The heat inside the fiery cave seemed to thicken with every passing second as the blue dilatant capsule drifted within thirty paces of the titan’s left shoulder. Through the see-through sapphire membrane, the radiant infrared glare from the Giant beast’s glowing cracks lit up every detail of its ancient, battered stone hide. The surrounding air sizzled with the sharp tang of white-hot copper and volatilized brimstone, a harsh, stinging mixture that would have choked mortal lungs to ash in a heartbeat.
Lin Xiao stood quietly at the front of the watching deck. He took a slow breath, centering his mind and shifting his mind into full exact timing with the Omniscient Dao Spirit.
“Initiate deep-piercing multi-spectral soul scan,” Lin Xiao commanded inwardly. “Focus on the chest cavity beneath the left chest muscle junction. I want to see every layer of stone, bone, and spiritual breath flow. Let’s peel back this armor and see what’s eating away at our friend.”
“Directive acknowledged,” the Dao Spirit replied smoothly in its cool, sweet-sounding rhythm. “Deploying Harmonic Void-Resonance Sonar. Filtering surface infrared interference... Piercing dark rock skin strata... Piercing backup stone muscle wrapping... Scanning main heart chamber.”
In Lin Xiao’s mindscape, the solid black stone and dazzling molten gold of the Giant beast’s chest dissolved into a glowing, semi-clear, three-space-folding blueprint of vibrant spiritual energy. He could see the huge blood-flow network of the ancient beast. Rivers of liquid gold fire coursing through massive, stone-walled arteries, converging toward a central heart chamber that burned…
