Chapter 8: Old Iron

All around was black mist.

A warm red light poured down from the False Sun above his head, shining on young Wu Tie.

Wu Jin and Wu Yin, their faces childish, wiped sweat from their faces and happily watched the swing they had spent three whole days erecting between two stone stalactites.

Wu Tong picked up Wu Tie and placed him on the swing.

Wu Jin laughed and pushed the swing.

The swing soared high.

Wu Tie laughed, both frightened and delighted, his clear laughter carrying far, far away……

Wu Tong stared wide-eyed at the swing, turned his head forcefully, and pursed his lips: "Well, it's just kids' toys… I, Wu Tong… no, I Wu Changming, am already an adult… I wouldn't play with kids' toys."

Wu Zhan carried a thick-bodied large snake, as thick as a bowl's mouth, walking from the black mist into the warm red light.

He chuckled, looking at the harmonious group of four sons, and patted the still-wriggling big snake on his shoulder: "In a moment, we'll drink snake soup……"

Wu Jin, Wu Yin, Wu Tong, and Wu Tie laughed loudly together.

The laughter stopped abruptly; in the surrounding black mist, countless pallid faces, swollen faces, faces smeared with blood and grotesquely ferocious suddenly popped out.

Layers of faces pressed in on Wu Tie.

Wu Zhan vanished.

Wu Jin vanished.

Wu Yin vanished.

Wu Tong vanished.

Wu Tie let out a heart-rending cry, his whole body twitching as he awoke.

"Father… brothers…" Wu Tie screamed hoarsely, an indescribable heartache surged, crushing the fear in his heart to powder.

Screaming hoarsely, Wu Tie's eyes blurred with tears, he stared blankly at the object that had just frightened him into unconsciousness.

A skull entirely snow‑white, white enough to almost blind one's eyes, pallid white with a hint of ferocious aura, its eyes flickering with a dim blood light, lay askew beside Wu Tie, staring straight at him.

On the lofty stone dome, countless night‑glow gems emitted bright light.

The white skull's surface was extremely clean; just kicked out of a dirt clod by Wu Tie's foot, it bore no dust or sand, spotless with not a speck of grime attached.

Such a clean surface, yet it reflected no light at all.

The bright light of the night‑glow gems fell on the white skull, which seemed to swallow all the light; Wu Tie stared at the ghastly white skull for a long time and actually felt an illusion that the skull was pitch black.

In this strange wonderland, the exhausted Wu Tie suddenly saw the skull and promptly fainted from fright.

In the dream, the anguish of losing his father and brothers, of losing his family, repeated; Wu Tie, whose heartache felt like being twisted, now forgot his fear.

Wu Tie wept, sobbing in spasms.

The white skull lay askew on the ground, its gloomy red eyes moving up and down, scrutinizing Wu Tie seriously.

Wu Tie could not see with his naked eye, but fine rays shot from the skull's pupils, sweeping over his body repeatedly in a delicate scan.

"Father dead?" the skull suddenly spoke in a stiff, icy voice.

"Mm!" Wu Tie nodded, choking back sobs.

"Brothers also dead?" the skull's jaw joint showed no movement, and it was unclear how it produced sound.

"Mm!" Wu Tie nodded again.

"Hold me upright, Grandfather." The skull's eyes suddenly brightened, two points of blood light stabbing Wu Tie's eyeballs with pain; he hastily turned his face aside.

"Well, hold me upright, Grandfather, why are you crying?" the skull snorted coldly: "If I'm not mistaken, you're a man… a man."

Wu Tie opened his mouth.

"A man can only bleed; not a single tear may fall." The skull hummed: "Once tears flow, the bones turn soft……"

Wu Tie stopped crying.

Before his eyes seemed to appear the figures of Wu Zhan and his three elder brothers.

He seemed to hear, on the training ground, Wu Zhan's punch that knocked Wu Jin flat in the sand, followed by a roar.

Wu Jin curled up in the sand, groaning in pain, while Wu Zhan bent over, looking down at Wu Jin as he roared loudly.

"Stand up, Wu Jin… you're a man… stand up!"

"Stand up, make yourself straight for me!"

"Remember, unless you're dead, even if your spine is broken, you must stay straight for me!"

"No matter who the opponent is."

"In short, remember, at any time, any place, stay straight for me!"

Wu Tie gritted his teeth, rubbed his face haphazardly with his palm, wiping away the tear tracks.

Wu Jin, who was constantly admonished by Wu Zhan to keep his body straight at all times, knelt before the enemy for this worthless younger brother.

Wu Tie struggled to his feet, the image of Wu Jin kneeling flashing before his eyes, he straightened his spine with great effort, gritted his teeth and stared fixedly at the eerie white skull.

Having stood upright, Wu Tie discovered that this skull, kicked out of a dirt clod by his foot yet utterly free of any speck of dirt, was three times the size of a normal human head.

Moreover, its shape was somewhat odd: the rear skull protruded backward a great deal, its streamlined exterior filled with an indescribable eerie beauty.

"No more crying?" the skull hummed: "Hold me upright, Grandfather!"

Wu Tie swallowed, bent down, and carefully grasped the white skull.

It felt icy to the touch.

This white skull was, astonishingly, entirely cast of metal.

"Uh?" Wu Tie looked at the white skull in astonishment.

"Making a fuss over nothing." the skull continued to hum.

Wu Tie closed his mouth, both arms clasping the white skull and exerting force——the skull entirely metal cast, and with a size three times a normal human head, Wu Tie doubted whether he could lift it.

The white skull was unexpectedly light; Wu Tie didn't need much effort to lift it.

Wu Tie, overexerting himself, even leaned back a bit, almost straining his waist; he stumbled back two steps, then stepped on a slippery patch of moss and nearly fell flat on his head, barely managing to steady himself.

"Ha." The white skull gave a stiff laugh: "I want to praise you for your boundless strength and agility, right?"

Wu Tie's face inexplicably heated; he held the white skull, found a small dirt mound, and placed it squarely on top.

Standing ramrod straight before the white skull, Wu Tie gritted his teeth and said, "I won't cry."

In this vast strange realm, Wu Tie inexplicably felt a slight closeness to this eerie white skull.

Anyway, Wu Tie also had the gall to wash a human head.

This white skull, no matter how, looks better than a bloody corpse's head.

Moreover, a dead person's head cannot speak, but this white skull not only speaks, it even lectures people.

A boy and a strange white metal skull stared at each other, big eyes meeting small, for a while; then the skull suddenly spoke: "You were just crying so bitterly—did your whole family die?"

Wu Tie felt a piercing pain in his chest, and heat rose in his eyes again.

Suppressing the urge to cry, Wu Tie inexplicably recalled what Wu Zhan had once said.

"No, I… I haven't… Mother, and my little sister… although I don't know where they are… but they must still be alive…"

"Well, anyway, your father and brothers are dead—what's the difference from losing the whole family?" The white skull gave a stiff jab to Wu Tie's chest.

Wu Tie's whole body went rigid; he was utterly exhausted, his stomach empty, hunger struck, waves of weakness washed over him, and the skull's words drained the last spark of life from his heart.

Every part of his body was filled with sorrow and fear; fatigue almost drained every cell.

His mind went blank, Wu Tie's eyes rolled back, and his body toppled backward.

With that fall… Wu Tie might never wake again, never be able to rise.

"Avenge!" The white skull's two gloomy red eyes flashed, its stiff, icy metallic voice like a dagger, stabbing hard into his heart.

"The hatred for killing one's father cannot be shared under the same sky; a man must distinguish gratitude from grudge."

"Since he could kill your father and brothers, you should kill his whole family."

"You haven't avenged your father's death, brat—you don't even deserve to die!"

An inexplicable surge of restless, frenzied heat rose in his chest, and his already exhausted body suddenly filled with frenzied power.

"Avenge!"

Wu Tie hoarsely bellowed.

"Avenge"—that word, he was not unfamiliar with.

"I will avenge!"

"But…"

Two streaks of pale red blood-tears flowed from his eye corners; Wu Tie stared at the white skull and roared, "I cannot cultivate… how can I avenge?"

The white skull's blood-red eyes flickered; it sized Wu Tie up and down, then after a while said softly, "I can let you cultivate… you can't cultivate? Hah, all things can become holy—just a matter of speed."

"You can't cultivate?"

"Whoever says that must be an idiot, right?"

Wu Tie suddenly thrust his left hand to press the white skull, then slammed a fierce punch into its face.

With a thud, Wu Tie's right fist split skin and flesh, a few drops of blood slid down the skull's smooth surface, leaving no mark on it.

"Idiot." The white skull sneered: "I'm forged of metal, you're flesh and blood… why use your own fist? Can't you find a stone?"

Wu Tie suddenly realized, bent down, picked up a fist-sized stone at his feet, and without a word smashed it hard into the skull's head.

"The one who said I can't cultivate… is my father!" Wu Tie roared hysterically while smashing the stone.

"Grandpa, I really have a cheap mouth…" the white skull's eyes flickered: "But it's fine once you get used to it… I've long been used to it."

After smashing it over a hundred times, the skull's smooth surface bore no mark, while the stone shattered.

Wu Tie plopped onto the ground, panting, tore off a strip of snake from his waist, and gulped it down; a few mouthfuls of snake meat warmed his belly, and he gradually regained a bit of strength.

While tearing at the snake meat, Wu Tie's bloodshot eyes locked onto the white skull like a beast: "You, can you let me cultivate?"

"Listen to me, I can let you cultivate…" the white skull said: "and also let you avenge…"

Wu Tie quickly chewed through a segment of snake meat, gritted his teeth, stood up, and stared fixedly at the white skull: "How do I do it?"

The white skull's eyes lit up: "First answer me… what year and month is it now?"

"What year, what month?" Wu Tie looked at the white skull blankly.

"Era? Calendar? Or something like that." The white skull's bright eyes dimmed a bit: "Grandpa used to remember time… but it's been too long since I've seen a living person… little one, do you know what despair is?"

Wu Tie opened his mouth, fell silent for a moment, then nodded firmly.

Despair?

Despair isn't it watching one's father vanish in a ball of thunder and fire?

Despair?

Despair isn't it watching one's brother be cut down by the enemy on the spot?

Despair?

Despair isn't it… one's brother kneeling before the enemy, begging for mercy, while oneself has no power to resist?

"I understand!" Wu Tie forced out a word with difficulty.

"Grandpa's despair I once felt is surely ten thousand times yours. It's a kind… you could never imagine." The white skull suddenly gave a dry sigh: "But it's good—now Grandpa suddenly feels a surge of endless drive."

"Honestly, why waste all this talk with you, little brat?" The white skull's voice suddenly rose to a powerful, ringing pitch, like two swords clashing: "Come, now, hold me and obey my commands!"

"But I truly don't know… what era, what calendar… my teacher never taught it." Wu Tie walked to the back of the white skull's head and lifted it with both hands.

Several semi-transparent tubes slipped from the white skull's broken neck, swaying and slapping Wu Tie's wrists.

"Lock onto that direction… the one with a hint of red light, that's right—come, stride forward, take big steps!"

The white skull's voice was full of power.

"Little one, walk—one-two-one… one-two-one… one-two-one…"

Straighten your back, lift your head, keep your legs straight, pay attention to your breathing rhythm, and walk following my grandfather's beat.

One-two-one, one-two-one, one-two-one……

The white skeleton was three times the size of a normal human head; Wu Tie was frail, and at eleven years old he wasn't tall either, so holding the white skeleton was like a small mouse clutching a large egg, making his walk very difficult.

Although the white skeleton wasn't heavy, Wu Tie didn't have much strength.

Moreover, the ground was wet and slippery, covered with thick moss and tangled with various strange vines; after walking not far, Wu Tie fell several times.

But the white skeleton's "one-two-one" voice was filled with a strange power; each time Wu Tie gritted his teeth and stood up, holding it, he continued forward in the direction it indicated.

Fortunately, the white skeleton's texture was special; even after Wu Tie dropped it to the ground several times, when he picked it up it remained completely clean, unstained by any dirt.

"One-two-one, one-two-one, uh, kid, you're getting the hang of it…… What's your name?" Blood Light flickered in the white skeleton's pupils; a thin red flash suddenly appeared, and dozens of steps away, in a place Wu Tie couldn't see, a venomous snake rushing swiftly was instantly split into dozens of segments.

"Wu Tie." Wu Tie panted: "Wu Taiping... and you?"

"Wu Tie? Not a bad name; a man should be as hard as iron!" the white skeleton said: "But Wu Taiping? 'No peace'... who came up with that? It's inauspicious..."

Wu Tie's face drooped.

The white skeleton gave a dry laugh: "Heh, heh, Grandpa I, this mouth of mine is really cheap…… Just get used to it, just get used to it……"

Blood Light flickered in his eyes, and countless invisible fine light nets, unseen by Wu Tie's naked eye, swept in all directions, covering a radius of a hundred meters.

"Wu Tie, Wu Tie, from now on Grandpa I will call you Little Iron, to sound more intimate and affectionate!"

"As for my grandfather's name…… you can call me…… Old Iron!"

"Old Iron?" Wu Tie felt the name was a bit perfunctory.

"Of course, Old Iron…… haven't you seen my whole body is full of iron lumps? It truly lives up to its name!"

After a few dry laughs, Old Iron said: "Persevere, one-two-one, one-two-one…… walk another two kilometers, then rest."

"At the same time, begin cultivation!"