The massive audience within the grand hall remained frozen, the weight of the information Song Yanyan had just dropped left them staring at the northern dais in absolute silence.
Before the murmurs could rise again, the Matriarch of the Song Clan adjusted her midnight-dark silk sleeves, her sharp gaze sweeping across the rows of distinguished international guests.
"Throughout the long history of the North, the Heaven Opening Chasm has been an integral pillar of our lands," Song Yanyan continued, her clear voice carrying an absolute, unyielding authority that filled the entire space. "It has never belonged exclusively to a single lineage. It has systematically provided opportunity and resources to both the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions alike. Which is precisely why I have invited every major power to stand within these ancestral walls today."
She paused, her fingers resting lightly against the carved dragon armrest of her ironwood throne.
