Three days later, Azure Dragon Hall.
This was the grandest Council of Elders in ten thousand years. Not only were all the elders of the Azure Dragon branch present, but not a single elder from the White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise branches was absent either. Even those who had spent years carrying out missions abroad and returned only once every few centuries had been urgently recalled.
Nearly a hundred people sat within the great hall, a dense sea of dark figures.
Every expert of the Four Divine Beast Clan at the level of Seven-Star Fiend or above was gathered here.
Gaiseresen sat upright in the seat of honor, his expression calm. To his left sat First Elder Gaia, and to his right was Garvey. The three of them swept their gazes across the hall, and their invisible pressure gradually silenced the noisy discussions.
"Everyone is here." Garvey rose to his feet. His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached every ear. "We have gathered you all today to announce an important matter."
The hall fell silent. All eyes turned to Gaiseresen.
Gaiseresen slowly rose, his gaze passing over the crowd as he said in a deep voice, "For ten thousand years, the Four Divine Beast Clan has been trapped within the Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range. A full ten thousand years. During that time, how many clan members have we lost? How many geniuses have fallen in Blood War Valley? How many branches have withered away through constant attrition?"
No one spoke.
Those numbers were etched into everyone's heart. Ten thousand years was too long. Long enough for some branches to vanish completely. Long enough that many among the younger generation had never even seen the world beyond the Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range.
"But now, an opportunity has