The smiles on the faces of the four who had just forged their Godheads froze.
The excitement in the hall gave way to dead silence.
"Where?"
Sword Master in the Snow reacted first. The Divine Might of Unbroken Windwalk spread from him, becoming invisible tendrils of perception that swept through every corner of the hall.
Wind skimmed the walls, the tables and chairs, and everyone's bodies.
Nothing.
"Nothing on my end either."
Water God's expression turned grave. Countless tiny droplets appeared in the air around him, each one a perfect mirror reflecting its surroundings.
Every reflection showed only them. Nothing else.
The power of Evergreen's Holy Light Grace became a gentle radiance that enveloped the entire hall.
Every detail stood revealed beneath its light, yet it exposed no hidden form or energy.
Senior Brother En-En hovered in midair. The Divinity of Feather of Void Piercing made him acutely sensitive to disturbances and constraints in space, but he could sense no trace of an outside force entering.
It was almost as if what Mirror had said was only her imagination.
"No. They're still here."
Mirror frowned more deeply. Her body, poised between reality and illusion, wavered even more visibly.
"They aren't watching with eyes or sensing us through energy."
"They're 'cognizing' us."
Cognizing?
The word was unfamiliar and baffling to the newly ascended gods.
"It's Soul Abyss Gazer Valak."
Qin Chuan's voice answered their confusion.
He had not searched like the others. He simply stood there, calm, as though he had known all along.
"His Divine Authority lets him split his eyeballs to create Soul Observers."
"These things have no physical form and belong to no kind of energy. They're more like 'concepts'—the concept of 'observation' attached to your souls."
Qin Chuan looked at the others.
"Blowing them away with wind,