In the pool, endless ice-blue power of rules flowed and mingled like something alive, radiating a vast, pure force that made the heart tremble.
Even standing at the pool's edge, Shen Yi could not help frowning. He could sense that the power of rules within the water was of an exceptionally high order, yet deeply restrained and stable. It was nothing like the stray Rule Fragments outside.
But the strange pool was not the only thing that caught his attention.
The moment he entered the hall and glanced over the pool, an immensely powerful, concentrated aura of water-aspected Authority spread through the air. It held both boundless cold and an all-embracing quality, enveloping him and Xilos from head to toe as silently as a gentle, omnipresent current.
Its owner was clearly examining them with great care.
From the essence of their souls to the roots of their power, from the nature of their Authorities to the fluctuations of the rules, the scrutiny even reached for traces on them that did not belong to them. For a second or two, Shen Yi wondered whether it might detect Feng Qingyao's mark or the aura of the Key of the Void.
But before that power could probe the rules around Shen Yi, the Flame of Continued Combustion he had kept suppressed quietly consumed it. His heart tightened, though his expression did not change.
He made no move to resist or reject the scrutiny. He simply stood still and let that aura examine him. Its owner bore no hostility, and with her intentions still unclear, rashly resisting the scrutiny of a ruler of the Immortal Sacred Land would be anything but wise.
Xilos sensed the scrutiny too. Her body tensed slightly, and her crimson eyes swept warily across the empty hall. But when Shen