Castle of Black Iron

7 days later, three new tombs were built on a lush hillside being adjacent to a river in the graveyard of Iron Dragon Sect behind Xuantian Peak.

It was fine weather yesterday. However, this early morning, it started to drizzle in the territory of Iron Dragon Sect.

The drizzle witnessed Zhang Tie’s grief.

The greater part of people had left, except for the bereaved whose cries were still reverberating around the mountain. Zhang Tie didn’t leave. He just stood still in front of the three tombs, watching the three black and white crystal photos on the steles.

In black linen robe, Zhang Tie watched the three tombs in a trance as his hair and eyebrow soon turned wet in the flying drizzle.

Ma Aiyun’s tomb was in the middle, accompanied by that of Gui Caidie and Yuan Ziyi on her sides respectively. The coffins of Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi only contained their clothes and headgears, which Zhang Tie had people take from Huaiyuan City in Yingzhou Province and were put inside the coffins by Zhang Tie himself. Additionally, Zhang Tie carved the inscriptions on their gravestone by his own fingers.

What happened lately including that Zhang Haitian passed away, Zhang Tie was screwed, Zhang Tie’s family and undertaking suffered losses, Ma Aiyun committed suicide, all these struck Zhang Tie more than that he had experienced in the past decades.

In the drizzle, Zhang Tie looked a bit sluggish; however, his straight back was as hard as steel.

Watching Zhang Tie’s straight back, Elder Muyuan felt complex as if Zhang Tie was a mountain peak.

“Since Hidden Dragon Palace moved to Taixia Country 16 years ago, it was an old man called Zhang Shifang who was in charge of the training affairs in the base of Yingzhou Province of Hidden Dragon Palace. He’s LV 14. Since he started to take over Hidden Dragon Palace, he had been working diligently and arduously without making any mistake. He also trained a lot of talents for Huaiyuan Palace including the three deceased girls. Therefore, he could promote from a clan butler to a deacon, then to the head of the base. All the major events in Hidden Dragon Palace were at his disposal as long as they didn’t need elders to resolve…” Elder Muyuan said calmly behind Zhang Tie. Since Zhang Tie returned, he had requested Elder Muyuan to investigate about personnel and affairs concerning Ma Aiyun secretly in Huaiyuan Palace over these years.

Elder Muyuan had been in charge of Clansmen’s Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace for many years, he was very familiar with various affairs in Huaiyuan Palace. Additionally, Elder Muyuan could use his connections to secretly investigate such affairs. Zhang Tie and Elder Muyuan both came from the branch of the Golden Sea City of Huaiyuan Palace who shared closer bloodlines. Additionally, Elder Muyuan’s posterities even married the kids of Zhang Tie’s eldest uncle. Therefore, Zhang Tie and Elder Muyuan were closer than any other clan elders in Huaiyuan Palace.

Zhang Shifang was the very person who controlled Ma Aiyun and took away her baby over these years according to Ma Aiyun’s description. In front of such a person who was LV 14 and in charge of Hidden Dragon Palace, of course, Ma Aiyun almost lost her ability to resist.

In the beginning, when Ma Aiyun and the other disciples of Hidden Dragon Palace returned to Taixia Country and accepted a routine physical examination, she was found pregnant. Later on, Zhang Shifang met her.

As for disciples of Hidden Dragon Palace, pregnancy was very severe. In most cases, if a female disciple got pregnant before leaving Hidden Dragon Palace, she would accept very stern punishment. Additionally, it was almost impossible for her to deliver the baby.

After being found pregnant, Ma Aiyun wanted to deliver the baby. Out of the trust of the old man, she told Zhang Shifang about the private affairs between her and Zhang Tie. In the beginning, Zhang Shifang’s performance indeed won Ma Aiyun’s trust as he covered her pregnancy. In Hidden Dragon Palace, almost nobody else knew about her pregnancy. Later on, Zhang Shifang arranged a task for her so that Ma Aiyun could leave Hidden Dragon Palace. She then lived outside for one year and delivered the baby.

After that, Ma Aiyun fell into the trap of the opponent step by step.

After surviving back, Zhang Tie had started to have Elder Muyuan investigate the whereabouts of that kid. Unexpectedly, Ma Aiyun had committed suicide after coming back for a few days even before Elder Mushen gave him feedback.

“It was also Zhang Shifang who distributed this task to Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi in Wild Lake Building. On the evening when you were screwed in Wild Lake Building, Zhang Shifang had already died because of “being obsessed with the devil”. Later on, the total of 37 family members of Zhang Shifang had been under control of the criminal affairs pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace. These days, the criminal affairs pavilion didn’t get any information from his family members. Through these days of investigation, Zhang Shifang didn’t find anything strange. He even didn’t leave Huaiyuan City, Yingzhou Province. Nobody had ever seen any boy beside Zhang Shifang. Neither did Zhang Shifang’s family members hear anything about a little boy. As for the doctor who was responsible for the disciples’ physical examination 14 years ago, he had long died in a car accident 14 years ago. It was just a minor affair at that time, which didn’t arouse the attention of the public. That’s all I’ve got these days…”

“Which branch of Huaiyuan Palace does Zhang Shifang come from?” Zhang Tie asked calmly without turning around as he watched the gravestones.

This question was a bit acute and sensitive, even a bit heart-wrenching. After 2 seconds of silence, Elder Muyuan opened his mouth, “Zhang Shifang comes from Yiyang City!”

The branch of Yiyang City was the very one of Zhang Taixuan, the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace.

…

After Elder Muyuan left, Donder arrived. Watching Zhang Tie’s back, Donder sighed, saying, “I’ve already arranged the family members of Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi. They would not have any concern regarding living in the future. As they’ve already died, just let the bygones be bygones. Don’t blame yourself. You’ve already tried your best. However, you’re not a deity and couldn’t dominate everything!”

After turning around, Zhang Tie watched Donder, saying, “I’ve never thought about being a deity. I just want to be a man, a good man as what my mom requested me when I was young. However, I found that it’s more difficult for one to be a good man in the eyes of everyone in this world. Therefore, I’ve made a concession. I will not be a good man; nor will I feel guilty about myself. I will be a man who doesn’t feel guilty about himself when I come back here on the next tomb sweeping day in front of my three senior sister apprentices’ graves.”

“What do you want?”

“To do what I should!”

After saying this, Zhang Tie resolutely strode away. Before leaving, he took out the remote-sensing finger that he could use to contact Zhang Taixuan. He would meet Zhang Taixuan in the shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace in Embracing Tiger Mountain tonight.

…

After doing that, Zhang Tie left the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect and flew towards Embracing Tiger City by airboat 20 minutes later…