Castle of Black Iron - Manjusaka

Zhang Tie understood that braveness was a necessary requirement for a man to love a woman. But being brave was not enough. He loved her not because of her status and the benefits that she could bring him. He didn’t care about Lan Yunxi’s family background and dad, but Zhang Tie had to admit that if he wanted to marry her, the relation between him and her would definitely be affected by the arguments and everything about her. This was unavoidable.
    

After Yang Yuankang left, Zhang Tie became very serious. He started to consider this issue seriously. After thinking for quite a long while, Zhang Tie got a damned and self-abased conclusion——with his present social status and position, even though Lan Yunxi agreed to marry him, she would still sustain great stress and contempt due to him. She might even encounter troubles that she could have avoided before.
    

If he married Lan Yunxi, the outcome would be similar to that of a princess marrying a wood cutting passer-by.
    

Although Zhang Tie felt uncomfortable about this conclusion, Zhang Tie knew that it was the fact. Zhang Tie would definitely not let a woman stand stress from her family and the reality because of his strong self-esteem.
    

He would not even frown his forehead a bit if he could stand all the stress for Lan Yunxi; however, all the stress should be carried by Lan Yunxi herself. Therefore, Zhang Tie would never let this happen. If a man could not help his beloved woman out of trouble; instead bring more troubles to the woman, he would not be qualified as a man.
    

Zhang Tie then gritted his teeth as his boiling mind started to recover composure and became as firm as heavy and hard granite.
    

“Lan Yunxi…” Zhang Tie silently mumbled this name several times before trying his best to recall her image. The girl’s face became looming in his mind. Finally, Zhang Tie sadly found that over one night, with the exception of her clothes, he had forgotten about her look once again. If he told this to others, nobody would trust him; however, it was true.
    

‘Is this lovesickness?’ Zhang Tie didn’t know. Shaking his head, Zhang Tie controlled his impulse to find Lan Yunxi and recall her look; instead, he took out of that pair of embroidered shoes from the inside of his coat and took a deep breath before he left.
    

Zhang Tie also knew that he was not qualified to mention the sacred word “love” in front of Lan Yunxi; however, he knew that his personal emotion to her was as fiery as fire and as firm as iron.
    

This morning, Zhang Tie practiced fundamental moving skills so seriously and painstakingly which greatly shocked his senior sister Ma Aiyun who was “guiding” him on one side.
    

After two hours of training, senior sister Ma Aiyun who had just heard the news. She then asked Zhang Tie, “It’s said that there’s a guy called Zhang Tie who had produced the all-purpose medicament, is that you?”
    

After throwing the towel used to clean his sweat on one side, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, “Haha, that’s me.”
    

“You’re a hidden alchemist? But you didn’t mention that before.” Ma Aiyun asked out of curiosity.
    

“I’m not an alchemist. I was just fortunate enough to stumble upon the secret to producing this medicament!”
    

“Your medicament is really in urgent demand. Many of my friends want to buy it. But they could not get one even with 10 gold coins!”
    

“Your friends want that?”
    

“Of course, haven’t heard that enzyme is the best beauty products for girls. Even common enzyme is good for beautifying skin and delaying wrinkles, let alone a super enzyme!” Saying this, Ma Aiyun smiled and asked in a joking way, “How about buying it directly from you at a lower price?”
    

‘Using all-purpose medicament to beautify oneself?’ Zhang Tie realized that he really didn’t know about girls. For girls, the biggest role of all-purpose medicament which could save one’s life at the critical moment is to beautify and delay old age. They would even spend all of their money on it.
    

Zhang Tie knew that 10 gold coins was not cheap for many girls. The monthly payment of Breaking-Heavens Department was only 30 gold coins, which had troubled many people a lot. However, there were still girls who would like to spend 10 gold coins to beautify themselves.
    

Realizing that Zhang Tie became a bit mind-absent, Ma Aiyun thought that it was a bit difficult for Zhang Tie to produce it in a short period; in her opinion, it was hard for professional alchemists to produce that, let alone Zhang Tie who wasn’t an alchemist.
    

“Don’t feel sorry about that. If you can’t produce it in a short period, just forget about it.” Although saying this, Ma Aiyun still revealed a sense of disappointment.
    

Zhang Tie then smiled as he directly took out his medicament container from the clothes rack on his side and took out 6 vials of all-purpose medicament that had been filled recently and gave them to Ma Aiyun, “Haha, if others want it from me, I might not have; but if senior sister Ma wants it, of course I have!”
    

At the sight of the vials of medicament, Ma Aiyun revealed a big smile at once as her face lit up. “It really wasn’t expected that would you have some with you. How much? Tell you what, I can never afford more than 10 gold coins!”
    

“It’s free. I gift them to you and the other senior sisters, 1 for each of you. Please share them with the other senior sisters. Thanks for your guidance to me during this period. This is just my little gift!” Zhang Tie added generously. “If I wanted money from you because of this little thing, you would look down upon me.”
    

Ma Aiyun was also a generous person among Zhang Tie’s senior sisters who could identify personal emotions very well. Hearing Zhang Tie’s reply, she didn’t hesitate anymore as she directly put away the vials, “Fine, I will say thank you to you on behalf of them. No matter what, you won’t lack money in the future!”
    

Zhang Tie smirked as he suddenly remembered one thing, “Senior sister Ma, how do you usually make money with the other senior sister?”
    

“Mainly by doing clan tasks or collecting special items!”
    

“Is that hard?”
    

Raising her beautiful face, Ma Aiyun peered at Zhang Tie in a contemptuous way, “You think everyone can make money like you——by betting or producing all-purpose medicament? Any girls coming out of the Breaking-Heavens Department have become tough girls!”
    

Zhang Tie became slightly embarrassed as he smiled, “I have an idea. If you and the other senior sisters think it’s feasible, you can open a store to sell all-purpose medicament on the Hidden Dragon Island. All-purpose medicament has a good market now. Later on, I can provide you all-purpose medicament at a lower price and you won’t have to work that hard.”
    

Hearing Zhang Tie’s words, Ma Aiyun fixed her eyes on him as she blinked her eyes and asked seriously, “Do you mean it?”
    

“Of course I do!”
    

“What’s the price if I take that medicament from you?”
    

“Only 4 gold coins per vial for you and the other senior sisters!”
    

“4 gold coins?” Ma Aiyun was really shocked by such a low price. She looked at Zhang Tie seriously like watching a flower before puffed, “That’s not bad, tell me, Caidie or Ziyi, which one do you like? I will play matchmaker!”
    

“Actually I want you. You really have a nice figure, senior Ma. You’re plump and womanly. Each time I see you I’d feel my heart racing fiercely!” Zhang Tie joked.
    

Hearing his words, Ma Aiyun’s cheeks blushed as she punched her tender fists towards Zhang Tie’s head, “Snake-tongued, take my punch.”
    

Zhang Tie hurriedly jumped away with a big smile…
    

…
    

After today’s training, Zhang Tie came to the administration center of Herb Valley in the afternoon and booked his first batch of exclusive vials of all-purpose medicament.
    

As many alchemists were gathered in the Breaking-Heavens Department’s Herb Valley, it became Herb Valley’s responsibility to provide various services for alchemists of all levels, including providing customized vials of medicament, which is the most common service. Of course, even one if wasn’t an alchemist, you could also customize vials to hold vinegar as long as you could afford that.
    

Considering his later development, Zhang Tie decided to use his private registered symbol on the vials.
    

The fee for registering personal symbol for the vials of medicament in the Alchemists Association was 86 gold coins, which was very expensive and far exceeded commoners’ purchasing ability. After this register, the registrant would enjoy the protection of the Alchemists Association and owned all the rights and interests of this symbol.
    

Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to register a sapling as his symbol; however, he was told that many alchemists had adopted saplings as symbols which were of great similarity. Therefore, the Alchemists Association had determined to not accept sapling as an exclusive symbol.
    

Finally, Zhang Tie used a wholly new symbol!
    

It was composed of two elements, a mysterious, bloody, beautiful flower in full bloom and a word under it which could arise unlimited imaginations from people, Manjusaka.
    

Manjusaka was also named Higanbana or demon’s kindness. It represented elegance and purity. In some places, it also represented sad memory and mutual miss.
    

After receiving Zhang Tie’s symbol, a professional painter would be responsible for designing it. The symbol was featured by aestheticism.
    

When the painter finished the manjusaka, it reminded Zhang Tie of Lan Yunxi. Therefore, he directly fixed that.
    

Compared to this beautiful symbol, the quantity of the first batch of vials of medicament Zhang Tie booked shocked all the people in the Administration Center——10.000 vials! For any alchemists, this was a terrible quantity. In the entire Breaking-Heavens Department, no alchemist could produce so much medicament at once.
    

After Zhang Tie left Herb Valley, the news about a number of vials of medicament he ordered was heard by someone, which arose a series of changes in the later, which even out of Zhang Tie’s imaginations.
    

After leaving Herb Valley, Zhang Tie came to the Wharf to set free fishes again. After that, he had supper before returning to his residence. He then entered the Castle of Black Iron.
    

In a few seconds, after entering the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie was really startled as he could see no fruit on the entire Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree…