"As for the other visitors, even Authority Holders who had reached the higher ranks could never stay here long and leave unscathed."
"Either the cold suppresses their spiritual perception and divine sense, slowing them down, or the Authority of ice suppresses their own system of rules, making it difficult for their power to flow."
Aoyue's gaze returned to Shen Yi and Xilos.
"But you two have only recently become high-ranking Authority Holders, yet you can speak with me so calmly under the weight of my cold. Your auras show no sign of Disorder, and your rules flow without hindrance."
"In the eighteen hundred years I have presided over Ice Crystal Palace, I have never seen anything like it."
Shen Yi frowned slightly.
Aoyue's words sounded less like praise than a closer examination.
They made both him and Xilos uncomfortable, but neither could say much.
Shen Yi listened in silence, his expression composed. Inwardly, he gained a clearer sense of Hall Master Aoyue's powers of observation and judgment.
She had pinpointed precisely how they differed from ordinary high-ranking Authority Holders. Clearly, the presence that had probed them earlier had done far more than sweep over them. And ice was definitely not the only Authority at work here.
When Aoyue finished speaking, her ice-blue eyes seemed to shift. She studied Shen Yi and Xilos for a moment, then raised a slender finger, veiled in cold mist and seemingly carved from ice crystal, and tapped the empty air before her twice.
The movement was light and effortless.
At her touch, the icy-blue waters of the pool beneath her feet began to stir.
"This is Ice Star Spring. Explaining it now would be too much trouble. You'll have a chance to learn about it later."
As soon as she spoke, two soft points of