As soon as Shen Yi finished speaking, Xilos instinctively looked toward Byron, whose figure seemed somewhat unfocused.
For a brief moment, Byron's strange eyes seemed to lose focus, revealing an elusive, drifting look.
Her tall, stunning figure stood amid the soft, restrained dim light unique to the depths of the Hidden Light Hall. The flowing runes along the edges of her dark-gold robe, constantly appearing and vanishing, seemed to circulate more slowly as well.
Shen Yi and Xilos both watched the hall master before them, the one who held the three fundamental Authorities. They watched as her figure, which seemed capable of seeing through the essence of rules, silently faded and dispersed before them like light and shadow blending into the background.
There was no farewell, no unnecessary movement.
As Byron's figure completely vanished into the depths of the profound, stable rule-space within the Hidden Light Hall's inner hall, her forceful probing and blunt conversation from moments ago seemed like nothing more than a brief yet vivid illusion.
As Byron's figure fully dispersed, a crystal-clear sentence echoed through both their minds at once.
"Only by holding the Pactlight Stone may one travel from the inner hall to the outer hall."
"Remember to return this stone later."
When the words ended, silence returned to the Hidden Light Hall.
The transcendent majesty that had naturally permeated the place because of Byron's presence, born of absolute power and countless years, slowly faded away as well, leaving behind only the unusually stable, restrained fluctuations of rules within the space itself.
Shen Yi stood where he was in silence for a moment.
He lowered his head and looked at a stone that had somehow quietly appeared in his palm.
The stone was roughly palm-sized. Neither metal nor jade, it possessed a warm, dark-golden sheen similar