On April 24, fine rain veiled Xiushui Commandery City, and white mist filled the air.
Most people believed Tie Kuangren would advance to the fourth rank either at West Mountain or west of the Divine Splendor River, near Mount Tai-the more secluded the location, the better.
After all, rumor had it that advancing the Iron Armor Sect's Primordial Iron Armor Art to the fourth rank required burying oneself in mountain rock for three days and three nights.
No one had expected Tie Kuangren to choose a flat little village 270 li south of West Mountain, on the border between Xiushui Commandery and Huiji Commandery.
Pine-Wind Sword Lin Shi had learned of Tie Kuangren's choice only two hours before it happened, and he, too, had been extremely surprised.
When he arrived at the village called Mi Family Manor with his Xiushui Hall forces early the following morning, he immediately surveyed the surroundings.
An endless plain stretched around them, yet a sturdy stone fortress embedded with magic arrays now rose around this once-unremarkable village.
The Stone Fortress's walls were actually four zhang thick, built entirely from black basalt and cast with molten iron poured over them. Inside the Stone Fortress stood twenty arrow towers roughly twelve zhang high, fitted with magic arrays that doubled the power and range of the archers within.
Nearly 3,200 Iron Banner Gang elites had already entered, and the Tie Brothers had concealed another four hundred troops here, making the entire Stone Fortress as impregnable as a city of metal with a boiling moat.
After looking it over, Lin Shi could scarcely believe it. "The Banner Chief actually chose to advance here? Does this place meet the requirements for advancing the Primordial Iron Armor Art?"
"Why wouldn't it? In fact, this is one of the twenty-seven most suitable