The King leaned back slightly in his seat, his brows drawn together in thought. His gaze was firm but uncertain. "There is something I still fail to understand," he began, his tone slow and deliberate. "The Abyss...its boundary is impassable. No mortal or cultivator has been able to got through alive."
He paused, his eyes searching hers, his tone softening slightly. "Forgive me for saying this, Your Majesty, but when I heard that you survived the passage, I believed it was because you are a celestial being. I assumed your divinity must have shielded your group. Was I mistaken?"
The Empress regarded him calmly, her veil swaying faintly as she shook her head. Her voice was low, measured, and dignified. "You are not wrong to assume so," she said quietly. "But it was not my power that protected them."
The King's frown deepened. "Then whose power did?"
