Castle of Black Iron - Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Setting Traps
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey

After a day of rest, Doug was already able to freely move in the next evening. At the sight of his
sad and furious face, every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood could not help but laugh out
loudly. On the first day of the survival training, Doug had been stung by a scorpion on his
snow-white butt when he was squatting in the grass to relieve his bowels. Thankfully, that was
only an ordinary blue-gray scorpion which had low toxicity, and he was able to freely move
only one day after his brothers’ “beating treatment”. That incident caused everyone to be alert;
they had started to realize what the farmer meant when he said, “Don’t expose your butt in the
air.” What if it was a mutated scorpion with extremely high toxicity? What if it was a snake with
extremely toxic venom or a fatally poisonous insect? If that was the case, Doug might have
already become a corpse.
Nobody wanted to be bitten by something while they squatted on the ground or in the grass
relaxedly like Doug had. After realizing the potential dangers, everyone, with the exception of
Doug, had built a toilet that was not too far away from the tree hollows on the first evening of
the survival training. Barley had even sprayed some medicinal powder used to repel poisonous
animals on the ground around the toilet and as well as the area around the Dragon-Claw Tree.
During the daytime of the second day, with the exception of Doug, who was still lying in the
hole to recover, everyone continued to expand the tree hollows using the axe, military shovel,
dagger, and machete. They had basically completed the second step of the renovation of their
tree hollow, successfully expanding the hollows into three spacious floors, which was sufficient
for seven people to sleep inside.
After eating for two days, the total amount of food had dropped below 30 kg, which would only
feed them for four days at most. They had started to feel pressure from the limited basic living
necessities, thus on the third day of the survival training, everyone had decided to go and forage
for food.
Due to his Qi, blood, and spiritual energy having recovered, Zhang Tie’s woke him up from his
sweet dream at about 6:00 am; he was the one to wake up the earliest. Opening his eyes, he saw
the traces of the top of the hole having been chopped. His crystal clear senses had been
recovered, as he could easily identify which tools or which weapons had created those marks.
Previously, Zhang Tie couldn’t do that at all. Could his growing spiritual energy be making him
smarter and giving him sharper senses? After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Tie
immediately got up. Knowing that the Leakless Fruit will continue to ripen again, he felt much
better and felt as if his life was full of hope.
The one lying in the same upper hole with Zhang Tie was Hista. When Zhang Tie woke up, Hista
was still snoring. Those from the hole under them seemed to have not woken up yet either, thus
after putting on his clothes and shoes, Zhang Tie equipped his soft armor and fastened his
waistband. After checking his personal equipment, he silently climbed out of the tree hollow.
For adolescents like Zhang Tie, it was not difficult to climb up and down from the high and
twisting, lump-covered Dragon-Claw Tree.

Since midnight, Leit had been on duty. Hugging the “Iron Gate T21”, he sat in a pit that was a
meter deep under the lower tree hollow with widely opened eyes. Seeing Zhang Tie climbing
down, he was pretty surprised. “So early?”
“Hoho, the early bird gets the worms!”
“The worms that get up early will be eaten by the bird. Do you really want to give it a try?”
Zhang Tie nodded. “Yes!”
“Good luck!” Leit stopped trying to persuade Zhang Tie. In his opinion, Zhang Tie would
definitely come back after suffering from a couple of setbacks. Mining during the survival
training was not that easy.
Waving his hands towards Leit, Zhang Tie climbed down the tree and quickly disappeared from
their camp…
Morning in the valley was different from that in the cities, as there was a fresh fragrance
lingering here. Leaving the tree, Zhang Tie greedily inhaled the fresh air that contained the
aura of the wild plants. He then ran towards the small stream not far away. Arriving at the
small, crystal-clear stream where the members of the brotherhood fetched water, he washed
his face. He then broke a water-leaf willow twig and used it to clean his mouth. After drinking
two mouths of the mountain spring water and eating a small piece of dried ration, Zhang Tie
started to take action.
Before heading to the mines, another idea popped up in his mind, one which he had always
dreamt of but failed in practice. If he was successful, he would not have to be worried about
food anymore and would have a lot of time to do what he truly wanted to do. After all, mining
was just his excuse to the public; he didn’t really plan to get food from others by mining.
While he was an assistant at the grocery store, Zhang Tie had learned various skills and
knowledge that would help him survive in the wild from Donder and the pioneers who visited
the store. The skills and knowledge learned were not things that could be learned in school; this
one, in particular, was about setting traps to capture wild animals. After observing the
environment of Wild Wolf Valley for the past two days, Zhang Tie realized he could try out some
of the skills and use the methods to acquire food.
Zhang Tie cut off a piece of wild bamboo, dividing them into two parts with each being 1m in
length. After bundling them together, he left the area. When he passed by a patch of chestnut
trees, Zhang Tie found a chestnut tree which was as wide as a duck’s egg and had a height that
was greater than 3m. He then used his multi-purpose military shovel to cut that chestnut tree.
After cleaning off the extra twigs and leaves on it, Zhang Tie was left with a rod. He then took
out the steel spearhead that hung on his waist and nailed it onto the rod, forming a complete
spear with a length that was slightly longer than 2m. With that long spear in hand, Zhang Tie
became even more dauntless. He then moved towards a place in his memory that was 500m
away from the camp with his long spear and the two parts of bamboo in hand.
As most of the participants of the survival training chose to stay within 5km of the castle, most
of the birds and animals were observed and chased away, while the unlucky ones had already
been killed by the participants. Thus, it would be relatively safer within this area, as fewer
dangerous beasts were here. Because of this, despite him acting alone, Zhang Tie had nothing to
worry about.

Before he had arrived at his destination, he had already heard the sound of running water from

behind the mountain slope. After detouring that mountain slope, a small river that was as wide
as seven or eight meters appeared in front of Zhang Tie’s eyes. Patches of weeds, aquatic plants,
and reeds could be found along the streamside. Zhang Tie’s arrival had caused several birds to
fly away. Although the river was not crystal clear, it was still clean. Squatting down, Zhang Tie
observed along the riverside for about five or six minutes, finding that there were always fish
the length of chopsticks jumping out of the water and that there were no other fierce aquatic
animals like crocodiles. After a while, Zhang Tie got an idea. Clearing the path using his long
spear, he walked towards the upper reach of the stream. At that location, he found several small
streams which would converge with the river at several different distances. Every time he saw
another small stream, Zhang Tie would stop and carefully take a look; however, in the end, he
would shake his head and continued to walk to the upper reaches with a disappointed look.
After 700-800m later, Zhang Tie had already seen five small streams, yet none of them made
him satisfied. However, as he was blocked by a ravine and a cliff, he could no longer continue. If
he wanted to pass, he would have to swim across the river or take a detour around it.
Fortunately for Zhang Tie, before he took a detour around the river, he heard the trickling
sound of a stream.
“Woah!” Zhang Tie stopped. If the sensitivity of his senses were not increased by his spiritual
energy which had sharply grown by seven-fold, then Zhang Tie would never have heard the
sound that had led him to this extremely hidden place. Clearing the path with his long spear,
Zhang Tie walked past the weeds and thorns beside the cliff, heading to the direction where he
could hear the trickling sound more clearly. He then continued to search for the origin of that
sound along the walls of the cliff and the ravine. After detouring several huge rocks, he saw a
1m wide stream filled with pebbles converging into the river by the cliff and the ravine. The
stream could only immerse his feet.
At the sight of this stream, Zhang Tie’s eyes turned bright.
After verifying the location, the slope, the depth, and the quality of the small stream, Zhang Tie
made some gestures with his hands before finally making a decision. Fortunately, he had found
a suitable place…
Inserting the long spear into the ground, Zhang Tie took out his military shovel and removed
his shoes as he begun to dig at a place that was not too far from where the small stream led into
the river. As he dug, Zhang Tie threw the wet sand and the pebbles to one side of the stream.
After digging for more than an hour, he finally built a small pond that was 2m above the point
of conversion; it was more than 50 cm deep and was as large as a water vat.
After creating that small pond, Zhang Tie picked up the nearby pebbles and built a small dam
above it. He then started to smoothen out the 2m long water channel from the small pond to
the point of convergence. Removing all the stones and pebbles that were larger than the size of
an egg from the water channel, Zhang Tie then paved the water channel with fine sand and
pebbles which were smaller than the size of a thumb. He then further reduced the slope of the
water channel and made it narrower and deeper…
After doing so, Zhang Tie then broke the two parts of bamboo using a dagger and turned them
into fine bamboo strips. Using the strips of bamboo and strips of the nearby willow, he weaved
them into a funnel-shaped object and placed it at the exit of that pond. By the time he finished
doing all of this, it was almost noon…

Zhang Tie then took a rest under a tree beside that stream. Wiping the sweat off his forehead,
Zhang Tie was satisfied with what he had achieved with this whole morning. The area within
20m from the point where the stream converged into the river to the upper reaches had been
totally changed.
About 2m onwards from the mouth of the stream, Zhang Tie had slightly changed the slope of
the stream, thus the speed of the flowing water was changed and became slower. Zhang Tie had
also changed the depth of the stream. Previously, this section of the stream was only 5 to 10 cm
in depth, and pebbles were even exposed to the air in some areas, meaning the depth was less
than 3 cm. After Zhang Tie had moved the bigger stones and the wet sand away, the depth
became more than 20 cm. Above the water channel was a deeper pond, the exit of which was
blocked by an ugly, funnel-shaped object created by Zhang Tie; however, although it was rough,
it was also the only “entrance” to the pond. The opening of that funnel-shaped object was
facing the water channel, while its end was in the pond. The simple structure of the funnelshaped
object allowed fish to easily enter, but it would be difficult for it to leave due to the
bamboo strips, which did not need to exert any force because of the water flowing against it.
However, fish that were wider than 1 inch would not be able to pass through that funnelshaped
object and would be forced back into the pond again.
The funnel-shaped object was the key to this trap. In addition, Zhang Tie had built 8 dams with
those larger pebbles at the area 20m from the pond, each of which was about 2-3m in height.
Naturally, the dams made of pebbles were not used to block water; they were used to form a
natural waterfall to increase the amount of oxygen in the water. After such modification, the
water flowing into the stream would definitely contain more oxygen after crashing down eight
times. As fish needed oxygen, they would definitely swim upwards from the mouth of the
stream and would ultimately fall into that pond. The pond plus that funnel-shaped bamboo
formed a natural fish cage; any fish that entered could only stay inside and wait for his arrival.
This was a hunting skill that was imparted to him by Donder. Using this skill, with some
modifications to the area and given the appropriate terrain and conditions, he would be able to
force the fish to enter the trap on their own without having to use a fishing net or a fishing
spear. Donder had once said that alcohol, sex, and money was to humans as oxygen was to fish.
Those clever traps were based on the prey’s natural characteristics and preferences.
After taking a rest for a while under the tree and eating some dried rations for lunch, Zhang Tie
found that the water had gradually become crystal clear. The flowing stream soon cleared the
mud at the point of convergence, causing ripples. Before leaving, he cut off a verdant twig and
used it to cover the pond. Afterwards, as he made his way to Wild Wolf Castle, taking advantage
of the elasticity and weight of the twigs on the side of the road, Zhang Tie made another two
traps which could be used on small animals. These were also traps that he had learnt about
before.
He soon arrived at the Wild Wolf Castle, staring with wide open eyes at the sight of the
boisterous scene in the castle square.