One Lifetime Is Never Enough

1.78 Even the Flowers Have Withered

It was early morning, on another day during mid-winter in Da Lang. The streets were more quiet than normal; the residents preferred to stay inside the warmth of their homes, only going out whenever necessary. The snow had constantly been falling for several days, painting the city-scape with white. The sun - that was still trying to grace the city with its light - looked hazy in the midst of snowfall and heavy grey clouds.

About three blocks from Zhen family's residence, there was a relatively newly-built estate. In front of the simple wooden gates that was connected to tall stone walls barricading the estate, several soldiers were standing guard. Despite the biting coldness that could freeze flowing water in instant, the soldiers stood tall and their warm breaths were steady, merely causing faint puffs of smokes disappearing into the cold air.

Some of them were clad in a combination of black/sky-blue colored uniform robes, the colors that was now a distinct characteristics of the Ji clan. The men in these blue robes were swordsmen - soldiers and guards trained in the Ji family's sword-arts.

However, mixed amongst the blue uniformed soldiers, there were several men as well, that wore uniforms of black, red, and sky-blue combination. Some of them wielded spears, while some others wielded swords. 

Three blocks away, at Zhen family's residence, the same black/red/blue robed soldiers who were versatile in both spear and sword were also patrolling Zhen's family estate. Apart from them, the usual spear-wielding soldiers - garbed in black and red uniforms - patrolled as usual.

The soldiers wearing the uniforms with distinct colors that belonged to both military families - the Zhen's and the Ji's - were the new troops that had been formed by both current leaders of the families. Because of the close friendship between the two, rather than competing of military power like their previous generations, the two young leaders joined forces instead.

The newly-built estate was Ji's current residence in Da Lang. 

The current head of the family - Young General Ji - had purchased an empty land not long after he was handed the authority of managing the Tiger clan. The land was previously owned by the Zhen's, and was intended to be a training ground for the Wolf clan's soldiers. After the young General Zhen took over the authority of his clan, he sold the title to the land to Young General Ji.