The shout tore through the palace corridors before the gate had even fully opened.
"The Queen has returned—!"
Footsteps. Dozens. Then hundreds. The entire servant quarters erupted like a kicked anthill, robes rustling and sandals slapping stone floors as word spread mouth to mouth faster than fire on dry silk.
"She broke through— Soul Formation Realm—!"
"Did you feel that Qi?! That was 'her'?!"
Two senior attendants nearly collided at the eastern hall turning, both of them pale-faced and breathless, gripping each other's sleeves.
"Our Queen actually cultivated. She actually did it."
The older one pressed a trembling hand to her mouth, eyes wet. She had served this palace thirty years and never once felt a pressure like that rolling off their mistress.
She walked.
The Queen moved through the main corridor with the slow, deliberate weight of a woman who had been remade from the inside out.
