Behind the triple-locked black glass blast doors of the Grand Judge Council Chamber, twelve Domain Saint elders were pacing the floor.
These were the twelve highest authorities of the Grand Conclave of the Ten Thousand Domains. Men who held the diplomatic balance of three mortal empires in their hands, patriarchs who had mediated feuds between sacred dynasties for hundreds of years.
At this moment, every single one of them looked shaken to the core.
“Forty-five minutes,” Elder Ouyang muttered. His hands shook as he stared at the glowing scrying slate on the wall. “Do you understand what that number means?”
No one answered. The air inside the sealed chamber smelled of burning sandalwood, ozone, and cold sweat.
“Eight hundred and forty years ago,” Ouyang continued, his voice rising, “Sovereign Yun Tianhe crossed the deep gap in three days, fourteen hours, and twenty-two minutes! We carved his name into the Pillar of Eternal Glory! We erected thirty-six gold-plated monuments! We commissioned epic cantos singing praise to his divine steps!”
Ouyang knocked a heavy jade inkpot across the table. Dark ink splashed across the ancient wall tapestries in an ugly fan.
“And now a mortal carpenter from a southern peak walks across the same deep gap in forty-five minutes!” Ouyang said, his chest heaving. “He pushed a carpentry workbench! He picked up the Number One Fairy of the Luo Clan by the scruff of her collar! He paved a two-lane stone highway with yellow caution tape! What are we supposed to carve…
