Xilos cast Shen Yi a discreet glance. A trace of worry flickered in her eyes, but she said nothing.
She knew Shen Yi must have his reasons for making this decision. As his follower, she chose to trust him.
Seven more days passed.
The silent space around them took full shape. It absorbed no more Rule Fragments and stopped expanding.
The domain Shen Yi had built around his own power, using the relatively stable Rule Veins in this fragment of the Broken Universe, had finally stabilized for the time being.
A smaller, simplified outline appeared.
The nebulae of the Shattered Universe hovered in the void before Xilos and the other women like an intricately carved model of a chessboard.
It was no physical structure, but a framework traced in thin, gray-white shells of rules. Within it, a newly stabilized spatial structure and paths of flowing energy were faintly visible. It gave off a weak aura unmistakably belonging to Shen Yi.
Though still fragile, this unclaimed territory now bore Shen Yi's mark.
Only then did Shen Yi slowly withdraw the power he had been pouring into it.
The depths of his Shadow Authority and the blazing white radiance of the Flame of Continued Combustion receded from around him, returning to that strange balance within his body.
A little sweat beaded at his temples. Days of intense work constructing and harmonizing rules had taken a toll even on him. Yet his chestnut-brown eyes remained still, showing no fatigue—only the calm of a deep pool.
After resting for a moment, Shen Yi slowly raised his hand.
A faint, dark-blue point of light appeared in his palm. It was the special contact mark Alvin had left him, carrying the distinctive rule fluctuations of the Mechanical Divine Domain.
With a thought, Shen Yi activated the