246 Dancing Blades

The trays were heavy with surgical razors!

But no, that wasn’t right. Scalpel blades were only sharp on one end. These looked painfully sharp on both sides.

Each student very carefully plucked four from the trays as the workers wandered by, then placed them in their palms. They didn’t know what the Drillmaster had planned, but their hearts were full of foreboding.

Before long, every palm bore a set of razor blades. A worker with surplus blades approached Lan Jue.

The masked jewelry master snapped up two blades, pinching them between his thumbs and forefingers. He approached the students, hands high. “Two more each for Emperor pilots, and six more for Sovereigns.”

Tang Mi, Tang Xiao and Geng Yang were given two more blades each, while Tan Lingyun and Wang Hongyuan were given six more.

Lan Jue kept just the two.

“Watch carefully,” he instructed, as his hands begun to move.