The first drops of crimson rain hissed against the bronze rim of the wagon roof like boiling acid.
Where the dark droplets struck the swamp mud, greasy yellow smoke curled into the air with the stench of scorched hair. A stray splash hit an iron spear shaft planted in the embankment. The solid metal pitted and turned black within seconds, shedding flakes of brittle red rust.
Out in the open marsh, two hundred and fifty thousand men shrank beneath their wicker shields.
“Take cover!” Patriarch Shen roared from the command line, his voice cracking with terror. “It is Spirit Domain blood-rain! Do not let it touch your skin!”
Screams echoed from the forward trenches as the downpour thickened into a roaring red torrent.
Mortal conscripts and outer disciples huddled under their leather cloaks, but the acidic liquid ate through boiled hide like hot broth through wet parchment. Soldiers cried out as blisters bloomed on their forearms. The corrosive fluid burned down to the bone, gnawing at their meridians with vicious hunger.
“Shields up!” Patriarch Mu wailed, raising his wooden staff to summon a green barrier.
The moment the emerald Qi dome flared, forty heavy drops struck its surface.
