suction at all; nor was it too worse. Although being in his qi sea, it didn’t make his qi sea a sieve. Zhang Tie just felt that a foreign body was in the complete space of his qi sea.

This situation was much better than last time.

‘It’s empty in my qi sea. I think part of the reason lies in the overconsumption of my battle qi when fighting Versatile Demon Emperor; what’s more is the last fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor against me.’

‘The last strike of Versatile Demon Emperor was too terrifying. Its energy was too weird. Although I could withstand the greater part of its energy, when the remaining energy of that strike broke my protective battle qi and hit me, I was still heavily shocked. When the remaining energy spread over my body, my qi sea was heavily damaged at a stroke. In a split second, the sun in my qi sea was shattered into pieces by the special energy. Meanwhile, all of my surging points were heavily shocked. After being invaded by that energy of Versatile Demon Emperor, besides scorching pains, I also felt being blown up.’

Zhang Tie felt that Versatile Demon Emperor didn’t want to penetrate through him by the energy of his last strike; instead, he just wanted to detonate Zhang Tie’s battle qi in his qi sea and his surging points, destroying him in this world in a split second.

It was definitely a fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor. However, Versatile Demon Emperor had not imagined that Zhang Tie could release a pile of silver secret items to withstand his fatal strike at that moment. Additionally, Versatile Demon Emperor’s fatal battle formation suddenly collapsed due to a strange foreign force; otherwise, Zhang Tie would never have survived.

Without that fatal strike, Zhang Tie felt that the grey energy being similar to that energy left by the thunder of nirvana in his qi sea last time should not be able to empty his qi sea. Zhang Tie was already a heavenly knight who was many times more powerful than that when he had just been promoted to a shadow knight. Additionally, the grey energy was much weaker and sparser than that before; therefore, Zhang Tie confirmed that this grey energy would not cause the same severe effect as before.

Therefore, the current situation facing his qi sea should be mainly related to the last strike of Versatile Demon Emperor.

Through introspection, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure as he started to analyze his problem precisely and objectively.

After studying that grey energy in his qi sea seriously, Zhang Tie finally confirmed that the “Immortal Formation-breaking Thunder” that he had heard in the fatal battle formation of Versatile Demon Emperor was absolutely the thunder of nirvana that he had suffered at Weishui Riverside.

In the world where Zhang Tie came from, the thunder of nirvana was a weird existence. Someone took it as a silver secret item; someone took it a golden secret item because it was too destructive. However, it was a bit weird if a golden secret item was disposable. Therefore, there was not a unified way of expression about the thunder of nirvana.

In the world where Zhang Tie came from, the thunder of nirvana was taken as a strategic weapon for killing sage-level knights and top powers. However, in Motian Realm, the thunder of nirvana was used for breaking the immortal emperor’s battle formation. Given its effect, the thunder of nirvana should be more destructive to the realms of immortal emperors directly. Perhaps this was the real purpose of the thunder of nirvana. Immortal battle formation-breaking thunder should be the real precise name of the thunder of nirvana.

As there were no immortal emperor-level powers in the world where Zhang Tie came from, the immortal battle formation-breaking thunder was only used to kill sage-level knights.

Zhang Tie gradually checked out the true purpose of the thunder of nirvana. After all, the accumulation in this aspect in Motian Realm couldn’t be matched by that world he came from.

When Zhang Tie introspected his mind sea, he finally proved his speculation and judgment.

There was also a grey fog in his mind sea. However, the situation facing his mind sea was much better than that facing his qi sea.

Zhang Tie’s mind sea was not heavily injured. In the mysterious mind sea, the 360 brilliant stars and golden moon were still hanging over the sky. Starlight and moonlight were casting down like mercury and reflecting on the lofty Kingkong Mountain. Under the starlight and the moonlight, the deposited snow on the top of Kingkong Mountain slowly melted down and entered the lake at the foot of the mountain, which was composed of Zhang Tie’s real spiritual energy.

At this moment, the lake was already dry as all the spiritual energy had been absorbed by that grey fog. However, his spiritual energy was still flowing off Kingkong Mountain constantly.

Compared to Zhang Tie’s battle qi, his spiritual energy was several levels higher in quality and quantity and could better meet the demand of the grey fog. Zhang Tie found that as it absorbed more and more spiritual energy in his mind sea, a wisp of the grey fog over the lake of Zhang Tie’s spiritual energy had turned white. It seemed that the grey fog’s suction decreased a bit at the same time. At the same time, more spiritual energy flew off the Kingkong Mountain and entered the dry lake.

The Heavens-Separation Sword and the Earth-River Vehicle which were flying across the surface of the dry lake became thrilled at a stroke.

When he saw the two golden secret items and felt more and more available spiritual energy in his mind sea, Zhang Tie looked much better at once as he became a bit confident…

Although his physical condition was a bit bad, it was not the worst yet. At least it was much better than that when he fought demons at Weishui river. He was confident to recover his mind sea in a short period of time. As for his broken arm and eye, as long as he could return to Castle of Black Iron and took a vial of super recovery medicament, they would grow again.

After finishing his introspection, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he found that half of the sun had been below the sea level and it was going to be dark. After taking a look at his naked body, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he wobbled and picked himself up.

‘Oh, hope I could take something out of Castle of Black Iron. At least, I don’t want to be naked in this isle.’

Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy; however, he found that Castle of Black Iron was still unavailable.

“Heller, can you hear me?”

“Yes, I can!” Heller replied calmly and warmly. After 2 seconds’ silence, Heller added solemnly, “Congratulations, Castle Lord, you’ve survived the fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor!”

“What time is it now? I remember that it was close to April 15 when I chased after Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu…”

“It’s been a few more days. Precisely, it’s April 18, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa’s Calendar!”

“Ah, I’ve already been in a coma for a few days…” Zhang Tie asked out of shock. Meanwhile, he took a look at those swollen and white wounds which had already healed automatically despite being soaked in seawater for a few days. Zhang Tie then started to feel lucky about his powerful physique. If not his super-powerful physique, his super great resistance to fatal strikes and superb self-healing ability, he must have been killed after being soaked in seawater for a few days, even though he was not directly killed by Versatile Demon Emperor.

“Yes, Castle Lord, if you want to use the items in Castle of Black Iron, you have to wait for another 12 days…”

“Alright, I will find other ways…”

Zhang Tie then ended the talk with Heller. After taking a look around, he sighed inside, ‘I’m afraid that I could only use tree leaves as a fig leaf.

Zhang Tie then wobbled towards a coconut wood in the nearby. Meanwhile, a feeling of starvation hit his brain time and time again like a tsunami.

It was good for him to have the feeling of starvation as it meant that his physical functions had started to work. What counted the most was to replenish water and energy.

Bang!

A coconut fell onto the sand the moment Zhang Tie entered the coconut wood.

There were so many coconuts on the sand, some had been there for a few years. Some coconuts on the sand beach were carried into the ocean by rising and falling tides, leaving many remains of coconut shells on the sand beach.

Licking his lips, Zhang Tie walked over there and picked that coconut.

Previously Zhang Tie planned to break the coconut by his fingers; however, he found that he couldn’t even do it as he was even weaker than a commoner at this moment despite being able to lift a mountain in normal times.

‘Alright…’ Zhang Tie gave up using sheer force. Holding the coconut, he formed an invisible force in the air by his spiritual energy and opened a hole in the center of the coconut shell in a split second.

Closely after that, a fresh and aromatic juice flew out of the coconut. Raising the coconut, Zhang Tie then put his mouth on the hole and had a cool drink.

At this moment, the juice in the coconut was the most precious thing for Zhang Tie in this world.

The juice contained water and sugar which was urgently needed by Zhang Tie.

After drinking it up, Zhang Tie immediately absorbed the energy of the sweet juice. Just now he felt a bit cold facing the sea wind; now, Zhang Tie felt warm. Closely after that, he felt having more force.

After taking a rest for 2 minutes, Zhang Tie felt having recovered some force. At least he felt much better than before, although he had not completely recovered.

At this moment, he picked the empty coconut shell and broke it by his fingers at once, revealing the snow-white meat inside.

After looking at his dirty hands, Zhang Tie put down the coconut and fetched two finger-long clean shells from the sand beach. Closely after that, he started to dig coconut meat by shells and eat them…

After eating up all the coconut meat, Zhang Tie felt a bit more energetic. As the dark fell, his wounds started to heal at a higher speed…

…

Half an hour later, Zhang Tie in a special pair of shorts made of coconut tree leaves had already collected a pile of coconuts. Sitting in the wood, he was going to open those coconuts to replenish water and energy. When he was eating coconut meat, his heart suddenly raced as he looked up at the sky in the distance.

With the bit of spiritual energy that he had accumulated in his mind sea in such a short period of time, Zhang Tie immediately triggered his lotus-flower eyes. Closely after that, he found an immortal general was inspecting the sea level in the sky.

As he didn’t wear any metal wings, it indicated that he was at least a heavenly knight. When Zhang Tie saw his face clearly, Zhang Tie’s heart pounded at a stroke——he saw another gloomy and slightly old face under the stranger’s mask.

Although Zhang Tie had not seen him before, he had read it through the mind of the general butler of Si Clan in Cyan Lotus City in Woods Medium-sized Domain. This man was Si Dan the forbear of Si Clan, also the head of Cyan Dragon Branch of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace who was being chased by Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace!

In a split second, Zhang Tie had understood that Si Dan must be looking for him after receiving the order of His majesty of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, also Versatile Demon Emperor. ‘He’s searching for me in the possible regions. Although Versatile Demon Emperor didn’t kill me, he could generally judge where that hurricane could take me to. Given the force of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, of course, Versatile Demon Emperor could assign someone here to look for me. Perhaps, Versatile Demon Emperor himself is looking for me somewhere.’

When Zhang Tie recognized the true identity of that person, Si Dan sensed Zhang Tie’s spiritual energy too as he fixated onto Zhang Tie and rushed towards this isle as fast as a lightning bolt, eyes shining…

‘Motherf*cker, can’t you spare me a life?’ Zhang Tie sprung up as he passed through the coconut wood and escaped towards the ocean as fast as he could…