The next few days passed in an unsettling calm.
Too calm.
The battlefield that had once been a devouring maw of smoke, blood, and roars now lay still beneath the gray morning skies.
Desolate Heaven Empire's cultivators patrolled the perimeter in rotating shifts, tension woven deep into their expressions.
Every snapping twig made someone grip their weapon; every rustle in the tall grass had a guard narrowing their eyes.
Because everyone knew, a Beast Tide never ends like this.
Not without price.
Not without a final frenzy.
Not without a last, desperate push.
But the Great Wilderness remained silent.
Rather than letting down the guards due to such rare peace, it made things the opposite.
Guards doubled and scouts tripled.
But no roaring tide came.
No beasts charged.
Nothing moved within the first ten miles of the Wilderness.
Gossip and speculation had been spreading among the cultivators, especially the young who loved nothing more than gossip.
