All Chapters of The Art of the Invisible Strike: Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
64 chapters
Chapter 51
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
Chapter 52
The cavern was deep and dark. It was far below the Core Well, hidden in the wet roots of the mountain.Above them, the Great Elder’s angry screams were muffled by thirty feet of solid silver and stone. Han Feng’s final strike in the well chamber had been a great wave of molten metal. He had thrown the boiling silver at the door, and then, using his resonance, he had forced the silver to cool in one second. It had turned into a thick, solid wall of grey-white iron. The wall was too thick for the Stone-Walkers to break quickly. It had given Han Feng and Su Yan time to escape.They had slid down a dark water-pipe, tumbling into this quiet, cold cavern.Now, Han Feng sat on the wet dirt. He was perfectly still. His body was still hot from the molten silver, but the cold air of the deep cave was starting to do its work.Ssssss. A thin, white steam rose from his skin. It smelled of sulfur and hot earth.Su Yan sat five feet away. Her stone lantern was on the floor between them. Its small,
Chapter 53
"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,
Chapter 54
The climb was slow, but it was not painful. Han Feng did not need Su Yan to help him now. He walked in front, carrying her stone lantern in his silver hand. His movements were fluid and sure. Even though he was heavy, his feet made no sound on the stones unless he wanted them to. He had learned how to make his weight a part of the mountain’s own balance.They walked through the narrow, steep maintenance shafts. As they climbed higher, they began to find signs of the sect’s panic.They found a small room where the coal-shovels were kept. Inside, four outer disciples were huddled in the dark. They were young boys, no older than twelve, their faces black with coal dust. They were holding wooden sticks and rusty iron bars, their bodies shaking with fear.When they saw the bright, silver-eyed figure of Han Feng emerge from the tunnel, they shrieked and fell to their knees, hiding their faces."Please, Lord!" one of them cried, his voice breaking. "Do not kill us! We are only coal-servant
Chapter 55
"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
Chapter 56
The six Shadow-Guards were running. Their boots made a fast clack, clack, clack sound on the white marble of the plaza. Their porcelain masks showed no feeling. Their swords were raised, ready to cut Han Feng into pieces.Han Feng did not move. He stood with his silver-black hands open, his grey eyes quiet. He was waiting for them to reach him. He knew his new body was strong. He knew he could shatter their swords with a single touch. But before the first guard could swing his blade, the sky changed.It did not turn blue, and it did not turn grey. It turned dark. It was not a cloud. It was a shadow that fell over the entire Grand Plaza, like a giant hand blocking the sun.The air became very cold. It was a dead, heavy cold.The guards stopped. They did not stop because they wanted to. They stopped because they had to. Their bodies froze in the middle of their steps. One guard’s foot was still in the air, but he could not put it down. His porcelain mask began to shake with fear.A so
Chapter 57
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
Chapter 58
The giant stone columns that held up the outer arches of the High Palace groaned. These were pillars of solid basalt, twenty feet thick. But when the shockwave hit them, they snapped like dry twigs.CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. The massive stone arches collapsed, tons of carved granite raining down onto the plaza, crushing the statues of the founders into dust.The alchemical iron cage where the children were trapped was in the path of the storm.The shockwave hit the iron bars. The heavy metal did not just bend; the bolts that held the cage to the floor were ripped out. The cage was thrown ten feet backward, the iron door bursting off its hinges.Su Yan was thrown into the air like a leaf. She screamed, her body spinning. She had to throw her dagger into a crack in the bedrock, holding onto the handle with both hands as her feet dangled over the deep ravine.Han Feng was pushed back. His silver boots dragged through the solid rock of the plaza floor, carving two deep, five-inch-wide grooves
Chapter 59
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
Chapter 60
Han Feng did not answer. He was already leaping. He jumped from the terrace of the barracks to the roof of the Outer Sect kitchen. The kitchen was an old building made of wood and dry straw.BOOM! When his heavy silver feet hit the roof, the wood shattered into splinters. But before he could fall through, the stone pillar under the kitchen rose up, supporting his weight.He looked at the Sect Leader, who was floating in the air above the garden. "Try this," Han Feng said. He swung his arm in a big circle.In the medicinal gardens below, the ancient pine trees began to shake. Their needles shivered, and their branches bent. Suddenly, the giant roots of the trees broke through the dirt like big, wooden snakes. They shot into the air, reaching for the Sect Leader’s ankles.At the same time, Han Feng threw his left fist forward.The air in front of his hand compressed, creating a wave of sharp, grey stone shards that flew out of the broken roof, following the roots like a swarm of angry