This archipelago was quite a distance from the core islands of the Huichun Island Domain, and judging by that distance, the Huichun imperial family's reach clearly did not extend all the way here. This only added to the difficulty of governance for the Huichun Island Domain.
"No wonder the Sancai Island Domain has been eyeing this place like a tiger stalking its prey. This archipelago isn't particularly far from the Sancai Island Domain's core islands, either. In fact, it's closer to them than to you. The ownership of this archipelago must not have been all that clearly defined in the past, I imagine?"
Prince Huo smiled bitterly. "This archipelago, a few thousand years ago, was actually unclaimed by anyone. That was when it fell into our Huichun Island Domain's hands. In the beginning, we only wanted to develop it into an island similar to Dongyan Island. Unfortunately, our formation mastery at the time was far from sufficient, and we never managed to pull it off. Later, when we stationed people here to garrison the island, we discovered Ling Shi ore deposits. For several hundred years after that, we kept this secret tightly under wraps and never let it leak. But these Ling Shi veins aren't easy to develop — we lacked the proper techniques for large-scale mining, so it never progressed beyond small-scale extraction. Yet over the past decade, somehow the news leaked out. Now all the surrounding powers have their eyes on us. My brother the Emperor is worried sick — what if even stronger powers come knocking?"
"Around the Huichun Island Domain, there doesn't seem to be any power stronger than you, is there?"
Prince Huo sighed. "That may have been true before. Our Huichun Island Domain occupied a position somewhere between third-rate and second-rate powers — roughly on par with a second-rate force, give or take. But the gap between us and a truly top-tier second-rate power was still considerable. However, after that disaster involving the Duowen Divine Kingdom, our strength was drastically reduced and our vitality gravely wounded. Since then, we've fallen back to the level of a third-rate power. Even a place like the Sancai Island Domain now feels bold enough to bare its teeth at us."
Still, it was the Huichun Island Domain's own doing — or rather, they had tried to flatter the wrong horse and gotten kicked for it.
"Third-rate or second-rate, as long as you survive, there will always come a day when you rise above it. The real waste is those powers that flare up at midnight and fade by dawn — a flash in the pan, accomplishing nothing,"
"Young Master speaks truly. Perhaps our Huichun Island Domain simply hadn't reached the moment for its rise, and we were too hasty in those days. If we'd had another few centuries to solidify ourselves in the second-rate tier and then pursue further growth gradually, it would have have been far more stable."
After everything he had been through, Prince Huo had developed a much steadier temperament.
"Right then. Let's go down and take a look. This archipelago is still in your hands at present?"
"It is, for the time now." Prince Huo nodded.
Suddenly,
Prince Huo's face changed. He stared at
What he saw astounded him — the outer waters of the archipelago were crowded with flying ships, and the scale and formation of that fleet far exceeded anything the Huichun Island Domain could muster.
In other words, even the Huichun Island Domain itself could not field a fleet of this caliber.
As the distance steadily closed, Prince Huo caught sight of the same scene, and the expression on his face grew increasingly complicated.
How could this be happening?
Prince Huo's face darkened in an instant.