The metal hum shaking through Hall Master Lu’s ribs had risen half an octave.
Hum shift under load was the universal herald of total failure. It was the screech a steel truss made three seconds before buckling.
“Barrier team, full power!” Elder Gu screamed, retreating behind three layers of linked jade shields. “The wretch’s dantian is at the blast threshold! Let him burst! His bloodline was impure anyway!”
The guards channeled their zhenqi wildly, the semi-clear green ward glowing like a hemispherical wall between them and the swelling elder.
Frank knelt on the wet flat stone slabs beside the thrashing man, entirely calm by the impending blast.
He held his brass fine-scale measuring tongs in his right hand, gently resting the hardened steel jaw against the side of Hall Master Lu’s swollen neck-vein furrow.
“Seventeen point four tiny fractions of an inch of lateral bending,” Frank muttered, reading the fine-scale with his left eye squinted. “Blood-vessel wall tension is approaching ultimate pulling strength. If he coughs, he pops.”
The blue test window flashed directly over the elder’s chest.
