The moment Han Feng’s fingers touched the boiling silver, the skin on his hands did not just burn; it turned into black dust and blew away in the steam. The muscles and the veins of his wrists were gone in a split second.He saw his own bones. They were his arm bones, but they were not white. They were the grey, metallic bones of the Stone Heart’s marrow. They did not melt in the molten silver. They were made of the same mineral as the well.The Stone Heart inside his chest gave a giant, screeching pulse. THUMP.The sound was so loud it made the liquid silver in the pool jump. A wave of molten metal splashed over Han Feng’s arms, going up to his elbows. But instead of burning his bones to ash, the silver began to stick.It was like pouring cold water on hot iron. The molten silver began to coat his grey bones. It ran up his arms, not over his skin, but inside his bones. It was a hot, heavy snake of metal that went straight into his shoulders, then into his collarbones, then down into h

"No," Han Feng said. He stood up. When his feet hit the dirt floor of the cave, the ground made a soft, heavy thud. He weighed more than two men now. The silver in his bones and the obsidian in his skin had made him dense. He was a living mountain, and he was ready to climb.Han Feng stood in the center of the dark cavern, looking at his new body. He did not feel pain anymore. The sharp, burning agony of the Core Well and the cold rot of the poison were gone, replaced by a deep, resting strength. He felt heavy, but he also felt very fast. It was a strange feeling. He felt like a coiled spring made of the strongest steel. "I need to know," Han Feng murmured."Know what?" Su Yan asked, standing up and picking up her stone lantern."I need to know what I am," Han Feng said. "I need to know if I am still weak."He walked to the far side of the cavern. There, resting against the wall, was a massive boulder of blue-black basalt. It had fallen from the ceiling of the cave many years ago,

"The Alchemical Fire-Cage," Han Feng said, his voice dropping to a low, gravelly thrum . "He has gathered the outer disciples. The ones with the broken roots. He has put them in a cage in the center of the plaza. He is going to burn them.""Why?" Su Yan cried, grabbing his arm. "They are just children!""Because he needs their marrow," Han Feng said, his fingers tightening until the handle of the stone lantern in his hand cracked into dust. "The silver wall I built is too strong for his Stone-Walkers. He wants to use the life-force of the children to refine a new core, to break through the silver, or to flee the mountain before the sky falls. He is running out of time, and he is desperate."Han Feng threw the broken pieces of the lantern into the dirt. "Stay here, Su Yan," he said."No," she said, her voice firm. She pulled her dagger from her belt. "I am not staying in the shadows anymore. I am a survivor, Han Feng. I am going with you."Han Feng looked at her. He saw the fire in her

The air around Han Feng’s arms felt like thick, cold glass. It did not move. When he tried to push against it, his arm did not budge. It was like his entire body was encased in a block of ice.Every breath became a terrible struggle. The air in his throat did not feel like wind. It felt like sharp, cold crystals. He had to use the full strength of his silver lungs to pull the air inside. The metal tubes in his chest groaned under the pressure.Whoosh... click... whoosh. The sound was loud in the frozen silence of the plaza.Su Yan was standing behind him, her dagger held in her hand. She could not move either. Her body was frozen in a half-crouch. Her face was pale, and her eyes were full of a silent, helpless terror.Even the children in the iron cage had stopped crying. They lay on the floor of the cage, their bodies pressed down by the invisible, solid air. This was the Sovereign Domain.It was the power of a master who did not just use Qi to fight. He used Qi to rewrite the space a

The wind was very strong. It made a loud, whistling sound in the deep chasm. Han Feng was falling. The dark walls of the Sovereign Gate rushed past his face like grey shadows]. Below him, the giant brass gears were turning, making a heavy, metallic grinding sound. Clank... clank... clank… He did not want to hit the gears yet. He needed to stop his fall. He reached out with his right arm. His fingers were no longer soft flesh; they were made of solid, black obsidian and silver. He slammed his hand into the grey stone wall of the cliff.Screeech! The sound was terrible. It was the sound of metal tearing through rock. A shower of bright silver sparks flew into the dark air as his hand carved a deep, five-inch line in the basalt wall. He slowed down. His boots hit a stone terrace on the side of the cliff, and he stopped.Thud. He landed on his feet. The ground here was covered in dirt and broken pieces of wood. It was the lower terrace of the Outer Sect barracks.The Sect Leader was alr