[The Water Owl Tribe was one of the Top Three Clans of Azure Sea Lake.]
[Hu Xiaozi, in particular, was a venerable elder of Azure Sea Lake, exceptionally senior in both age and standing.]
[His words carried weight even among the Nine Great Clans. When Gu Jingming, Gu Changze, and Gu Changqing were still children, he had already served as Azure Sea Lake's grand preceptor.]
[Hu Xiaozi's arrival, especially now, just as the Third Prince had emerged from seclusion...]
[Inadvertently sent a message!]
[The Water Owl Tribe, one of Azure Sea Lake's Top Three Clans, had its eye on the Third Prince.]
[Zhang Chi of the Water Tiger Tribe was somewhat puzzled, wondering why his tribe's old patriarch would stake so much on the Third Prince.]
[Zhang Chi had blind confidence in this prince. Azure Sea Lake had always accused their Water Tiger Tribe of keeping a foot in both camps and trimming its sails to the wind.]
[This time, however, their Water Tiger Tribe had placed its wager on Azure Sea Lake's rightful Crown Prince.]
[And they had done so when the Third Prince was weakest, delivering charcoal in the snow.]
[Zhang Chi loved this feeling most of all. It was just like when his father's generation had backed the current Dragon Monarch of Azure Sea Lake and led the Water Tiger Tribe into the Nine Great Clans.]
[He, too, would follow in his father's footsteps and lead the Water Tiger Tribe into Azure Sea Lake's Top Three Clans.]
[If this prince ultimately failed to take the Dragon Monarch's throne and their Water Tiger Tribe faced a reckoning, then they could only accept it. Once they sat at the gambling table, they had to honor their wager and accept defeat.]
[Besides, in Zhang Chi's eyes, the Third Prince always