Chapter 611 — The Magnetic Pole Tempest
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" Qi Jiuyi was about to speak when the enormous planet arrived overhead. At once the three felt their bodies turn frighteningly light, and each thought: this is bad. Shen Mu hastily roused his sword core; sword-light thick as a pillar stabbed down into the star core beneath their feet, trying to anchor his steps. At the same time Zhe Huali's demon blade stabbed into the star core. Qi Jiuyi's shoes split apart, becoming phoenix talons that clamped down with a crack, trying to dig into the core and keep him from being sucked away by the alien star's geomagnetic force. But at once cold sweat broke out on all three foreheads.
Shen Mu's sword-light was flung back by the star core; Zhe Huali's demon blade could not pierce it even a hairsbreadth; and though Qi Jiuyi's phoenix talons were formidable, the star core was so solid it nearly snapped them off. Whoosh - the geomagnetic force formed into a hurricane of electric light. Like the aurora over the ice fields of northern Jingping, it swept lightly across them, and the three were lifted helplessly into the air.
The three youths kept calm in the crisis, each rousing his arts and unleashing divine powers, trying to escape the hurricane of geomagnetic lightning.
Shen Mu assumed the form of the Yinghuo Star Lord - an ox head on a human body, treading two fire dragons - and the twin dragons bore him roaring outward. Zhe Huali called forth his blade; ten thousand blade-lights flashed as he tried to cleave through the hurricane.
On the other side Qi Jiuyi shook his body and became a nine-headed phoenix, wings beating in flight, his speed immense - even greater than Shen Mu's or Zhe Huali's. Yet able as they were, the finest of the younger generation, they could not break free of the geomagnetic hurricane.
It carried them up, higher and higher. "Brother Tiger's rotten idea, bringing us onto this star core!
We're standing too high - the alien star's geomagnetic force has caught us. . .
" Cold sweat stood on Shen Mu's brow.
Suddenly he drew a long breath, sweeping the air around him empty and storing it in his chest. Since they could not escape the geomagnetic hurricane, they could only wait and see whether it might weaken. There was no air at such heights, so he had first to draw a breath and store it in his chest.
Fortunately his strength was already considerable, and his chest could hold a great deal of air.
That breath, stored in his chest, would keep him from needing to breathe for a day; even if he were cast into outer space, it might preserve his life for a while. Qi Jiuyi and Zhe Huali were breathing in as well.
Both were exceedingly clever and quickly grasped the crux, just as Shen Mu had. The geomagnetic hurricane swept them higher and higher; the star core and Luofu Heaven below grew ever more distant. Cold sweat broke out on Shen Mu's brow, for overhead lay countless drifting bolts of thunder.
Crack - a bolt of heavenly thunder stirred and struck at him.
At once, as if a hornets' nest had been poked, countless bolts of thunder burst forth, forming a vast sea of heavenly lightning. Shen Mu tossed up his sword core; flying swords danced around him and suddenly became a metal sphere some ten feet across, enclosing him and blocking the lightning.
Bolt after bolt hammered the sword core. It groaned and creaked, burned red-hot, ready to melt at any moment.
On the other side Qi Jiuyi and Zhe Huali were faring no better; the heavenly thunder rolled and engulfed all three. After a time the lightning dispersed.
Shen Mu hastily withdrew his sword core and saw that the geomagnetic hurricane remained, still coiling them along like a long snake, its aurora-like radiance exquisite beyond compare, shifting through many colors in an instant. But when Shen Mu looked up, his heart sank by degrees: they had already left Luofu Heaven far behind and entered the sky of the alien star.