Summary

A millennia ago, the Wen people lived in the beautiful, fertile land of Yali, where they built the statelet of Wen. Around 800 B.C.E., King Xuan of the Zhou dynasty engaged in battle with Ma Lan, leader of Wen, and invaded the smaller state. Yali came under Zhou rule, but in the Valley of Xuanyao, a sacred place associated with the Wen's deity, Liu Liliu, a few resistance fighters covertly continued the struggle against their would-be conquerors. It is now spring. A young man who has been dispatched from Haojing, the Zhou capital, steps foot into Yali. His mission is to find the Valley of Xuanyao, where forces hostile still against King Xuan remain in hiding, and to bring them under the yoke of Zhou.