Chapter 89: Secret Knowledge and Angel
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
Holding onto the mysterious book, Zhang Tie skimmed through the book of about 200 pages, unable to sleep. The paper was both water resistant and fire resistant and was coated in silver. Zhang Tie knew that silver coated paper was extremely expensive. Only a few very important classical or sacred books would be recorded on silver coated paper. However, as silver coated papers could not be printed, people had to use a special pen and ink in order to leave marks on the paper, thus all books or texts made using silver coated paper, including the book containing the skill, would have to be copied by hand. Even the patterns inside the book were painted by hand. Obviously, the book was copied and written by the hand of a highly skilled man, as the words and pattern inside the book would make people feel happy and looked more appealing than even printed books.
Originating from an imperial sacred book from the Norman Empire, although its contents had been spread for a long time, the Oriental fist skill contained within has contents which were incomparable to other ordinary sacred books. With the first page alone, Zhang Tie had already been deeply captivated.
Lots of secret knowledge was recorded in this book. After one night of reading, within his mind, Zhang Tie had basically formed a framework of cultivating the Iron-Blood Fist Skill.
The cultivation system of the Iron Blood Fist Skill was composed of three parts:
The first part of the book was stake work cultivation[1]. According to the book, stake work was the basis for cultivating and enhancing the power of the Iron-Blood Fist. There were three types of stake works introduced in the book: Lying Tiger Stake, Coiling Dragon Stake, and Cross Stake. For the Lying Tiger Stake, the cultivator was to lower his body and sprawl on the ground like tiger, keeping still for a period longer than half an hour before moving on to the next stage. For the Coiling Dragon Stake, the cultivator was to cross their legs until their knees touched, much like a coiling snake. They were to keep their spine perfectly straight and raise their head as they squared their shoulders[2]. The cultivator was to also constantly shake themselves by repeating movements like keeping their back straight while squatting up and down, much like a coiled up snake that was about to bite. For the Cross Stake, it was a mixture and a variant of the Lying Tiger Stake and the Coiling Dragon Stake and could only be cultivated after the other two stakes were well-practiced. The Cross Stake required the cultivator's lower body to act like a coiling snake, while the cultivator's upper body should act like a tiger who was holding a spear in each hand, using the spears to form a cross...
The second part of the book was about the combination and derivation of the 36 free hand movements and the 5 basic walking forms of the Iron-Blood Fist Skill...
The third part of the book detailed an oral formula for the Iron Blood Qi Combination skill, which could not be cultivated until one has become proficient at the Lying Tiger Stake. Using breathing skills to ignite their burning points along with the help of the stakes and the fist skills, a cultivator would be able to combine the six forces within the human body and form the Hidden Force and the True Force. Compared to the previous two parts, this part was a bit hard for Zhang Tie to master, as the most crucial part of the book that made Zhang Tie muddleheaded pertained to the cultivation of Iron Blood Battle Qi. This section contained the least amount of words and was only a single line of Chinese characters—"After one's True Force forms and the six forces have been integrated, use the fire of god to purify the intention of your fist. Iron Blood Battle Qi will sprout after nine deaths and will come into being after a hundred deaths!"
What was the intention of fist? What did "using the fire of god to purify the intention of your fist" mean? What did it mean by nine deaths? One hundred deaths? Reading through the characters, Zhang Tie was truly puzzled for quite a while. Thankfully, he was forced by his parent to recite a big Chinese dictionary when he was young, thus learning many characters in the process. Due to this, he was able to figure out the original meaning of the final line of guidance written in Chinese. After translating it into English, Zhang Tie realized why 99 out of 100 people who had formed Iron-Blood True Force could not pass the final hurdle. Motherf*ckers! Foreign people wouldn't be able to understand its original meaning at all. In the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor, presumably only the monarchs of the Norman Empire would know the meaning of this line of guidance.
After spending almost the entire night reading over the skill, Zhang Tie's eyes turned red. At 3am or 4am when he had almost skimmed over the entire book, Zhang Tie, in his heart, saluted all the female monarchs of the Norman Empire and closed the book. Afterwards, he fell asleep. As the current period of time was meant for him to recuperate, there was nothing important to do the next day, thus Zhang Tie didn't care about when he went to bed.
On the second day, as expected, Zhang Tie woke up at noon. After getting up, he washed his face and rinsed his mouth before preparing his belongings and leaving.
In reality, Zhang Tie didn't have many belongings here. Using the pioneer bag made from calfskin[3], which Barley had used to bring him food, Zhang Tie placed some food, seeds, and the book containing the into the bag before leaving the ward he had been living for the past week.
Before leaving the ward, Zhang Tie went to the office of the Temporary Supervision Committee to deal with the relevant departure procedures. He then went to bid farewell to Captain Kerlin and Zerom. Unfortunately, the two had already gone out for a routine inspection early in the morning, thus he had no choice but to leave.
During the survival training, teachers and coaches both had their own responsibilities. For teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee, they were responsible for sweeping magical beasts and mutated living beings that could endanger the lives of the students in Wild Wolf Valley. Therefore, it became their daily job to make routine inspections over Wild Wolf Valley. For many of the teachers, with such an easy job, it was as if they were out for vacation.
After being told that Captain Kerlin and Mr. Zerom had left, Zhang Tie bid farewell to the guys in the iron smelting workshop whom he had gotten familiar with in the past few days. Afterwards, Zhang Tie walked out of Wild Wolf Castle.
The square of Wild Wolf Castle was already teeming with people at noon. Coincidentally, Zhang Tie saw Pandora once again among the crowd. Pandora had always set her booth in a corner that was not particularly eye-catching. Sitting in a corner, that thin and small girl would hide in the corner as she hugged her knees.
It was only when Zhang Tie had arrived before Pandora's booth did the girl with a thin and small frame raise her head and look at Zhang Tie. "I'm really sorry. I wasn't able to pick any fruits today..."
In front of Pandora was a small pile of ordinary, wild vegetables. Looking at Pandora, Zhang Tie realized that her clothes were soaked from the morning dew and realized that she must have gone foraging for wild vegetables and fruits early in the morning. However, during the survival training, many people would choose to forage for wild vegetables and fruits, thus making them harder to find due to lower quantity. Since this was the case, objectively speaking, the girls were forced to team up with boys to finish the survival training. After all, humans lived in groups. As an individual, unless they were exceptionally powerful, it would be difficult to survive in the wild.
The pitiful look of that petite girl slightly shocked Zhang Tie...
"Ah, my wounds are not that serious anymore and I can now freely move. I will be leaving today, so before leaving, I came to say goodbye! Zhang Tie felt bashful as he scratched his head.
"Oh, I hope you recover soon!" Pandora smiled. This was the first time Zhang Tie had seen her smile. With her pair of beautiful blue eyes, she looked pretty nice when she smiled. As he gave Pandora a second look, Zhang Tie mumbled inside, "Hmm, with the exception of her thin and petite figure and the freckles on her face, Pandora is still very beautiful."
"Are you free tonight?" Zhang Tie suddenly asked.
"What for?" Hearing his words, Pandora suddenly became alert as she hid her chest behind her knees.
"I... wanted to invite you to dinner at our tree base. I realized that you always forage for food by yourself, so if you haven't joined any team yet, then I wish to sincerely invite you to join us. We have seven male students, all of which are nice guys!"
"Are you inviting me to be your partner during the survival training?" Pandora's eyes started to shine; however, they soon became depressed once again. "No... I can't agree!"
"Why?" Zhang Tie was startled.
"They said that anyone who's with me will suffer misfortune. I don't want to bring you troubles. Last time, right after you bought my wild fruits, you were forced to jump into a hole by wolves," Pandora dejectedly said.
"Nonsense. How could I blame you for that!? Look at me, aren't I perfectly fine?" As he said this, Zhang Tie flexed his muscle in a manner akin to bodybuilders in order to show off the muscles on his arms, causing Pandora to bashfully chuckle.
"You really don't care?"
"Of course not. Don't listen to what they're saying. I even see you as my lucky angel. If it weren't for you, I might have already starved to death..." Zhang Tie loudly shouted.
"Then... okay!" Pandora finally agreed after thinking for a while.
Receiving Pandora's consent, Zhang Tie heaved a sigh of relief inside. Since this was the first time he had invited a girl, if he were to have been refused, then he would really feel like he had lost face. In regards to the attack from the wild wolves, Mr. Zerom had already implied that Zhang Tie might have been set up by someone, so how could he blame Pandora for that incident?. Besides, when Zhang Tie was very young, his mom had told him never to blame others for your own bad luck. A man should be committed. Zhang Tie had always kept that sincere guidance deep in his mind.
"Then, it's a set! In the afternoon, I will come here to pick you up. Our tree house is very interesting, and we all live inside tree hollows. We will also have fish soup to drink tonight..."
"Living in tree hollows?" Pandora slightly raised her face, which contained an expression of longing. At the sight of Pandora's curious expression, Zhang Tie immediately affirmed that fish soup and tree houses were both attractive to girls.
"Oh, right..." Zhang Tie took out of several pieces of dried rations and dried meat from his bag and put away all the wild vegetables that had been wrapped with clean tree leaves by Pandora. "I want all the wild vegetables!"
The dried rations and dried meat given by Zhang Tie to Pandora was excessively greater than the value of the wild vegetables, causing Pandora to get up hurriedly. "It's too much, I don't need that much..."
"Haha, it's ok. The extra can be considered your free lunch..." Zhang Tie smiled and waved his hands towards Pandora before he strode out of the square...
Looking at Zhang Tie's shadow, the girl slightly narrowed her eyes as she mumbled, "Could I really be someone's lucky angel?"
Chapter 90: Sharing Good Things
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
Ever since Zhang Tie was attacked by the wolves, the other horny students had voluntarily began to sweep the region 5km away from Wild Wolf Castle for wild wolves many times, resulting in the path between Wild Wolf Castle and the tree house to be much safer and not even a single strand of wolf fur could be found. What happened to Zhang Tie reminded everybody of the potential dangers. After all, such an incident could also happen to others. None of the horny students wanted to encounter a pack of wolves alone when they were accompanying girls back to Wild Wolf Castle, thus they all exerted their utmost efforts to clear out the wild wolves. During this process, they had truly encountered several lone wolves; however, they were unable to find the other four wolves who had attacked Zhang Tie that day.
On the way back to the tree base, especially when he passed by that grassland, Zhang Tie couldn't help but recall the incident that had happened to him that day and the furious gazes of the wolves that were fixed on him. The eternal hatred in their eyes made Zhang Tie feel that he might encounter the four wild wolves once again.
Currently, it was noon, and only Bagdad was left on-duty at the tree base. Returning to the tree base, Zhang Tie saw Bagdad and his bare arms. In his hands was a spear, which he used to practice a thrusting movement. The moment Zhang Tie came close to the tree base, he had already been noticed by Bagdad.
"Who?" Covered in sweat, Bagdad turned around with the spear in hand.
"Working hard, youth! I wonder if you were stimulated by me, who has already ignited my Shrine burning point!?" Zhang Tie walked over with a smile.
Seeing Zhang Tie's face, Bagdad, who was surprised at Zhang Tie's return, instantly froze. As his face twitched, Bagdad cursed, "B*stard!" At the same time, dropping his spear, he walked towards Zhang Tie and fiercely embraced him. "Don't get arrogant. I will surpass you sooner or later!"
"Bagdad, did you know? I have always had a big secret, but I do not have the heart to tell you!" Zhang Tie said with a serious expression.
Hearing Zhang Tie's words, as expected, Bagdad asked, "What secret?"
"The secret is... in fact, I am actually a genius among geniuses..." When Zhang Tie replied, his solemn look turned into an obscene smile, one which made Bagdad really want to beat him. "In the past, I just wanted to experience the life of you mortals, so in order to not make you feel bad, I have controlled my brilliance and have only shown 5% of my power. After this incident, I have decided to exert my utmost efforts to cultivate, which means that it would be next to impossible for you to surpass me from now on. I suggest you to choose a different target, as it is truly unfortunate for you, a mortal, to treat me as your target!"
"Argh, you b*stard..." Realizing that he had been played by Zhang Tie, Bagdad wrapped his arm around Zhang Tie's neck, almost causing him to suffocate...
...
As expected, returning to the tree base, when Barley and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood caught sight of Zhang Tie, they became extremely excited. Although they were not able to achieve too much today and were unable to catch any large preys using the big pits they had dug, using the small traps taught by Zhang Tie, which were made of stones and twigs, they were able to catch two pheasants. Additionally, they got more than ten palm-sized fish from the trap near the stream. Together with the wild vegetables that Zhang Tie had brought, they would be able to enjoy a filling supper tonight.
As dusk fell, Zhang Tie told them that he would invite a girl for supper. Under the whistles of the horny students, Zhang Tie went to pick up Pandora and brought her back to their tree base. As this was the first time she had been invited for supper by male students, Pandora looked somewhat stiff; however, after seeing the horny students laugh and joke around, she gradually became relaxed.
After supper, Zhang Tie invited Pandora to take a look at their tree base. Afterwards, Zhang Tie, Bagdad, and Sharwin went together to send Pandora back to Wild Wolf Castle. At the sight of the corner of Pandora's mouth having been raised, Zhang Tie knew that both his invitation and the supper was a success. it seemed that inviting girls wasn't particularly hard.
When they returned to the tree base, a bonfire had been lit under the Dragon-Claw Tree. Barley and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood were bragging as they sat under the tree and were talking about Pandora.
"Although her breasts and frame aren't fully developed, she still has a nice face. Bighead really has a strange taste in women!" Leit said.Maybe this kind of girl can easily arouse Bighead's desire to sleep with her. I have heard that there are many impotent men in their thirties who like this kind of girl since they are easily convinced. Hahaha..."
"Haven't you noticed that Pandora has a pair of watery eyes? According to my observations, all women with beautiful eyes are good at pleasing men..." Hista obscenely said.
"Even Bighead has a girlfriend. We have to work hard too. I remember that there were many beautiful girls among the group of girls that we invited last time. We can have a try tomorrow..."
When it came to girls, the horny students all became thrilled. Seeing Zhang Tie and the other two members return, they moved aside and let them in before continuing with the topic. Under their persistence, Zhang Tie honestly poured out how he had gotten to know Pandora. Although Zhang Tie had claimed repetitively that he didn't have any evil thoughts about Pandora and had only invited her as a friend to join their team to pass through the survival training, nobody believed him. They simply responded with jeers and doubtful eyes.
"You don't have any evil intentions about her because you're not circumcised. Not to mention that you're forbidden to stay alone with girls. Heh heh... If it weren't for these two obstacles, you would have already shown your evil nature!"
"I know you're planning to sleep with her when you return to Blackhot City. That's truly a good idea. You have really thought this through. Since that small girl isn't that attractive and is cautious, you will first get acquainted with her. Once you get acquainted with her, you won't have to worry about her being snatched by others!"
"Two months later, Pandora will develop a bit more, right?"
"She should be sexier by then. Girls nowadays develop faster and mature earlier than before!"
"Right now, her breasts are truly on the smaller side, so you plan to get acquainted with her first. Later, you won't have to worry about not having a chance to sleep with her..."
"Heh... heh..."
"These animals!" Zhang Tie cursed inside. In order to protect his ears and his innocent soul from being polluted by those dirty words, Zhang Tie decided to change the topic. At this time, he pulled out his ultimate weapon.
Remaining silent, Zhang Tie took out of the book from his clothes and started to read it beside the bonfire while the other members were obscenely laughing out loud.
"Bighead, what are you reading?" Sharwin, who liked reading, was the first to ask.
"Nothing special. It's just a mysterious book about the from the monarchs of the Norman Empire!" Zhang Tie nonchalantly explained, describing it as if it was an old knight novel that was purchased at a low price from the waste paper collection station.
"Oh!" Like normal, Sharwin responded normally; however, a second later, his eyes widened and his mouth gaped as his gaze was fixed on the book in Zhang Tie's hand.
Zhang Tie continued to nonchalantly read it. Gradually, with the exception of the "gulugulu" sounds made when the other members swallowed their saliva, all the noise disappeared. All of them looked at the book in Zhang Tie's hand with widely opened eyes as they sat beside the bonfire.
After a long while, only an occasional "shasha" sound could be heard when Zhang Tie turned the page. Nobody was talking anymore. At this moment, Zhang Tie surprisingly raised his head and glanced at the other guys with a "strange look". "Hey, how come you guys aren't talking? Feel free to continue!"
"Hohoho..." With a forced smile, Bagdad's gaze remained fixed on the book in Zhang Tie's hands. "You... what kind of mysterious martial arts are you reading?"
"Oh, you want to know about this..." Zhang Tie turned the book and showed them the cover, revealing the four words "Iron-Blood Fist Skill". Suddenly, all their eyes turned red. "It's nothing special. It's just the . Although it was secret knowledge among the monarchs of the Norman Empire before, it has long been spread to the military of the Norman Empire since before the Second Holy War between humans and magical clan. It's not that great since many people have been able to use it. It's simply a common book, with the exception that its pages are coated in silver and the words within were hand written..."
Zhang Tie continued to feign innocence; however, with the in his hand, his words were reliable.
"Where did you get this secret knowledge?" Even Leit had wide opened eyes as he continued to look at Zhang Tie with a look of amazement. No matter how common it was, it was still secret knowledge. Anything related to "secrets" could be considered luxurious for commoners. Among the undergraduates from Seventh National Male Middle School in Blackhot City of the Andaman Alliance, it would be really difficult to find anyone else more common in the Blackson Human Clan Corridor than the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood.
"I have a good character. I just can't help it..." Zhang Tie spread his palms. "Captain Kerlin had forced me to accept it. He said that he had obtained this in a battlefield and had even said that I had a brave character. He considered me to be pretty resilient and as someone who would probably be able to popularize this fist skill, so he simply forced me to accept it"
To tell the truth, Zhang Tie really hit the mark on Captain Kerlin's intentions.
Zhang Tie was then surrounded by the envious eyes and the sound of swallowing saliva.
"Has... Captain Kerlin said..." Hesitantly, Fatty Barley began to ask, causing the heart of everyone else to pound.From now on, he would finally have a great amount of time to consider how to improve his fighting force. As Zhang Tie had not entered Castle of Black Iron for one week, the second Leakless Fruit must have become completely ripe!
It was the right time to enter Castle of Black Iron once again. He was curious about what else surprise the small tree could bring him...
While Zhang Tie was pleasantly thinking about it, the images of Glaze and his lackeys appeared in his mind followed by an image of Captain Kerlin. Zhang Tie didn't know why, but when he recalled Captain Kerlin's face these days, he could sense a hint of depression... Could it be his imagination? Or... was there something the one-eyed man was worried about?