When Zhao’s banner fell, the enclosing Bronze Lock went out. The cut had split the nine suppression pennants too. Qi ran back into the staves of the three remaining elders, and the torn pennants caught fire. Lightning skittered across the wet rock. The pull on loose qi was gone.
“Brother Zhao is dead!” Elder Sun cried. He shook the broken staff from his blistered hands. “They’ve cut through the wall. Get the talismans out!”
Behind the barricades, some guards turned their crossbow winches even though the bows were loaded. Others dropped their weapons and tried to get behind the plates that were still standing. The pike line stayed up. Twenty-six men had their points out, but the iron tips shook in the rain.
Pei Jing took two steps over the cut bronze.
“Take him!” the captain cried.
Six pikes came at him. Pei Jing met them with the Willow-Splitting Cleave. The lodestones moved partway through their tracks. Eight hundred pounds of force rose with the blade. Six iron heads fell into the mud, and the wave behind the edge struck the front rank. Eight guards went down as their breastplates gave way. The men behind them tumbled back over the broken pikes. Those who could get up began to run.
