Storm-Eye Ridge rose four thousand paces above Iron Rift Basin. Pei Jing climbed past dwarf cedars split by lightning and out onto bare stone. The air grew thin and cold. Static pulled his robe against his legs. Every hair on his arms stood up.
Nine Cloud Mist lightning barges hung over the ridge in a crescent. Their white jade hulls shone through the cloud. Silver coils hummed beneath them. On the other side, twelve Burning Sun fire chariots came through the clouds on the backs of fire wyverns. Their shields glowed orange when a bolt hit them. The sound reached the ridge a breath later, and loose rock went rattling down into the gullies.
Every time the barges fired, some of the lightning qi spilled into the clouds and stayed there. It had been building since before Pei Jing reached the swamp. The highest point for miles was the black glass horn at the end of the ridge. He could already see sparks crawling across it.
He set the Nine-Fold Astral Bone Blade against a boulder and took a copper spirit rod out of storage. Swamp damp had left a green film across the inlaid runes. He wiped it away with the Black Mountain Whetstone until each line showed clean. Then he took out the matching Void-Glass Crucible. Its glass had been made from sand fused in old lightning craters. The spirit lead inside it would hold the fire if his array could draw it in.
