The jagged black granite peaks of Thunder-Clap Mountain pierced the dark purple storm clouds of the northwestern province like a hundred iron spears.
For three thousand years, this mountain had been a symbol of terror across the northern plains.
Along its high wind-swept ridges stood one hundred 300-foot-tall Magnetic Thunder-Punishment Towers, forged from dark loadstone iron to attract violent heavenly lightning from the upper atmosphere. Instead of using that boundless atmospheric energy to benefit the people, the successive rulers of Thunder-Clap Sect had used the towers. Long-range execution cannons—hurling bolts of purple lightning down into any mortal village that fell behind on its annual winter grain tax!
Inside the central lightning-array hall at the summit of Thunder-Clap Mountain, Debtor #502. Former Thunder-Clap Sect Master Lei Zhen , at Rank 5 Peak, sat bound in his crimson homework-ribbon net. Nine hundred transfer students and Campus #1 ironworkers led by eleven-year-old Ye Xiao , at Rank 5 Mid.
Ten-year-old Gu Nian , at Rank 5 Early, unspooled thick reels of Insulated Copper Spirit-Cable across the stone floor.
Glaring at the copper cables and the blueprint pinned to the central pillar, Sect Master Lei Zhen sneered until purple sparks flew from his nostrils:.
