At the same time, the tiny stars and motes of rule-light suspended in the void around Shen Yi and Xilos, mere background and ornament, dimmed and vanished one after another, as silently as candles snuffed out by a gale!
They had not disappeared. Their radiance and rule fluctuations had been forcibly drawn away and suppressed by a stronger power, as though the stage were being cleared for someone's arrival, gathering all light and rules in one direction.
Darkness surged from the depths of Hidden Light Hall like a tide, swiftly staining the surrounding stars.
It was not the deep, deathly darkness of the Shadow Authority, but a dense, steady dark glow that seemed to hold an endless wellspring of energy and matter.
Darkness and silence fell abruptly, with only nebulae churning wildly in the background.
Then an aura spread openly from the gaping darkness deep within Hidden Light Hall.
Vast as a flood, heavy as a stellar core!
It was no simple pressure, but a more direct, all-encompassing inspection from on high.
The aura was scorching and heavy, charged with a violent will that could tear anything apart. The qualities of three fundamental Authorities churned and mingled within it, yet formed a perfect whole: a vast will that sent the surrounding nebulae reeling.
Then that power, like a tangible tendril or an all-seeing gaze, engulfed Shen Yi and Xilos outside the hall doors in an instant, probing them from head to toe, inside and out.
Xilos's body went rigid. At the same moment, Shen Yi's thoughts grew grave.
He could feel that this aura was stronger and more refined than the icy might he had sensed from Aoyue in Ice Crystal Palace.
Aoyue's aura had been cold and restrained, with a stillness that seemed to pierce the soul.
This power