This night was a long one for Zhang Tie's family. Zhang Tie's older brother didn't even dare to tell his parents the darker news he had heard outside. The high walls of Black Flame City Prison were an insurmountable chasm for Zhang Tie's family.
Three days—this was the information Zhang Yang had gathered. Zhang Tie would be in prison for three days before being released. He didn't know if Zhang Tie could hold out for three days. Right now, the only thing supporting Zhang Yang was the astonishing strength Zhang Yang Zhang Tie displayed when he snatched the sword from his hand before leaving. Zhang Yang didn't know why Zhang Tie had become so powerful, but at this moment, it was the pillar supporting Zhang Yang's belief: strength was power, and power was the capital to survive in Black Flame City Prison.
The next morning, as Zhang Yang was about to leave, Zhang Tie's father didn't say anything, but handed him a heavy Zhang Yang bag. "This is some money your mother and I saved. Take it. As long as Zhang Tie comes back safely, anything is fine!"
When Zhang Yang received the money bag, he knew that it represented almost all of his parents' savings. Zhang Yang carefully put the money bag away and nodded.
As soon as Zhang Yang stepped out, he was surprised to find several Norman Empire soldiers in dark red uniforms standing outside his door. They were scrutinizing Zhang Tie's house number, seemingly about to knock on the door.
"Hello, is this Zhang Tie's house?" One of the Norman Empire soldiers spoke up as a man with a face that resembled Zhang Tie walked out of the door.
Zhang Yang, already in a foul mood, ran into several thugs as soon as he stepped outside. They immediately started looking for Zhang Tie again. Zhang Yang was furious. "Wasn't Zhang Tie arrested by you yesterday? What are you doing here looking for him now?"
"Someone actually arrested Zhang Tie?" The Norman Empire soldier who had questioned Zhang Yang appeared extremely surprised, his face darkening. "Can you tell me what happened? I'm Zhang Tie's friend, my name is Salwei..."
"Are you Zhang Tie's friend?" Zhang Yang looked at the "red-skinned dog" in front of him with some strangeness... no, the person who claimed to be Zhang Yang's friend. His mind didn't quite process it for a moment. When did Zhang Tie know someone from the Norman Empire?
"That's right, Zhang Tie once saved my life. I knew he returned from his trial yesterday, so I came here today specifically to thank him. Last time he saved me, because the circumstances were a bit special, I didn't have a chance to properly thank him!"
Seeing the Norman Empire soldiers in front of him, Zhang Yang's mind suddenly cleared. He grabbed Salwei's hand and said, " Zhang Tie has been arrested. Quick, come with me to the Military Control Committee. If we're late, Zhang Tie might lose his life..."
"What happened?"
"Someone has falsely accused Zhang Tie and wants to kill him!"
Upon hearing this, not only Salwei, but all the Norman Empire soldiers around him were enraged. The savior of a glorious Iron Horn Legion soldier had been falsely accused in Black Flame City and nearly lost his life—this was a blatant provocation and humiliation to the honor of the entire Iron Horn Legion...
"Let's go find those bastards from the Military Control Committee!"
The experience in the Black Dungeon was truly unbearable. After just one night, Zhang Tie felt as if his nose was about to fall off; he had lost all sense of smell, and the cell was teeming with fleas. Those fleas didn't care how many wolves you had on you.
Last night passed quickly. Aside from honing his skills in the Bright Point technique, Zhang Tie spent the rest of the time inside the Soul Tribulation Fruit. Last night, Zhang Tie "died" four times inside the Soul Tribulation Fruit. Each time, on the boundless Crescent Prairie, he was surrounded and attacked by more than 500 wild wolves, more than 20 Giant Wolf, more than 10 man-eating Giant Lizard, and several lions. Zhang Tie kept fighting back and forth with his Iron-Blood Divine Fist, each time unleashing his full hidden strength. He was basically invincible under his fist. In the constant fighting, the wounds on Zhang Tie's body slowly increased, and his physical strength was slowly being consumed. When he finally reached the critical point, he was overwhelmed by the still-living beasts.
Cultivating within the Soul Tribulation Fruit was both painful and blissful. It was painful because, aside from the invincibility of death, the suffering within was virtually real, indistinguishable from real-world pain. Zhang Tie's four "deaths" within were essentially like enduring four severe tortures outside, each time giving him a profound experience of what it felt like to have hundreds of wounds on his body, only to be torn apart by wild beasts. The only solace for Zhang Tie Zhang Tie was that the pain vanished instantly upon leaving the Soul Tribulation Realm, like a receding tide or a dream. Otherwise, he wouldn't have endured that suffering again and again.
Cultivating within the Soul Tribulation Fruit is also a kind of happiness, a happiness that only those who have truly experienced it can understand. Just like those few hours in the Soul Tribulation Realm last night, a period of time that many people might spend eating a meal in, Zhang Tie experienced several difficult challenges that many people might never experience in their entire lives. In such challenges, Zhang Tie's abilities in all aspects improved rapidly.
Recently, as Zhang Tie has been cultivating more frequently within the Soul Tribulation Fruit Soul Tribulation Fruit, Zhang Tie has discovered many of its characteristics. For example, an activated Soul Tribulation Realm can only be maintained for a maximum of three hours. After three hours, the energy supporting the entire Soul Tribulation Realm seems to weaken, causing it to collapse. This discovery came about when Zhang Tie wanted to test his speed and endurance against the wolves inside. He activated a Soul Tribulation Realm Soul Tribulation Fruit in a Crescent Prairie setting and started running. Hundreds of wolves chased after him, and Zhang Tie ran for three hours straight without being caught. Then, Zhang Tie received a notification, and the Soul Tribulation Realm subsequently crumbled into light.
This is the first characteristic Zhang Tie discovered about the Soul Tribulation Fruit Soul Tribulation Fruit. The second characteristic is Zhang Tie when activating the Soul Tribulation Fruit Soul Tribulation Fruit, the more creatures he selects to place within the scene, and the higher their level, the more spiritual energy he needs to inject. Furthermore, the greatest consumption of spiritual energy during activation is not from the creatures being activated, but from the Soul Tribulation Realm itself. When activating only one or two wolves at a time, Zhang Tie tested this and could activate the Soul Tribulation Fruit a maximum of twenty-three times with almost no difference. With approximately fifty to over a hundred wolves, he could activate it about eight to ten times, with minimal variation. However, now, with over 500 wolves and other creatures, he can only activate the Soul Tribulation Fruit Soul Tribulation Fruit a maximum of four times.
Zhang Tie's mental strength, which had initially felt abundant and increased sevenfold, now seemed somewhat insufficient.
Inside the Black Dungeon, there was no day or night. The only thing that reminded Zhang Tie of the arrival of the next day was Zhang Tie biological clock.
Sleeping in a room with a pile of corpses for a night wasn't a pleasant experience, but in Zhang Tie's eyes, these people in the room were even worse than livestock. Treating these corpses as the carcasses of wild wolves or some other more disgusting beasts made Zhang Tie feel much better.
After waking up, Zhang Tie was a little bored and wandered around the room for a while before practicing a kung fu he had recently invented— the Bear Back Iron Fetus Technique. Zhang Tie came up with this kung fu in a flash of inspiration when he saw a wild bear using its back to ram against a tree and then pick up the fruit that had fallen from the tree.
Iron Fetus Fruit only ripens when the body is constantly subjected to blows. Inspired by wild bears, Zhang Tie, unable to use himself as a human punching bag, devised a method to ripen the Iron Fetus Fruit by bumping his back against something. And surprisingly, it actually worked. This technique simply changed the force that ripens the Iron Fetus Fruit from passively being hit to actively impacting it. The principle is similar, but the latter's effect is remarkably better.
Zhang Tie had been practicing this skill for two weeks and had three ripened Iron Fetus Fruit, all of which Zhang Tie had eaten. Like the previous Iron Fetus Fruit Iron Fetus Fruit, Zhang Tie still experienced diarrhea after eating these, each time passing some black stuff. However, after the last two times, Zhang Tie noticed that the amount of black stuff in his stool was decreasing, and a trace of cold energy from the Iron Fetus Fruit was penetrating into his muscles, making him feel very comfortable.
Inside the Black Dungeon, Zhang Tie found a flat cement wall flush against the ground. He stood with his back to the wall, his body upright, feet slightly apart, heels about forty centimeters from the wall. Then he naturally leaned back, using his entire back to slam against the wall. With a "thud," Zhang Tie straightened up, a cloud of dust falling from the wall. Then another "thud," and Zhang Tie straightened up again, more dust falling from the wall...
And so, Zhang Tie continued to slam into the wall at a rhythm of roughly once every two seconds. The entire third basement level of the Zhang Tie echoed with deafening "thump, thump, thump." Now, with the Nine Wolf Strength within him, combined with his original level four strength, Zhang Tie's impacts were far greater than those of a giant bear. The force was immense, and the sound was equally astonishing. Many prisoners were awakened by the noise, but upon realizing it came from the most terrifying "club" on the third floor, and remembering the boy thrown in yesterday, all the prisoners fell silent again. The sound was strange; they wondered what perverse things were happening in that room...
The prison guards who brought Zhang Tie down yesterday arrived exceptionally early this morning. They usually don't arrive this early, but because of Zhang Tie, they came very early today.
There are rules in prison. At this time of year, it's perfectly normal for someone to die in prison, and almost no one will investigate. However, if the death is too gruesome, leaving the body mutilated and torn to pieces, it could cause a lot of trouble for the prison. This is an unspoken understanding between the prison and the prisoners. But the "club" on the third floor is too special, and they don't dare let Zhang Tie stay there for too long. You see, some people in that "club" are perverts who won't even spare a corpse.
After a night of turmoil, Zhang Tie Zhang Tie was definitely dead by now. Their priority was to get Zhang Tie body out as soon as possible to report back to the warden before his corpse became too gruesome and caused further trouble for the prison.
The group arrived at the third underground level of the Black Prison. As soon as they reached the third level, they heard a terrifying impact sound coming from the end of the underground passage. The sound echoed in the passage, as if the entire third level was shaking. The sound was coming from the "club" on the third floor. Upon hearing this sound, the guards' expressions changed, and they hurriedly ran towards the end of the passage.
When the guards ran up to the "club" on the third floor, the sight they saw left them speechless—in their eyes, the boy they had brought down the day before, who should have been a corpse by now, was boredly banging his back against the wall in his cell. He only stopped when he saw them arrive, and the terrifying sound was the boy hitting the wall.
The boy even greeted them, "Good morning, everyone!"
"You're not dead?" a guard exclaimed in disbelief, as if he had seen a ghost.
"I'm perfectly fine, why would I want to die!" Zhang Tie grabbed the iron gate's bars. "By the way, could you get me out of here first? Staying with a bunch of corpses isn't very comfortable..."