Pei Xuan’s boots crunched onto the wide black-bone ledge at the base of the ten-mile Planetary Spirit-Draining Nail.
Up close, the sheer scale of the Upper-Realm harvesting pillar was breathtaking. The purple star-iron shaft was two miles thick at its base, carved with millions of tiny, pulsing blood-red runes that looked like thirsty veins drinking from the golden magma sea below.
Every few seconds, the entire ten-mile pillar gave a deep, metallic THUMP-HUMMMM, like a gigantic water pump sucking groundwater out of an oasis.
Right in the center of the Nail’s front face sat the thirty-foot-wide Octagonal Crystal Control Hatch. The hatch was covered by a thick plate of smoky blood-quartz and locked down by eight Rank 7 Blood-Moon Security Locks.
“Careful, Young Master!” Old Wei stepped in front of Pei Xuan, raising his Rank 6 Heavy Black-Iron Saber. “Those eight red locks are crackling with Upper-Realm spatial lightning. If we touch them without the right bloodline key, they might shoot a curse bolt!”
“Bloodline key? Look at how crooked those eight lock-bolts are!”
Ye Guhan walked up beside Old Wei, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the eight Upper-Realm locks. To anyone else, they were deadly Rank 7 defensive talismans. To Ye Guhan, who had spent the last three years slicing highways, canals, and manhole covers across Planet Canglan, they were just eight poorly aligned rusty hinges sticking out by half an inch!
