Shiyuan was tempted to tell the princess that her description of the path of an oracle didn’t match his understanding of the path. He had never seen any vision of future possibilities. The closest thing to a prophecy he had encountered was a cryptic letter, delivered by a force unseen, written by some mysterious, elusive entity.

Excluding the oddity that the letter's language was in an imperative form, could that letter really be a prophecy? Then who was the oracle? Shiyuan himself hadn't sought out any visions of the future. He didn’t even know how to do that.

But in retrospect, it was clear that Princess Bai Longxia wasn’t exactly the embodiment of a reasonable mind. Muddying the waters at the moment wouldn't bode well for him. First, he had to test the doubts about his past and present, and gain clarity about the situation he was in. Experiments had to be conducted, theories needed to be constructed, and a concrete plan of action for the near future was in immediate demand.

So with a resigned sigh, he began to chew the rancid meat in his mouth. By the time the plate was emptied, both of them were staring at each other with sympathy born from the same nausea.

After washing his mouth with the assistance of an attentive water spirit sorcerer, Shiyuan planned some segues to subtly inquire about the civilization he was being taken to. But he didn’t get the opportunity to begin the interrogation. A young soldier sprinted over from the frontal segment of the ship in panic, shouting hoarsely.

“Your highness! We have five ships incoming on the radar! Should be visible on the screens within a minute! Operator Fan has requested permission to activate the battle arrays!”

Bai Longxia jumped to her feet and started pacing across the circular platform like an alarmed predator, her eyes tracking the vast swathe of clouds and greenery shimmering on the glass panels. The dozen-some workers and soldiers underneath the observatory looked up at her in perfect sync, awaiting orders. Training and discipline had clearly reached the depth of their bones and fortified their heart. The princess had brought over her most loyal men on this mission, it seemed.

Shiyuan's heart began to beat like a drum once again, partly from fear, partly from excitement. His fear was reflected in the faces below, but his excitement was quite different from the grim determination of the soldiers.

Were enemies approaching? It just meant he was going to see more of the world out there! More than that—he really needed other people's perspectives on his current situation. Believing every word to come out of Bai Longxia's mouth would be a foolish mistake. He needed to form his own judgment on this unfamiliar world after assessing every narrative he came across from hereon.

Even if this encounter didn’t end up as a semi-polite discussion to enlighten him about the world he was headed to, he'd be satisfied with the glimpse of an airborne skirmish between these warships.

The first enemy vessel showed up on the screen overlooking the back of their warship's trail, rising up from a sea of mountains sharply while maintaining just enough distance to appear as a threat. It was no larger than a bee on the wide screen, moving so erratically that it was impossible for anyone to observe its body in detail.

“That's a Phoenix warship.” Bai Longxia didn’t sound happy with her observation. Turning to the messenger soldier under their platform, she roared, “Fan has my permission! Put up the defense arrays! Brace for light assault!”

Several soldiers swiftly rushed into the inter-segmental channels, yelling out her orders for every working unit of the ship.

“Phoenix Warship?” Shiyuan muttered from her side, trying to glean some clues from the screen. Bai Longxia grimaced, probably annoyed by the inquiry at a moment like this. But to Shiyuan's surprise, she did answer after a moment, her eyes never leaving the screens for a second.

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“There are four pure types of military warships. Turtle, for defense and supply transportation. Phoenix, for low-risk skirmish and scouting. Tiger, for open combat and heavy assault. Dragon, for all out killing operations. The basic structures usually leave some room for flexible hybridization, but effectively, these ships have fixed roles in each battlefield. The one you're seeing on the screen is lightweight and capable of faster maneuvers than most warships. It also comes equipped with medium-tier anti-warship arrays. It's not only testing our current attitude, it's also a constant threat that will allow its other four companion ships to show themselves without worrying about a sudden attack from our side."

“Since you've ordered to put up our... Defense Arrays, I'm assuming that our current attitude is to resolve the situation in peaceful terms,” Shiyuan said slowly. “But this is a five-on-one scenario. Our warship needs to have the capital to negotiate for a peaceful outcome, be it from its own strength or from the strength of its occupants.”

For a second, he noticed a smile flashing on Bai Longxia's face. “We qualify either way, Minister Shiyuan. This warship is the pride of my Bai Clan, one of the few perfect hybrids outside the royal repository. So don't hesitate to ‘see' things from the perspective of a strong force.”

She was definitely hinting at him to use his ability as an oracle, judging by the extra emphasis on the word ‘see’. But Shiyuan was even more clueless than she was about the path of an oracle. He could only pretend to not notice the hint.

The second warship surfaced in front of them, maintaining far less distance than the one behind. On the law-spirit fueled screens of their observatory, Shiyuan could even identify the three segments of ship and count the number of heavily armored soldiers standing on its stern deck. Just as his count crossed ten, the third and the fourth warships showed up on their right and left in tandem.

He had no idea where these three ships had been hiding. Hearing his shocked yelp, Bai Longxia snorted, displeased.

“All three are downgraded Phoenix warships running under cloaking arrays. They're not our match even on our worst day."

“Didn't the messenger say there are five ships around us? Is the fifth one still hiding?” Shiyuan asked, unable to shake off the tension despite her confident claims.

“The fifth one is probably preparing for an ambush. Has to be a Tiger warship with a heavy array deposit." Bai Longxia sounded totally unconcerned about the existence of such a threat. “But it won't show up unless things turn violent. What a shame! I was even drawing up a decent plan of attack...”

“How do you know that? We've been surrounded so efficiently in the sky. They shouldn't have appeared without being confident that they can take us down, right? And if they had good intentions, why would they show up in such an aggressive manner?”

Bai Longxia shook her head, her eyes tracking the stable warship flying ahead of them. “I think I know who sent these ships. Get ready to meet some more insufferable imbeciles, the kind you met at the island. This batch has the loudest mouth among all the nobles you'll meet. So brace your ears, harden your heart, and you'll be safe from harm. They wouldn't dare-”

Boom!

The warship's walls vibrated so powerfully from the impact that Shiyuan lost his balance and crashed head first into the steelclad railing of the observatory. The impact had him spitting blood from his gums. Despite feeling like half of his teeth had fallen off, he was just happy that the railing had stopped him from tumbling off the platform. The twenty meter drop past its edge would have surely left him bedridden for a while, if not permanently crippled.

“Your highness! The gravity arrays have taken a hit! They can't penetrate our external shield layer, but the attack just now seems to have come from a superior, concentrated array!” One of the messenger soldiers cried from below.

Unlike Shiyuan's crumpled form, Bai Longxia's footing hadn't moved an inch, her eyes ready to spew flames like a fire spirit sorcerer. She stared at one of the screens, gnashing her teeth in fury.

“Marquis Xue's audacity has grown so high? I must return the favor, then!”

Striding over to Shiyuan's side, she pulled him to his feet while yelling at the soldiers under the observatory.

“We're entering the full-assault phase. Take your positions!”

Shiyuan had numerous questions that had taken birth in his mind after the unexpected attack. But Bai Longxia leaped down from the observatory and disappeared into one of the inter-segmental channels before he could even utter the first word. Some soldiers followed her, while some ran over to guard the operators whose duty was the most crucial right now.

Feeling conflicted, Shiyuan stared at the four warships on the screens around him, hoping to see some effort at de-escalating the surging violent aura from the other party.

Boom!

Another buzz lifted him off his feet and threw him at the railings, giving his rib-cage something to be conscious of for days to come.

Gritting his teeth in pain, Shiyuan desperately steered his thoughts at lightning speed, looking for a way to save his skin. Did he have any capital to rely on?

Could he resort to his powers as an oracle? But how?

Boom!

Amidst continuous bombardment that left him dizzy, he crawled his way down the stairs and grabbed a bolted tablecloth, tearing out a strip with all of his strength. The soldiers nearby yelled at him to return to the observatory or to hide in a safe corner, and Shiyuan ignored them all, knowing that these disciplined men would not leave their spot in a situation so precarious.

He dipped a finger into his mouth and coated it red with the blood streaming out of his gums. Using the blood, he wrote one word on the torn strip of cloth:

Help!

Then he squeezed it into a small ball and threw it towards the nearest segmental gap of the ship, hoping to recreate the scenario from yesterday when his nine letters had disappeared into the ocean. This message, unfortunately, would never reach the ocean. He could only put all of his hope on the possibility that the process was symbolic. Once again, he was at the mercy of a miracle.

A few seconds after seeing it disappear, he checked that pocket of his robe where he had discovered his first ‘prophecy', if it could be called one.

When his fingers came into contact with an unfamiliar handkerchief inside that pocket, Shiyuan felt his heart go cold and butterflies come alive in his stomach at the same time.