Central Pagoda.
The entire realm had fallen into an unnatural silence.
Even the wind no longer stirred.
It was not just for today.
This eerie stillness had persisted for an entire year.
A year had passed since the preparations for war began, and now they had reached their absolute peak.
Everything that could be prepared.
Had been prepared.
Everything that could be risked.
Had already been risked.
And today was the Assembly.
A gathering unlike any other.
Because under no ordinary circumstances would the beings present here ever stand together in one place.
Not in a thousand eras.
Not since time immemorial.
At the center of it all stood Hundun.
Its presence alone stabilized the suffocating pressure radiating from every direction.
"You all know why we have gathered here," Hundun said, its voice echoing across the vast expanse.
Before it.
Countless beings stood.
Some towered like ancient mountains, their forms vast and incomprehensible.
