All things waxed and waned, flowers and grasses withered and flourished; this was the cycle of life. Yet Zhao City seemed like a city that would never fall, forever bustling with voices.
"Creak."
The rather old gate, mottled with rust, was pushed open, and Crown Prince Zai of Luo stepped out.
Golden sunlight fell upon him. He was naturally heroic in bearing, with a burly frame and a trace of ferocity between his brows.
Under the glow of his Sacred Mark, he resembled a man-eating tiger, something exceedingly uncommon within the Luo State Ruling House.
He was Luo Hong's eldest legitimate son, one of the exceedingly rare descendants of the Luo State Ruling House with a talent for warfare.
[Luo Zai: (thirtieth-generation descendant) Ability attributes: Political Maneuvering: 79; Statecraft: 72; Personnel Management: 82; leadership: 88; martial prowess: 93; military strategy: 82; eloquence: 78; scholarship: 73; charisma: 92.]
Luo Zai believed he had been born in answer to the times, for the Zhou State had endured for more than nine hundred years and would soon approach the thousand-year threshold.
The Luo State Ruling House Descendants had a faint premonition that extending the Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven to a thousand years was relatively important to their ancestor, the Sage King.
"Clop, clop, clop!"
A burst of crisp, hurried hoofbeats came. Luo Zai looked up and saw someone he knew well: his younger half-brother, born of a concubine, named Qiao Cheng.
He was now one of the assistant commanders of the Dare-to-Fight Warriors. Having practiced martial arts alongside Luo Zai since childhood, he was one of the people Luo Zai trusted most.
Upon seeing Luo Zai, Qiao Cheng immediately reined in his horse and dismounted. He handed Luo Zai the letter he held and said urgently, "Elder Brother.
"This is