The first thought to form in Shiyuan's mind upon seeing the flying warship was, ‘I must attract their attention! This could very well be my only chance to escape this hell!'

Then he watched an armored lady leap down from its deck as if the distance between her and the ground was the length of a three-year-old oak on a barren beach, and the fall wouldn't turn her meat into fish feed.

Then the realization hit him. That confidence could only mean that she was a four-star warrior, at the very least, with blessed bones reinforcing her skeleton, tempered tendons able to shake off the impact, and a steel-like skin that wouldn’t bleed even if an ordinary human struck them a thousand times in the same spot.

And she was clearly searching for someone or something on this island. He didn’t need to find a way to attract anyone's attention. Attention would find him just fine. It was impossible to hide on this 22050-square-meter expanse of flat soil.

Alert, yet still fuelled by desperation to leave, Shiyuan cautiously made his way to the beach and stood face to face with this opponent—no, this lady warrior—no, this beautiful maiden.

She looked to be his age, in her early twenties at most, although looks could be deceptive for someone on the warrior's path. Her skin had a corpse-like paleness to it, highlighting blueish veins like a layer of spiderwebs. Shiyuan knew that such paleness was not considered pretty, but looking at her, the word ‘ugly' was the furthest adjective in his mind.

He had some advantage over her in height, and she had some advantage over him in muscle definition, with healthy contours that would've tugged at his vision had he not been distracted by the heavy halberd gleaming behind her.

If those glowing golden inscriptions on its shaft and blade were any indication, that halberd would be enough to take down the warship hovering over the island. Those were law fragments of a high order, he could sense it by sheer instinct!

Once their exchange began, he realized that this encounter wasn’t going to have a simple end. She addressed him as some ‘Royal Preceptor', which he could neither confirm, nor deny. And despite the respect stamped within her tone, he could detect an arrogant sureness in her gaze, a predatory gaze that came from a elitist upbringing.

A suspicion formed his mind as the exchange progressed. Could the previous occupant of his hut, perhaps the one lying in the grave, be the Royal Preceptor she was looking for? That was a more likely possibility.

But her ravenous eyes made him withhold mentioning anything. Besides, another issue had taken precedence. She had called him an Oracle, enquiring about his root development.

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The idea had set off a storm in Shiyuan's mind, because he had suddenly discovered a semi-rational explanation for the mysterious message this morning.

Among the three paths of transcendental power, the Oracle's path was the rarest, so rare, in fact, that his speculations had never reached that conclusion despite thinking about it all day.

Shiyuan did not know much about this path, except for the fact that it was very underdeveloped and shrouded in misconceptions. Unlike the well-defined progression methods of warriors and spirit sorcerers, the path of an Oracle did not have clear classification or any fixed route of development. Every Oracle recorded in history had a unique approach to harnessing their power.

If she could sense any trace of an Oracle's power in him, that could explain the appearance of the message. His nine letters yesterday might have been a trigger for his roots, creating a ritual where his input could generate an output, predicting the future.

That message had certainly predicted that an opportunity to leave the island was close!

Confused and elated at the same time, Shiyuan asked for an explanation, and her reply only furthered the confusion.

“Watch your reflection on the halberd's blade. Focus on your left eye."

As she came closer and pointed the sharp head of the halberd at his face, beckoning him to step forward with her other hand, Shiyuan realized that he had only one choice now.

If he chose the path of caution and backed away from her advancing weapon, it would indicate an inclination to deny that he was an Oracle. If this girl reached the conclusion that he was lying to her, she was likely to resort to violent means to make him cooperate with her honestly.

Trying to avoid her halberd through less direct means would not work either. She clearly understood the effect her order had on his position. This seemed to be a test of his character, not an attempt to trap him under the blade. A four star warrior didn’t need to set up a sneak attack opportunity at his weak point if she wanted to harm him.

‘She's thinking that an Oracle would know if he'd be safe under her weapon. If the Oracle thinks he'd not be safe, then she doesn't need to play it safe. Their enmity could very well be destined!'

Besides that, Shiyuan was curious about her instructions. What was so special about his left eye?

So he leaned forward and plastered the left side of his face onto the wide blade of the halberd, left eye squinting as it examined its reflection from up close. The edge of the blade sank a millimeter deep into his skin, grazing the side of his throat gently. The corner of his vision caught the smile of his opponent.

She had an ugly smile, truth be told. But who fakes an ugly smile, anyway?

As his focus returned to the reflection of his left eye, Shiyuan saw an orange spark swirling within his pupil, slow and steady like clockwork. With the remaining pitch-black portion of the pupil, the orange spark formed a familiar seal, an insignia that was often abused by charlatan fortune tellers.

Fiery yang against mysterious yin, the fluidity of life against the mechanism of heaven and earth, the sect speculating fate's nature against the sect boldly pursuing fate's end.

Corrupted eyes were the mark of an Oracle, Shiyuan knew this much. Just as he was about to tear back his gaze from his reflection, the noise of an oceanic behemoth creating its own waves blitzed past their eardrums.

Shiyuan heard the warrior gasp, staring at his left, and he felt the momentary tremor of the halberd's tip, coming all the way from the handle, where her grip had faltered. The edge of the curved blade nearly sliced up his skin.

Shiyuan raised his head above the body of the blade and cast his gaze upon the sea. Less than five hundred meters away, a monster of a ship was rising from the depth of the water like an ancient predator, its open, low deck capable of holding this entire island. A curtain of clear water surrounded the ship like a bubble, protecting a gathering of some men on the deck, all of whom were observing the island through telescopes.

As the curtain of water shimmered into nonexistence, wind struck the ship's masts, and a distinct flag extended itself above them all, showing a painting of azure seawaves in its center.

A magnetic voice resounded throughout the skies, louder than thunder.

“Royal Sister Bai, third brother is here to pay his respects!"