Xilos hurried forward and lowered her voice. "Lord Shen..."
"Let's go."
Shen Yi frowned and snatched the crystal floating before him. The tricolored crystal felt cool and heavy in his hand.
He lowered his eyes but did not touch it further.
He knew what it was.
The instant he had made contact, he had sensed a message Byron had left for him inside.
A wisp of the Hall Master's will was sealed deep within the crystal. Even through the Rule Barriers, he could faintly sense her familiar presence, carried by that low voice of hers that seemed capable of shaking the rules themselves.
She had said nothing outright. Instead, she had sealed everything she wanted to tell him inside this crystal and placed it in his hand before he left the Hidden Light Hall.
But Shen Yi did not listen now.
With the Cangwu Hall's eyes and ears upon them, the slightest disturbance in the rules might give away their position. And some words were not meant to be heard in the middle of an escape.
He knew only one thing: if Byron had chosen not to say it to his face and had gone to all this trouble to seal her words in a crystal, they likely carried more weight than anything she had said in public.
The remnants of the barrier torn open outside the Hidden Light Hall were still there. The Cangwu Hall's watchers were circling the area even now.
They had already searched the barrier's location thoroughly and locked onto both his and Xilos's auras. Whichever direction he teleported, anyone watching would see a clearly marked escape route.
Teleportation would give them away without question.
Shen Yi's hazel eyes remained calm in the dim corridor light. Without hesitation, he tucked the tricolored crystal into his rule-bound