The halberd came down without a whistle. The air in front of the crescent vanished. Pei Jing saw the black line where it had been, moving toward his left shoulder.
He turned on his heel and lowered his weight. The Astral Bone Blade rose to meet the plain metal behind the cutting edge. Cold sparks went past his sleeve as the crescent slid clear.
Then the shaft struck the spine of his blade.
Glass broke under both his boots. A crater opened in the plateau. The shock passed through the roots of the mountain and set the needles in the Royal Star Tower swinging in their copper bowls. In the caves below Azure Province, underground rivers rose against their banks.
Pei Jing’s teeth clicked. His knees held. He could feel a part of the blow travel toward his left shoulder, where the old ridge of bone lay two inches in from the shoulder. He let his hips settle before that weight could stop in one place. The edge of the cleaver shook once between his hands. Then it went still.
The Five-Elemental Chaos Spirit Root took the blow in parts. Fire left his back in a cloud of steam. Wood held his ribs together. Metal steadied his breath, and Water drew the heat out of his joints. Earth carried most of the weight down his legs and into the rock.
