The Celestial Academy existed in a peculiar state of suspended awareness. To any outside observer, to any kingdom or empire that maintained diplomatic relations with the institution, to any scholar or chronicler who documented its operations, everything appeared normal. Students continued their cultivation work with appropriate diligence. Masters maintained the Seven Halls according to established traditions. Spirit beasts roamed the floating islands with the comfortable freedom that the academy's vast spaces provided.
Yet beneath that carefully maintained surface of normalcy, beneath the careful attention that the institution devoted to appearing unchanged and unchanging, something extraordinary was occurring. Something was aligning. Something was converging toward a moment that existence itself had been building toward for millennia.
