A massive, suffocating ocean of people completely filled the entire commercial plaza, spilling deep into the surrounding transit avenues. It was an absolute, unprecedented multitude. Thousands of low-tier outer disciples were tightly packed together, desperately gripping their copper queue numbers like lifelines. Standing alongside them were wealthy independent merchants, local branch elders, and high-ranking military enforcers from the Discipline Hall who had strategically come to witness the turning of the political tides.
But what truly caused a tense, heavy silence to ripple through the crowd was a select group of figures stationed on a raised pavilion across the square.
