Chapter 1115: Loss and Gain

'The gate of Castle of Black Iron?'

'The stars of trouble-reappearance situations?'

After hearing Heller's words, Zhang Tie became stunned. Closely after that, he understood Heller's meaning.

Zhang Tie immediately remembered that whenever he took a trouble-reappearance fruit, one more hexagon star would appear on the arch door of Castle of Black Iron in his mind sea which represented the new trouble-reappearance situation.

When Zhang Tie caught sight of the first hexagon star which represented the trouble-reappearance situation on the arch door, he felt it was pretty marvelous. Over the past 10 years, as he took more and more trouble-reappearance fruits, his spiritual energy grew increasingly stronger. Gradually, he could access to Castle of Black Iron as easily as taking a breath. Therefore, Zhang Tie gradually forgot about the stars.

Heller's words reminded him. Zhang Tie hurriedly moved his eyes onto the arch door of Castle of Black Iron in his mind sea.

Like when he saw it for the first time, the classic and brilliant arch door was still standing as quietly as before in the deepest place of his mind sea as if it was waiting for Zhang Tie's arrival at any time. However, being different than when Zhang Tie came here at the beginning, over 95% of the area on this marvelous arch door has been covered with hexagon stars. These hexagon stars set off each other in a harmonious and profound way, making this marvelous arch door more mysterious.

Zhang Tie looked at it seriously and found that only a small part on the top of the arch door was still available, the entire front of the arch door was almost filled with hexagon stars, which meant that it could barely hold any trouble-reappearance situations.

'What about the back and side of the arch door?'

'Of course they are not available. Otherwise, Heller would not say that just now.'

After exiting the inward vision state, Zhang Tie felt a bit complex. The experiences that he took trouble-reappearance fruits flashed by one after another. After a while, he contacted Heller once again as he asked in a bitter voice, "Heller, do you mean that the small tree is running out of trouble-reappearance fruits?"

"Yes, Castle Lord. Like leakless fruits and iron-body fruits, the number of these fruits are limited. Previously, I thought that Castle Lord had already realized it; I've not imagined that Castle Lord forgot about it. Therefore, I warned just now."

Zhang Tie replied with a bitter smile, "As my spiritual energy grew increasingly stronger, I could contact the marvelous arch door only by a bit of spiritual energy. Whenever I wanted to access the arch door, I only needed to run my spiritual energy slightly like pressing a button. Since I promoted to a knight, I barely used trouble-reappearance fruits; therefore, I didn't notice that the small tree was running out of trouble-reappearance fruits!"

"These fruits serve as your foundation and steps, as Castle Lord grew increasingly stronger, these fruits would finally accomplish their mission!"

"Tell me a precise figure, how many more trouble-reappearance fruits could the small tree produce?"

"Only 4!"

"4?"

Zhang Tie was dumbfounded and disappointed; however, finally recovered his composure.

No matter whether he accepted the fact or not, it would not alter the outcome. Now that he could not alter it, he had to accept it.

However, Zhang Tie still had a bit of hope unconsciously.

"Could I have the small tree produce the last trouble-reappearance fruits whenever and wherever I need?"

"The rule about producing trouble-reappearance fruits remains unchanged. As long as Castle Lord kills demons or mutated beats on your own initiative at any time, the small tree will produce the trouble-reappearance fruit timely!"

"I've suffered great losses. If I knew it earlier, I might have saved them!"

"Castle Lord, do you feel that any trouble-reappearance fruit that you took in the past is unnecessary?"

'Which one was unnecessary?'

After thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie found that each trouble-reappearance fruit that he took in the past was produced when necessary. All the past trouble-reappearance fruits were produced in necessity when he encountered strikes or for improving his battle strength. Those trouble-reappearance fruits were destined to be produced in his growth. Without those trouble-reappearance fruits, he would never be such powerful. Actually, this question sounded like a laughingstock that he heard about building houses, 'Can we directly build the top floor without the foundation?' Of course not, no way! Without the accumulated battle strength granted by the earlier trouble-reappearance fruits, he would do everything in vain.

Among all the trouble-reappearance fruits that the small tree had produced, only the one today was produced for a certain purpose. As a result, it brought him a huge return. Besides gaining the trouble-reappearance situation of Xuanyuan Hill, he could also grasp the key information about his enemy.

Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside as he told Heller, "Perhaps, I feel a bit sad when I suddenly found that I'm running out of another fruit!"

"Perhaps, it would be a perfect result if you could have the last trouble-reappearance fruits to play their roles in Xuanyuan Hill. Castle Lord, previously, I was thinking about reminding you of producing a trouble-reappearance fruit of Xuanyuan Hill before you left Xuanyuan Hill without thinking about the function of trouble-reappearance fruit. The trouble-reappearance situation of Xuanyuan Hill is priceless. It's absolutely a treasure!"

"Treasure, why?"

"Castle Lord, you must have forgotten that the other places in Xuanyuan Hill are all available to you besides the imperial palace of the emperor's imperial city. As the core of human civilization, Xuanyuan Hill has Bright Library which is the largest human library and the headquarters of all the human trade unions. The books and materials in the Bright Library and the human trade union headquarters are completely open to Castle Lord in the trouble-reappearance situation. Therefore, Castle Lord could access them for learning and gaining information for free. There might not be any top secret methods among them; however, they are very precious too. Most of them were classified. Commoners could barely touch them. It could be said that they are as valuable as many super secret methods. Besides, the great number of national archives and files in the authority agencies in the emperor's imperial city are also open to Castle Lord. Castle Lord, you could look them up if you need. Given this point, even if Castle Lord couldn't gain anything in this trip to Xuanyuan Hill, you've already reaped a lot with the help of this trouble-reappearance fruit."

After hearing Heller's words, Zhang Tie realized the value of this trouble-reappearance fruit right away after taking in a deep breath. As his exploration in the trouble-reappearance situation was interrupted by Bai Suxian, he was confused by that black mist in the imperial palace of Taixia Country. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn't realize the value of this trouble-reappearance fruit for the time being.

"If so, if I could produce a trouble-reappearance situation in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, won't I be able to browse all the battle skills and secret methods that are collected in Taiyi Fantasy Sect?"

"Theoretically yes. However, Castle Lord, do you think that the top 7 sects of Taixia Country would just put their precious secret methods in a building like that on the Hidden Dragon Island? If these secret methods don't need to be inherited through enlightenment, how precious they could be? In other words, as the master of Iron-Dragon Sect, will Castle Lord put those precious secret methods in a building?"

After hearing Heller's words, Zhang Tie denied this thought at once, 'It's indeed too silly to put all the precious secret methods in one building. Isn't it equivalent to seeking trouble? It's simply attracting crimes and robbery and setting a target for the enemy. No matter how firm the buildings are, they could be destroyed by knight-level powerhouses. If they have a space-teleportation item, they'd better put these precious secret methods in the space-teleportation item and have them managed by reliable ones even the master of the sect himself.'

'Actually, I have a space-teleportation item of the major sect in Taixia Country, namely, the Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple. According to my knowledge, among those major sects, there are exclusive enlightenment elders who are responsible for keeping different secret methods. As for the situation that Huaiyuan Palace put its secret methods in a building on Hidden Dragon Island, on one hand, the Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace indeed don't have surplus space-teleportation items; on the other hand, as an earth knight, I know that those secret methods that Huaiyuan Palace collected in Hidden Dragon Palace are actually not too precious because over 90% of those secret methods look low-end for those people above knight level. The Breaking Sun Sutra, the most precious secret method of Huaiyuan Palace, is not put in the Hidden Dragon Island either.'

'The trouble-reappearance situation is virtual. Therefore, it could not simulate the effect of a space-teleportation item. Therefore, all the items in the space-teleportation item could not be detected in the trouble-reappearance situation.'

'In a special environment, the trouble-reappearance fruit would work a lot. However, unless I start to be as timid as a rabbit and don't kill anyone from now on, as long as I trigger the rule of generation of trouble-reappearance fruit, the trouble-reappearance fruit will come into being automatically. However, it is in the holy war when the overall situation in Taixia Country becomes more and more strange and dangerous with so many surging dark forces, how long could I stand not killing a demon or a lackey of Three-eye Association?'

'Therefore, it's hard for me to keep the 4 trouble-reappearance fruits for too long. I'd better play their full role in Xuanyuan Hill instead of wasting them on some important occasions and scenes. I will turn this hinterland of humans into my last trouble-reappearance situation and use the last trouble-reappearance fruits to kill the culprit, the malignant tumor in Taixia Country so as to draw a perfect, meaningful period for the existence of the last trouble-reappearance fruits.'

When Zhang Tie thought about this, he gradually felt relieved.

No pain, no gain. Nothing could be perfect including love, human life and the fruits of the small tree.

After thinking it through, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he told Heller, "Is there any other fruit running out? Heller, you'd better remind me in advance in case of getting me embarrassed!"

"I believe that Castle Lord has already sensed it. Some other fruits might be running out soon too!"

Zhang Tie became silent before asking, "Is that the fruit of judgment?"

"Yes! After killing those b*stards on the airboat of Gold and Power Law, Castle Lord gained some more fruits of judgment. After taking these fruits of judgment, besides your mirror body separation skill, all the other immortal runes have promoted to the master-level realm. From then on, as long as Castle Lord's mirror body separation skill promotes to the master-level realm, you will not gain any fruit of judgment anymore!"

When all the other immortal runes promoted to the master-level realm and the powerful body separation skill appeared, Zhang Tie had sensed that there might not be a new fruit of judgment anymore. After hearing Heller's verbal verification, Zhang Tie recovered his composure.

These fruits which had disappeared or would disappear reminded Zhang Tie of the eagles which gradually grew up from their nestle. One day, they had to leave their nest which prevented them from wind and rain and start to flap their wings in the sky in a domineering way.

'I'm that eagle. The small tree is that nest where I grew up...'

'However, I do not have too many trouble-reappearance fruits left. I have to make a good plan to deal with that culprit. I have to make other preparations...'

...

After thinking about it for a few minutes in the balcony, Zhang Tie quietly returned to his bedroom and cleaned up himself. After doing all this, he threw a glance at Bai Suxian who was in a deep sleep before leaving the room silently...

Zhang Tie didn't know that Bai Suxian had dropped off tears silently the moment he closed the door from outside...