Silent Domain

Fine blood vessel patterns covered the eyelid of every eye.

Those vessels were dark red, winding across the surface of the eyelids like dense, intricate nets.

A dark crimson glow flowed through the vessels.

The light moved slowly through them, flowing from the edges of the eyes to their centers, then back from the centers to the edges, over and over in an endless cycle.

With every cycle, each eye gave a tiny twitch.

The movement was so slight it was almost impossible to see.

Yet they truly were twitching, like a person's eyelids faintly quivering in sleep.

That Abyss Great Lord was asleep.

Not deeply asleep, but in a state of "light sleep."

Though those eyes were closed, they had not completely shut off their perception.

The eyeballs beneath the lids turned slowly, as though dreaming.

Chu Ming used the power of order to form a silent region around himself.

A gray-gold film of light seeped out from beneath his skin and spread outward.

The edge of the light film resembled a layer of bubbles. Dense order runes flowed across their surfaces, each rune spinning at a different speed. The film spread outward from Chu Ming's body—one zhang, five zhang, ten zhang.

When it reached ten zhang, the film stopped.

Ten zhang was a critical boundary.

If it expanded any farther, the film would touch the Abyss Great Lord's range of perception, and its eyes might open.

Chu Ming fixed the light film at a radius of ten zhang.

Within it, every sound, fluctuation, and trace of presence was cut off.

His breathing echoed within the film but could not travel beyond it; his heartbeat shook within it but could not pass out; the power of order circulated within it, yet its fluctuations could not escape.

Like an inverted