The lower ranks were dismissed.
The great central hall emptied in controlled waves. Martial Masters, Grandmasters, and Kings filed out through the wide exits, their faces still carrying the weight of what they had just learned. Conversations remained low. No one raised their voice. The revelation about the Planetary Cultivation Seed had settled over them like a second atmosphere—heavy, invisible, and impossible to ignore.
When the last of the lower ranks had gone, the massive blast doors sealed shut with a deep, resonant thud that vibrated through the floorboards. Only the Martial Emperors and Sovereigns remained.
The atmosphere changed immediately.
