The sky above the ravine was gone. It was no longer a pale, cold morning sky. It was completely blocked by a monster made of black iron. The World Eater was hovering directly above them. It was so massive that it created its own weather. A terrible, dark wind blew down from its giant engines. The wind howled and screamed, pushing the thick white fog flat against the muddy ground. Han Feng, Su Yan, and Grim looked up. They felt like tiny bugs standing under a falling mountain. The giant iron jaws of the World Eater slowly opened. Inside the mouth, millions of glowing red metal teeth were spinning. They spun so fast they looked like a solid wall of red fire. The sound of the grinding teeth was deafening. Grrrrrr-clack-clack-clack. It was the sound of a machine that ate the earth. From the broken machine face of the first Houndsman lying in the mud, the bright red beacon beam still shot straight up into the sky. It pointed right at Han Feng. It was a target line for the World Eater.

The massive X-shaped energy blast hit the stone wall of the ravine where they had been standing a micro-second ago. The explosion was huge. Giant boulders rained down into the white fog. The Master Houndsman stood perfectly still. His mask scanned the fog. Where did the targets go? His heat sensors showed nothing. His motion trackers showed nothing. Whir. The engine reset. The gap was over. Behind the Master Houndsman, the air rippled slightly. Han Feng and Su Yan appeared out of thin air. They were standing directly back-to-back, exactly one foot behind the giant silver killer. Han Feng still had his right hand firmly planted on Su Yan’s shoulder. Their minds were still perfectly connected. The Master Houndsman sensed the sudden heat behind his back. He spun around incredibly fast, raising his metal fist to punch them into the dirt. “He is too fast,” Su Yan panicked. “He is out of tune,” Han Feng answered coldly. Han Feng raised his left hand. He did not curl it into a fist

Su Yan kept reading the floating green text. Her face grew paler with every word. "There is more," Su Yan said. Her voice was shaking now. She pointed to the edge of the map. On the giant green hologram, there were several small, blinking dots. One of the dots was right on top of their current location. It was blinking rapidly. "This map is a tracking log," Su Yan explained. "It belongs to the Houndsman. It shows his mission."She touched the green text with her finger. The hologram shifted. It zoomed in on the blinking dot representing them. A picture of the Azure Cloud Sect appeared. Then, a picture of the Golden Anchor Key. And finally, a rough, green sketch of Han Feng’s silver-lined face. "They were hunting you, Han Feng," Su Yan said softly. "We knew that," Grim grunted. "They want the magic core.""No, Grim, you do not understand," Su Yan said. She looked at Han Feng with wide, terrified eyes. "They do not want to use him. The text... it says the Exordium’s primary missio

Han Feng flew through the dark, massive stomach of the World Eater like a human cannonball. Below him, the bright green acid bubbled and hissed, reaching up to melt his boots. But he did not look down. His silver eyes were locked on the glowing purple power cables on the metal wall. Grim’s throw was perfect. Han Feng hit the wall exactly where Su Yan had pointed. He pulled his right arm back. His fist burned with a blinding, white-hot silver light. He poured every single drop of his internalized Liquid Steel power into his hand. He punched the thick purple cables. KRA-KOOOOOOM! The explosion was magnificent. It was not a fire explosion. It was a massive shockwave of pure kinetic sound. The thick purple cables shattered like cheap glass. Blue lightning sparked wildly across the metal wall. Instantly, the World Eater’s giant digestion engine died. The glowing green acid stopped rising. The red flashing lights turned off. The terrible, grinding sound of the giant machine heart stu

The journey was a nightmare. The sun beat down on them without mercy. The hot wind blew sharp yellow sand into their eyes. Grim walked for hours without resting. His heavy iron boots dragged in the dirt. He was sweating so much his armor was wet, but he refused to stop. Su Yan walked beside him, holding Grim’s belt to help him balance when he stumbled. On Grim’s back, Han Feng was slipping away. His body was getting colder and heavier. The spider-web cracks on his obsidian skin grew longer and deeper. He could not move his fingers anymore. His hands were frozen into stiff claws holding onto Grim’s iron armor. "Stay with us, Han Feng," Su Yan would say every few minutes. "Keep your eyes open.""I am... trying," Han Feng would whisper back. His voice was getting so quiet it was hard to hear. As the sun finally began to set, the sky turned a dark, bruised purple. The air changed. The terrible heat of the desert faded, replaced by a strange, tingling cold. They were getting closer.