Day after day passed, and the situation at Black Iron City on the border of Xilin Commandery remained deadlocked.
The Heroes Alliance army surrounded the city, launching sizable attacks every day.
Yet this border main city displayed extraordinary resilience, standing firm throughout.
In Central Xilin Commandery, the allied forces of the Commandery City and the Three Great Fortresses had fewer troops than the enemy.
But they used their advantage in terrain to launch large-scale surprise attacks each day, doing everything they could to pin down the enemy's main forces.
As a result, the fighting across southwestern Xilin Commandery fell into a stalemate.
Meanwhile, neighboring Xilin Commandery were Nanyang Commandery of the Dingbo Marquisate and Seven Star Commandery of the Changning Marquisate.
In the northeastern parts of both commanderies, reports of small-scale bandit activity had also emerged while bandits ran rampant in Xilin Commandery.
Then, a month ago, a bandit force called "One Swarm" invaded the borderlands of both commanderies, seizing cities and territory, throwing open the government storehouses, and inviting bandits from all quarters to rise up.
In a short time, dozens of main cities across the two commanderies fell one after another.
Most were taken by One Swarm, though quite a few were seized by other bandit groups taking advantage of the chaos.
For a time, the bandit scourge in the northeastern regions of both commanderies only grew worse.
The governors' offices of both commanderies urgently dispatched troops to encircle and suppress them.
It was said that even a Saint Master-level expert had personally taken the field, leading troops in pursuit of One Swarm's bandits.
But a month passed without One Swarm being wiped out; they escaped time and again.
At that moment, inside a cave abode deep in the mountains of northeastern Nanyang Commandery.
A handsome young