Another round of talks, and it had all been for nothing...
After a moment of silence, Shen Yi headed out of Cangwu Hall.
By the time he stepped outside, the rules of the outer domain had fallen into such chaos that even he had to take notice. Xilos was already waiting beyond the hall.
As the two left, the doors began to close behind them, cutting off the last sliver of dim blue-green light.
The corridor was long, its pillars hidden in shadow on either side. He could not see the end.
He walked a long way before stopping to look back.
Cangwu Hall was deathly still.
Those thirty-seven presences remained hidden in the dark. Not one had left.
They were not on guard against him. Not yet, at least.
Shen Yi looked away and kept walking. Only after he had passed through that stretch of corridor did the vague heaviness in his chest begin to lift.
The old man's words in the hall still echoed in his ears.
"Hold the line. Drag it out. Survive one more day whenever you can..."
Shen Yi did not deny that most of what the old man had said was probably true.
He had seen the darkness in the Dead Domain only a few times, but each had been enough to stay with him for life.
But calling it impossible to solve was another matter.
He still remembered how the rift on Blue Star had closed on its own.
Even power could be exhausted. Black Fog was no exception.
He had taken only a few more steps when he stopped abruptly.
"What is it?" Xilos asked.
"Something changed."
Those thirty-seven presences had moved.
A net dropped over them without a sound.
A cluster of dim blue-green light flared at each end of the