A colossal newborn Empire bared its fangs at the world, and the bloodlust it revealed was enough to fill people with dread.
The winds of war swept across the eight wilds of heaven and earth. Within Great New, the masses were stirred to fervor, while the surrounding nations trembled without cease.
In this era, there was no talk of humanitarianism. More importantly, through countless ages of antiquity and modernity, the barbarian tribes around the borders had often raided the frontier. Though the dynasty had now changed, the hatred accumulated over those long years would not vanish into smoke simply because of it.
This was hatred written in blood.
Thus, when word spread that the barbarian royal family would be escorted all the way to the capital for trial, before the escorting party had even set out, the newspaper reports alone had already sparked endless discussion.
Especially in the Northern Plains, which had been raided by the barbarians only a few years ago, where hatred burned most fiercely. As soon as the news emerged, countless survivors whose families had been destroyed and lives shattered in those raids found themselves unable to hold back their hot tears.
In the winter of the eleventh year of Heaven-Answering, the snow fell heavily, and the weather was exceptionally bitter. It was in such a winter that the party escorting the barbarian royal family set out, intending to deliver the prisoners to the Divine Capital before the New Year and execute them afterward, using their deaths to offer sacrifice to the wronged souls of the Northern Plains.
Inside the prison cart, the thirteenth prince, Wang Xu, wore thick prison garb. His gaze was hollow and still, and he showed little fear of death—entirely unlike his other surviving brothers and sisters.
With such bearing, it was no