When Morok’s void core broke, the shock passed through the swarm. Three thousand centurions went still behind their shields. Their eyes went black. Then they let the shields fall and ran.
The smaller fiends scattered before them. Some were trampled in the retreat. Within four minutes the whole basin north of the gorge was moving away from the pass. Pei Jing stayed where he was. People were still crossing behind him.
Two days passed without another charge. Shi Kang sent walkers over the higher paths above the eastern narrows. That left more room for the loaded wagons on the main road. With both routes open, they moved about two hundred and thirty thousand a day, well above Shi’s first estimate for the main road alone. Qian’s crews worked near the edge of the gorge, pulling usable plates and void iron out of the rubble. They left Morok where he had fallen.
On the tenth day, Pei Jing climbed onto the general’s ribs with the Astral Bone Blade in his hand. He sat on a wide plate and ran the blade across the Black Mountain Whetstone. Then he unwrapped three yams that Duan had roasted in the fire bowl. The edges were black. The flesh inside was still warm. Pei Jing split them with his thumbs, added salt and ate. The water from his canteen tasted of the granite it had run over.
