Her gaze swept past the direction where the fleeing streak of light had vanished and settled on another piece of stellar wreckage.
There, the gaunt old man sat slumped on a charred fragment.
His green light had been exhausted in the first wave of flames. Only the barrier had kept him alive until now.
When the barrier collapsed, the shockwave hurled him away. He slammed down hard, spat a mouthful of blood, and lay there barely breathing. Nothing remained of the composure he had shown outside the Hidden Light Hall.
"You... you..."
The old man looked up, fear and resentment filling his clouded eyes. "I've served the Cangwu Hall Master for tens of thousands of years! If you kill me, the Hall Master will tear you to pieces! He'll never let this go!"
Shen Yi ignored him. He simply walked over and stopped before him.
He did not lean down or use any means to probe the old man's consciousness.
This Authority Holder had lived for countless millennia. His soul was far too stable. Unless Shen Yi gained an Authority that could directly affect souls, even Feng Qingyao would struggle to force anything out of his mind.
Shen Yi knew that better than anyone.
So he merely looked down at the old man and spoke evenly.
"To hunt me down, the Cangwu Hall Master even called in the best fighters from the other halls, yet he didn't dare come himself."
"Couldn't he come, or was he afraid someone would see that he's investigating the Black Fog too?"
The old man's pupils contracted. He stared at Shen Yi, his withered lips trembling. The Flame of Continued Combustion had devoured every trace of his Authority, and he could not squeeze out a word.
"You don't have to answer." A thread of white-hot