The moonlight was cool as water over the vast Cangping Mountains. Amid the stillness, rolling wind and thunder suddenly filled heaven and earth, like rivers in full flood, wave after wave crashing without end!
A closer look revealed an enormous palm stretching across the sky!
Its five fingers were pillars holding up heaven. It seemed to move slowly, yet crossed the sky in an instant, blotting out the great moon. Its clear light vanished, and the already hazy night grew darker still.
Rumble!
The palm pressed down with matchless force. Layers of cloud broke apart, and the air compressed into white torrents that howled backward!
Inside the Golden Jade Garden, Lü Xiang was drunk, but after an instant of confusion, his eyes flew wide. He shuddered, all trace of intoxication gone, and cried in terror, "The sky! Look at the sky!"
His voice and the rolling thunder overhead startled Lü Ling and Wu Chong. They looked up by reflex, then stood as if struck by lightning, mouths agape and unable to speak.
Hum—
Deep within the Cangping Mountains, the defensive array rose of its own accord. Spiritual light surged like an angry tide, runes flowed, and a shining barrier climbed to envelop the entire mountain range.
But—
Crack! Boom!
The giant palm descended. The array shattered instantly, and its barrier burst into firefly-like sparks across the sky.
Having broken through the array, the palm pressed on without losing any force!
Until it struck the mountains themselves!
BOOM!
The earth split, peaks collapsed, and countless boulders rolled into deep valleys, throwing up vast clouds of dust. Trees were ripped out by their roots, and streams changed course!
Rumble—
Aftershocks came one upon another. The ground throughout the Cangping Mountains rose and fell like ocean swells. In the Golden Jade Garden, screams