Over the nineteen years since Xu Kun's "death," Yang Yao, Lord Yao of the Human Race and the new leader who had inherited the vast human legacy left behind by her father Sky Eye and her fiancé Xu Kun, had rarely had the chance to personally make a move or display her edge in public.
Most of the time, she sat upon the Yao Pool Throne, a symbol of power and responsibility, planning strategies and handling the sea of tribal affairs while balancing the tangled interests of every faction.
For that very reason, as the new ruler of the Human Race, Yang Yao's governing style and methods had drawn no small amount of criticism and controversy from outside observers and even some within the Human Race itself.
Externally, she had not displayed the same aggressive, expansionist bearing Xu Kun once had. When faced with the probing and provocations of certain races, she often resorted to more conservative diplomatic mediation and economic countermeasures, lacking Thunderstorm-like military retaliation. Some privately criticized her as "weak."
Internally, she also seemed unable to swiftly "stabilize the race and secure the realm" as people had hoped, resolving the latent unrest and factional disputes triggered by Xu Kun's sudden "death." Many lingering problems remained unresolved, reforms progressed slowly, and she gave the impression of lacking strength—more capable of preserving what existed than forging ahead.
Over the past years, the Human Race's diplomatic standing and influence had largely continued to live off the foundations left behind during Sky Eye's era and Xu Kun's brief tenure.
As the saying went, once someone left, the tea turned cold; the world was cold too.
Sky Eye had long since shed the halo of "Blue Star's strongest," guarding the very front lines of the Human Race Battlefield year-round and finding it difficult