Thirty feet of rotting water slammed into the outer pillars of the Great Dragon Bridge.
The crash sounded like a mountain collapsing into a stone quarry.
The blast wave tore five moored fishing smacks from their iron posts, grinding their cedar hulls into splintered firewood against the lower arches within a single heartbeat.
A blast of sub-zero river spray exploded across the span. He carried the choking stench of rotting river mud and dead men’s bones.
Lu Chen planted his stance.
He bent his knees, dropped his balance point three inches. Then he drove his heels straight down into the dressed granite of the central pier.
His leg muscles corded like twisted hemp rope.
Molten bronze marrow surged through his femurs and shins, channeling forty thousand pounds of crushing downward force into the soles of his heavy iron-studded boots.
