Castle of Black Iron

The welcome banquet in Navyblue Castle lasted over 1 hour. Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie, Connar the head of Rainard Clan and Brightman the head of Willies Clan who represented the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago, exchanged their opinions kindly in the public. In this banquet, Golden Roc Bank showed its great decisiveness to be the warrantor of the performance of this agreement. At least Golden Roc Bank had performed fairly superficially. Because of this, the representatives of the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago grinned when they left Navyblue Castle. It seemed that they were destined to win this battle.

Tomorrow, Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago would dispatch 100 people respectively to embark on the airboat of Golden Roc Bank and supervise the combat situation.

Everything would be clear tomorrow.

Zhang Tie looked absent-minded as Donder’s look always flashed across his mind.

At an interval, Zhang Tie drew Ms. Olina’s hand to one side and whispered in her ears. Ms. Olina looked at Zhang Tie and then peered at Donder who was staying with a representative of a major clan from Ewentra Archipelago. After that, she faintly nodded.

The key figure in the entire banquet was Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Golden Roc Bank and that beautiful female knight called Gongsun Liniang. Besides, Golden Roc Bank had dozens of retinues. Besides some managers like Xu Tao were a bit eye-catching, all the other retinues were low-key. Therefore, just 10 minutes before the end of the banquet, Donder received a glass of wine from a waiter of Navyblue Castle. After noticing that brief note under the glass, he left the banquet silently.

When the entire banquet ended and all the people left Navyblue Castle, Zhang Tie recovered his composure before returning to a backroom on the 2nd floor of Navyblue Castle.

After standing a few seconds in front of the door of that backroom, Zhang Tie took a deep breath and entered.

The moment he entered, Zhang Tie saw Donder enjoying drinks alone near the gradevin with a bit blush. All the glasses of quality wine collected by Ms. Olina had been taken out by this guy. Some were already empty.

’What a jerk!’

After walking over there, Zhang Tie took a glass and grabbed away that bottle of wine from Donder’s hand. After making a full cup of wine for himself, Zhang Tie finished it up.

"Ahh, don’t waste such a rarity. Such top crystal tequila should be tasted at least half a minute in the mouth before you swallow it down..." Donder shouted as he instantly grabbed away that bottle from Zhang Tie’s hand. Closely after that, he directly had one mouth of it, some of which were even dropped back into the bottle. He then put down the bottle and watched Zhang Tie pleasantly while raising his eyebrows, "Heh heh, nobody will grab it from me now!"

’Jerk! He is still unchanged. He’s still a miser and always likes to occupy good items in disgusting manners.’

Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "How did you know it was me?"

"Do you think that only I know the ear-identifying skill?" Donder sparkled his eyes, "We’ve already known your status when you showed your talent in Ice and Snow Wilderness for the first time!"

"Manager Xu Tao?" Zhang Tie realized it at once.

Donder nodded, "Previously, Manager Xu Tao didn’t know that you were Zhang Tie. After he passed your message to Taixia Country, we discovered that you were Zhang Tie!"

"Ahh, no way!"

"Your ’mental arithmetic by abacus’ helped me make a great meritorious deed. Previously, I was thinking about gifting you some wealth and a bright future when you came back to Taixia for me after a few years. Therefore, I handed your complete information to the organization when I came back to Taixia so that you could register there firstly. That information contained your earprint code!"

Zhang Tie knew what was an earprint code. When one observed an ear using the ear identifying skill, one would find distinctive features and structures displayed in different parts and regions of the ear, which could actually be depicted by certain numbers. After the numbers were connected, they would form one’s earprint code. In the eyes of experts, as long as they could see the earprint code, they would be able to paint the ear for details. Each one’s earprint was distinctive. The chance that two ears had the same earprint was dozens of times lower than that of two people with the same fingerprint.

Donder sighed, "Although you used disguising medicament when you came to Ice and Snow Wilderness for the first time, your ear features and structure remained unchanged. Hua people’s earprints are different than that of non-Hua people on some key parts. Therefore, the moment Manager Xu Tao saw you, he had doubted that you might have another status. Manager Xu Tao then passed Peter Hamplester’s earprint code back to the organization for further analysis and confirmation. After Peter Hamplester’s earprint code was input into that huge set of difference engine of our organization, it only took the engine a couple of seconds to identify that Peter Hamplester was actually the teenager called Zhang Tie in Blackhot City..."

After hearing such a reply, Zhang Tie became wordless. He had not imagined that his real status had been exposed when he came to Ice and Snow Wilderness for the first time. He finally understood what Donder had warned him before, "No matter how skilled the liar was, he could only cheat everyone at some time or someone at any time; however, he could never cheat everyone at any time."

Zhang Tie also sighed as he took out a bottle of wine from the gradevin. After opening it, he drank a short while like what Donder had just done.

Donder watched Zhang Tie’s face seriously, "Hmm, you might have used some advanced disguising medicament which slightly adjusted your facial muscles and skeletons. Honestly, if I didn’t watch you carefully, I might not be able to recognize you!"

After hearing Donder’s words, Zhang Tie recovered a bit confidence. ’Thankfully, no matter how powerful was the organization on Donder’s back, they could not know everything about me. They have not known that I’ve awakened my body-changing bloodline. This leaves a figleaf to me at least.’

"Is the organization on your back is Golden Roc Bank?" Zhang Tie asked Donder.

"Actually, Golden Roc Bank is just a part of our organization!"

Zhang Tie was stunned as he widened his eyes, "Then, what’s the organization on your back?’

Watching Zhang Tie’s dumbfounded look, Donder revealed an obscene smile. It seemed that he enjoyed Zhang Tie’s current look, "Have you heard about the seven major sects of Taixia Country?"

"Seven major sects?" Zhang Tie was confused.

"Heavens Fortune Sect. Demon Killing Valley, Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion, Gold Power Law, Jade Building and Immortal Penglai Realm. Golden Roc Bank and I both belong to Gold Power Law!"

’Gold Power Law? How domineering and rich! Compared to other sects which sound like artists, Gold Power Law is more like a nouveau riche.’

"Is Gold Power Law very powerful?"

"I can only tell you that 20% of all the properties of Taixia Country are traded through Gold Power Law’s business groups and banks."

’What?’ Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth. Even in Jinyun Country and Norman Empire, an organization that could run 20% of the total properties of the country was already terrifying, not to mention that of the entire Taixia Country. Zhang Tie could not imagine how powerful was Gold Power Law. ’No wonder why they dared add the word Law behind Gold and Power, because the extreme strength was close to the law. When the wealth of an organization could reach a great degree, it would be close to the law.’

"What’s your purpose here?"

"You should have guessed it!" Donder smiled as he took out a brochure and put it in front of Zhang Tie, "Take a look at the introduction of Gold Power Law and the rights and obligations of its members."

As there was no word on its cover, Zhang Tie skimmed over the contents of the brochure. Due to his powerful memory and browsing ability, Zhang Tie finished the brochure of over 30 pages in less than 2 minutes.

After skimming it over, Zhang Tie was really shocked as the power of Gold Power Law had been out of his imagination completely. ’The boss, also the big dragon head of Gold Power Law is the finance minister, one of the top 9 chancellors of Taixia Country, who’s responsible for the finance and trade of the country. The objective of Gold Power Law was as follows: Increase national wealth and absorb foreign wealth. Zhang Tie faintly felt that royal households were on the back of Gold Power Law...

The entire Gold Power Law was divided into different levels, big dragon head, dragon head, mountain lord, token lord, CEO, manager, deacon and disciple, etc.. 22 levels in total. Besides the big dragon head, all the other levels were further divided into copper, silver and gold; additionally, its members were divided into visible and invisible ones. Those who were exposed to the public were visible members; by contrast, those who were not exposed to the public were invisible members and could only be known by some people in the organization.

What was amazing was that one could join the other organizations and sects even if one had joined Gold Power Sect. The members only needed to keep the secrets of Gold Power Law. Of course, if you couldn’t keep the secrets, someone would be dispatched to "help" you keep them.

"What was your status in Blackhot City?" Zhang Tie asked Donder.

"Invisible silver disciple!"

"What about now?"

"Visible gold deacon!" Donder replied with a proud look. After all, his current position was benefited from that "mental arithmetic by abacus" gifted by Zhang Tie. Otherwise, even though having stayed in Blackhot City for so many years, he was at most a visible gold or invisible gold disciple.

"What would be my level if I joined your organization?’

"If you joined in, you would be invisible gold CEO and enjoy the same rights with CEO Guan Xiyi. The only difference was that Guan Xiyi is visible gold; however, you are invisible gold!

"How many people among these arrivers know my real status?"

"Nobody else besides CEO Guan Xiyi and me! Manager Xu Tao provided some clues to the headquarter; however, the headquarter didn’t give him the feedback. Therefore, he only knows that this trip is related to you; however, he doesn’t know your real status. Of course, if he sees those members in Huaiyuan Palace who have blood-ties with you, he may discover something about you. However, he will not expose your information to the public as the organization has forbidden it."

Donder’s answer was out of Zhang Tie’s imagination as he thought that at least Manager Xu Tao and Gongsun Liniang had known his secret.

"Can I join it?"

"Okay, it’s up to you!" Donder replied casually as he rapidly grabbed back that brochure from Zhang Tie’s hand. Closely after that, he started to dig his nostril like a ruffian, "If you really joined in, this father would have to bow to you. How uncomfortable it would be! If not for the public affair, this father would not come here!"

"Heh heh heh heh..." Zhang Tie smiled, "Stop, don’t play this trick with me. I will consider it!"

"Alright. After the public affair, it comes to my private affair now!" Donder clapped as he revealed an obscene smile, "Erm, as you’ve promoted to a knight so fast, you must have your secret. I won’t ask you about that. But you only need to help me a bit. After staying a few years in Taixia, I found some resources and have already promoted to LV 5; if I could be one level higher, I would have a greater physical strength. As you have so many women on your side, you must understand what I mean...look, can you help me promote to LV 6?"

"Hmm, it’s easy. You could attempt to be struck by thunderbolt a few times. If not being killed, you might obtain some special ability. You might directly promote to a knight!" Zhang Tie replied seriously.

Donder watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look, "Really?"

"Of course? But before you go there, you’d better tell me about that. I would buy you some more insurance. You taught me that. Even locust’s legs are flesh. I cannot waste this chance to make money from a dead man, right?"

Donder watched Zhang Tie while gritting his teeth, "You’ve got so many big beauties around you, don’t you know how to respect the old? Have you forgotten how this father helped you before?’

Zhang Tie also stared at him, "You old jerk, do you think the surging points on your body is my lanterns? Do you think that I can light your surging points whenever I want? If you want to have a good physical strength, I have a recipe for you. Run 50 miles and do 10,000 push-ups per day and don’t think about making love for 3 years. When you lose your weight, I’m sure you will be as ferocious as a tiger on the bed!"

The two people stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

"You jerk!"

They swore at the same time. Closely after that, they became stunned for a second and burst out into laughter...

Although so many years had passed, their friendship remained unchanged.

...

After accomplishing the task, Donder silently returned to the airboat which landed outside the Navyblue Castle.

’Now that even outsiders know my secret, I should find a proper time and chance to explain it to the elders in Huaiyuan Palace. If I kept covering it in this way, I would be blamed as being unable to identify who’s closer to me.

After this event, Zhang Tie also understood one thing, some things in the world could not always be under control. Nobody in this world could have everything proceed according to his own will.

Similarly, those major clans of Ewentra Archipelago who expected that the result of the duel would proceed according to their will tomorrow might be disappointed.

...