The crimson spear of light hit the Sovereign Aurora with a muffled rumble that barely rattled the teacups on the bridge.
Master Lu Jian’s nine-fold golden shields rippled like sunlight on deep water. The planetary laser beam splashed across the translucent barrier, dissipating in harmless amber waves.
Chu Lingxiao didn’t even put down her milk tea. She casually stepped toward the outer terrace, flicked her iron sword an inch from its wooden sheath, and tapped the air.
A razor-thin streak of golden sword-qi sliced upward through the upper atmosphere. Five thousand miles away on the frozen northern ice cap, the God-Slayer cannon’s central targeting prism cleaved neatly in half, erupting in a silent cloud of sparks. The crimson kill-beam abruptly cut out.
“Targeting array disabled,” Chu Lingxiao reported in her calm voice, taking another sip of tea. “The metal was surprisingly soft.”
“Clean work,” Lin Mo said with a grin. “Xing Yao, take us down into the lower cloud deck. Let’s see what this warden is up to.”
The three-mile luxury dreadnought parted the howling blizzard of Mining Planet #44 like an iron mountain.
Beside the observation glass, Tie Niu looked down at the dark frozen wastes below. The landscape was desolate, carved into jagged canyons of pale blue ice and black ironstone.
