The Northern Finishing Terrace of the Grand Conclave had been designed to witness historical tragedies.
Perched atop a three-thousand-foot sheer cliff of white immortal granite, the massive terrace overlooked the northern lip of the Thousand-Array Deep gap. Arranged across the marble plaza were ninety-nine high-tier emergency triage pavilions staffed by two hundred healing grandmasters from the Sacred Pill Sect. Behind the medical tents stood fifty sky coffins carved from thousand-year soul-soothing cedarwood, prepared for scions whose old family protections failed under crushing force.
According to historical archives, the fastest transit time ever recorded across the five-hundred-mile deep gap belonged to Sovereign Yun Tianhe eight hundred years ago. Sovereign Yun, riding a ninth-tier sky crane and consuming seven Grade-8 Void-Clearing Elixirs, had arrived at the northern terrace in three days, fourteen hours, and twenty-two minutes. Most tester fleets took three full weeks of grueling siege warfare, suffering thirty to forty percent casualties.
Because of this, the Conclave Arbiters on the northern platform had only just finished setting up their scrying tables. A junior judge in azure robes was leisurely lighting a stick of four-day spiritual incense to keep time. Nearby, two senior arbiters were sitting around a low rosewood table, playing an unrushed game of Go while sipping aged dragon-well tea.
