Chapter 88

After the three wolves were dealt with by the fraternity, Zhang Tie thoroughly experienced the taste of being rich during his recovery. The nearly one hundred kilograms of wolf meat left after processing the wolves was exchanged by Bal for 40 kilograms of dry rations and 20 kilograms of dried meat.

The wolf meat was very popular among some of the boys in the trial, especially fresh wolf meat. According to the "market price" at the small square in Wild Wolf Castle, one kilogram of fresh wolf meat could be exchanged for one kilogram of dry rations at a 1:1 ratio, or for three kilograms of dried meat at a 3:1 ratio. Those who brought dry rations and dried meat but did not obtain fresh meat were very willing to make such exchanges. Such exchanges benefited both parties: one side got more food, while the other side got food that was easier to preserve, making everyone happy.

In addition to the food, the three tanned wolf skins, according to Bal's estimate, could sell for over 20 silver coins, even though one of them was not in the best condition. This money was enough to cover half of Zhang Tie's circumcision surgery fee.

The 60 kilograms of food and the future 20 silver coins were the unexpected gains Zhang Tie obtained from this life-risking endeavor. For the "wealth" that Zhang Tie had risked his life for, the fraternity members insisted that Zhang Tie handle it himself. Originally, Zhang Tie wanted to leave half of the food to the fraternity as public rations, but when he said this, the guys shook their heads faster than anyone else.

"Big Head, this is the food you almost lost your life for. How can we eat it..." Bal said.

"Exactly, if we eat this, it will make us feel like our lives are a failure!" Light said.

"Right, eating this food feels like eating your flesh, it's too painful!" Doug chimed in.

Seeing everyone nod, the food issue was settled. As for Zhang Tie lighting the Divine Palace's Bright Point, it indeed did not cause much of a stir.

When Baghdad, who knew the news, came to visit Zhang Tie, he gave Zhang Tie a hard slap on the shoulder, grabbed his neck with a fierce look, and shook him, "You, you actually became the first person in our fraternity to light the Divine Palace's Bright Point. This record should have been mine, mine! It's too unfair, and even more unfair that you didn't tell us after lighting it!"

"I was afraid that telling you would easily打击 your fragile and young hearts, making you lose hope in life. You see, I did this for your own good..." Zhang Tie said arrogantly.

"Tsk!" Zhang Tie was greeted with a row of middle fingers.

"By the way, how did you light the Divine Palace's Bright Point so quickly?" Light asked.

"Didn't you know that the Hua people light the first Divine Palace's Bright Point faster than you?" Zhang Tie countered. This was indeed true; many Hua people lit the Divine Palace's Bright Point faster than others. For example, Zhang Tie's deceased older brother Zhang Yong and his brother Zhang Yang. Zhang Tie's own cultivation talent was average, but who knew that he lit the Divine Palace's Bright Point thanks to the little tree rather than his Hua heritage.

When Zhang Tie said this, everyone was relieved. According to a common belief in this era, the Hua people seemed to have a higher spiritual power by nature, which was an advantage of the Hua people.

The days of recovery were very leisurely. Zhang Tie stayed in the infirmary outside Wild Wolf Castle, where two other people were also staying. Every day, Zhang Tie either chatted with the other patients or wandered around the castle with a crutch made from a branch.

Since the wolf bit Zhang Tie's calf almost at the same time Zhang Tie's dagger pierced the wolf, the wolf left two not too deep or too shallow blood holes on Zhang Tie's right calf. The wounds were treated, though not fatal, it would take at least a week to recover to normal activity.

During this time, Zhang Tie could only walk on tiptoe. Fortunately, Zhang Tie had no worries about food and clothing. The fraternity members would send a box of fish soup every night, saying it would help Zhang Tie recover, making the other patients envious. Zhang Tie learned that Bal and the others were preparing to dig new traps. The old traps had good results, especially the fishing trap Zhang Tie set up by the stream, which was like a treasure pot, yielding several fish every day, rain or shine.

In this situation, Zhang Tie was happy to take it easy and focus on his recovery in the castle. Zhang Tie also asked Bal and the others to inquire about the news of Gris' small group, but found nothing unusual. Except for Gris, who was still in the punishment period and not allowed to come to Wild Wolf Castle, the others, including Zahir, were all normal, occasionally bringing some game to Wild Wolf Castle to show off or exchange for other things.

The wolf attack incident left a mark in Zhang Tie's heart, but just a few days later, it, like the bruises and scratches on his body, quickly faded from everyone's mind.

The trial was never short of news. Every day, many things happened in Wild Wolf Valley...

After experiencing another life-and-death test, Zhang Tie's character advanced another step. The second Fruit of Perfection had matured in Black Iron Castle for three days, but during these three days, Zhang Tie remained calm and did not even glance at Black Iron Castle. Being in Wild Wolf Castle and the inconvenience of movement was one reason, but the more important reason was that Zhang Tie realized that before the trial, he thought Black Iron Castle was very important to him, but after another life-and-death test, he found that it wasn't that important, or not as important as he initially thought. Besides Black Iron Castle, many important and precious things in the world were actually within reach—like sunlight. The dark journey in that pitch-black cave made Zhang Tie understand the value of sunlight. Without sunlight, there would be no plants, without plants, there would be no animals, and without plants and animals, humans could not survive. Sunlight was precious, representing hope and life, and it was free.

Air was also precious; without air, a person would die in a few minutes, and air was also free.

Water was also precious; without water, most living beings could not survive, but in the wild, water was also free.

Family was also precious, the most precious thing in the world, but it was also free, and many people were born with it.

Friendship was also precious, making life more colorful and fulfilling, and it was also free.

And love, according to the bastard Cista, the most beautiful thing in the world was when a man and a woman desired to be together and began to seduce each other, which was the most enchanting—since Zhang Tie had no such experience, he was skeptical of Cista's words.

The most precious thing was one's own life, given by parents, and they didn't ask for money either.

Zhang Tie realized that things that could be bought with money were not very precious, while truly precious things did not require money to obtain. Many people's lives overlooked the most precious things and pursued too much what could be bought with money. By recognizing the precious things in life and around them, everyone could be rich. Understanding this, Zhang Tie's mindset suddenly broadened.

Every morning, after getting up and washing up, Zhang Tie would lean on his crutch and climb to the small hill behind Wild Wolf Castle. He would breathe in the fresh air, do some simple exercises, and joyfully wait for the first ray of morning sunlight to shine on him. The feeling of the first ray of morning sunlight shining on him truly brought much joy.

After welcoming the sunrise, Zhang Tie would lean on his crutch and return, take some food, and sometimes even pick up some ordinary stones on the road for fun. Then he would go to a small stall near the castle gate, occupy a small space, and sit there, openly watching the beautiful women coming in and out of the castle. Zhang Tie found that watching beautiful women had a benefit: it could promote and accelerate the circulation of blood in his body.

This was good for his recovery—Zhang Tie found a shameless excuse for himself. As proof of this shameless excuse, after watching the beautiful women, Zhang Tie had to use his "right hand to cover the shame" technique, putting his right hand in his pocket to hold down an unruly part, and then awkwardly run away.

After watching the beautiful women, Zhang Tie would eat a simple lunch and then indulge in a luxurious nap, waking up naturally and feeling energetic. He would then take a walk around the small square, find the girl named Pandora to exchange for some wild fruits as snacks, and finally, with a wild fruit in his mouth, visit the iron smelting workshop of Wild Wolf Castle to learn the smelting techniques and witness the process of how the guys in the workshop made a steam engine in this simple workshop.

Using charcoal to smelt iron, the biggest problem was that the burning temperature of charcoal was not high enough to melt the iron ore in the crucible to obtain the crucible steel needed. The most common method of smelting iron with charcoal was the bloomery technique, where iron ore and charcoal were burned in a smelting furnace, and the iron block was repeatedly forged to squeeze out impurities to obtain wrought iron. Due to its low carbon content, wrought iron was somewhat soft and had limited applications. Finally, the carburization technique of wrought iron was used to obtain low-carbon steel—Zhang Tie had learned these techniques in school, but learning and mastering were two different things. After mixing with the technical geeks in the iron smelting workshop for a few days, sometimes helping to operate the bellows or bringing some fruit as a bribe, Zhang Tie found that he had unconsciously mastered the bloomery technique and the carburization forging technique of wrought iron, which was an unexpected gain.

What Zhang Tie did not know during his recovery was that his survival from this great danger had earned him the admiration of Captain Colin, who was preparing to give him a real benefit!

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Wishing everyone a pleasant weekend. Thanks to everyone's support, Black Iron Castle is currently ranked first on the weekly recommendation list for science fiction novels, with over 8,000 votes. The brave warriors have occupied a small hill, looking north to the vast land...

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