Chapter 417: Into the Maw of the Black Hole

The next day.

Song Chi finally set his eyes on that massive lump of antimatter source.

Ever since yesterday the Antimatter Evolution Engine had been itching to devour it.

By volume this source dwarfed the dozen antimatter energy crystals he’d found before.

“There’d better be some real progress this time.”

Muttering, he fed the source into the Antimatter Evolution Engine.

Golden light blazed through the ship and Song Chi watched expectantly.

Disappointment soon followed; the light flickered yet never darkened toward black.

After several minutes of rumbling he focused on the engine’s Antimatter Source Evolution column.

Sure enough the note at the bottom had changed.

“Current engine evolution (3.5/10). Please continue to supply antimatter sources…”

Seeing 3.5/10, countless thoughts raced through his mind.

If the earlier crystals only earned 1.5 progress and this source added 2, he’d need three or four more of the same size to turn the golden Sanctuary‑grade engine black.

The answer was far from pleasing—an absurd amount of work.

Still, at least he finally knew the numbers instead of throwing resources in blindly.

Ten days slipped by.

When every cooldown on the Heavenly Ruin expired and the ship returned to peak form, Song Chi wasted no time plunging toward the black hole again.

During those days he’d pushed the Yin‑Yang Counter‑Phase Annihilation Shield to Lv63, raising the battleship’s defenses once more.

On the bridge, as the Heavenly Ruin advanced, a smile crept across his face.

They had passed the point where the Immortal‑Realm Five‑Element Omnishield failed, yet the ship’s regeneration still outpaced the external crushing force. A very good sign.

Vroom!

The engines thundered on. When they edged past the old antimatter site a new equilibrium formed.

Any farther and the Yin‑Yang Shield would start to erode nonstop.

He pressed on without a word.

Time crawled. Last Aegis had already triggered once, yet the jet‑black glow remained distant.

By now he was certain the glow was an ultra‑rare black‑grade wonder.

With doubt gone the Heavenly Ruin surged ahead.

Every second in this core felt like an eternity.

Not long after Last Aegis triggered a second time the Yin‑Yang Shield overloaded completely.

“Warning: hull armor damaged 9% due to external compression and rending energies.”

A fresh alert followed—the Neutron‑Star Core Armor was now taking hits.

“Warning…”

“Warning…”

Song Chi ignored them; as long as the ship could move he’d push on.

Until—

“Warning: hull armor 100% destroyed. Hull integrity at 68%. Immediate repairs required!”

His heart skipped at the total armor failure.

Then he steadied himself.

“No, not yet!”

Gritting his teeth he kept the engines roaring.

Seconds later the Heavenly Ruin froze in place, unable to advance.

“Warning: hull integrity over 80% damaged. Propulsion offline. Immediate repairs required!”

Any other captain would have panicked, yet Song Chi remained calm.

With a thought he activated Last Aegis. Its normal cooldown was five years—even with accelerated time it still meant one year, a heavy cost he rarely paid.

But a black pinnacle‑grade wonder was worth the price.

Silver light burst from Last Aegis, wrapping the crippled ship. When it faded hull, armor and shields were pristine, the Yin‑Yang Shield fully restored.

In an instant everything was back to one hundred percent—an awe‑inspiring trait.

Propulsion reignited and the ship lunged at the distant black glow once more.

Song Chi’s expression, however, stayed grim.

Moments earlier the Qiongtian AI had delivered its analysis.

“Considering external force, shield mitigation, regeneration and armor buffs, estimated safe advance: fifty thousand meters.”

“With Neutron‑Star Fission and Zen Seal active, at most eighty thousand. Beyond that the ship will be fully exposed.”

He calculated nearly two hundred thousand meters still lay between them and the glow.

That missing hundred thousand was an unbridgeable gulf here.

Eyes flashed, thirty‑four thoughts raced, but only two options remained.

First: give up and return later.

Second: the Market Projection Token.

No time for doubt. After the briefest pause determination hardened his gaze.

Ether swirled, spatial laws danced and a translucent Voidform Avatar appeared behind him.

A gleam between his brows produced the golden Market Projection Token, which he tossed to the avatar.

As the avatar caught the token Song Chi vanished from the ship.

Omniverse Market—he took control of the consciousness anchored in an external avatar.

Ether surged and the token began to tremble.

An immense force locked onto it, crossing endless void to descend into the black hole’s core.

Outside, the void split open. A vast illusory Omniverse Market emerged from the rift.

Veiled in roiling violet mist, the projection flickered between reality and illusion, steeped in mystery.

Hovering above the Heavenly Ruin, it stripped away more than ninety percent of the surrounding pressure.

On Song Chi’s command the Qiongtian AI pushed the ship to maximum thrust.

Even the Antimatter Engine’s Overload Burst trait fired, rocketing their speed.

Higher speed here meant greater pressure—he knew that well.

But under the Market’s shelter the extra load was negligible.

Hence his order to use Overload Burst.

Propelled by speed and protection, the ship reached the black glow without incident.

Bay doors snapped open and a tractor beam shot out.

As it reeled the object in, Song Chi finally saw it clearly.

An oval stone the size of a basketball, pitch black with crimson veins—nothing else could be gleaned from its surface.

While the stone drifted toward the bay, Song Chi standing within the Market projection frowned, Dominion Power coiling around him.

“Hmm?”

With a soft grunt his long‑closed eyes snapped open, dual pupils gleaming sharper than ever.

Huntian Star Zone, inside a small black hole’s core.

The instant his eyes opened, two colossal phantom eyes appeared within the Market projection, dual pupils intertwining.

They turned to the true heart of the black hole.

That was the real center.

A devouring storm blew from those depths, explaining his sudden actions.

The storm was terrifying—though beaten back, the Market’s violet mist dimmed noticeably.

Song Chi, true body atop the Market vault, exhaled in relief.

Without the projection the Heavenly Ruin would already be scrap.

His relief was brief; dual pupils locked onto the abyss again.

“No… that’s…”

Pupils contracted, Dominion Power surged, and the avatar aboard the ship barked new orders.

“Grab it and get out, now!”

Outside, a dragon‑whale’s roar echoed.

Aoo‑ooo!

Guided by violet mist, a Purple‑Mist Dragon Whale over fifteen thousand kilometers long formed in an instant.

Light and Space laws whirled inside it. After two orbits around the Market it dove toward the depths.

Deep within, two scarlet eyes opened and twin jets of black airflow burst from nostrils, turning into storms fiercer than before.

The earlier gale had been nothing more than its breath.

The creature had been slumbering until the Market projection woke it.

The dragon whale barreled on, Dominion‑imbued body collapsing space in its wake.

Space collapse—a phenomenon far harder to trigger than simple tears.

Reaching the abyss, the dragon whale slammed into the twin storms.

A violent explosion flared, flames blooming then swallowed by black‑hole energy, but that flash let his dual pupils glimpse the colossal figure within.

Even a fleeting outline was enough.

“A Black Devourer King Beast—one of the rarest colossi of the stars!”

Recognition made his urgency spike.

Tier‑seven, master of the Law of Devouring—against his half‑baked projected power he stood no chance.

Fortunately the tractor beam had already secured the stone and the bay doors were sealed.

By design a wisp of violet mist split from the Market to wrap the full‑throttle Heavenly Ruin.

Though weaker than the full projection it still halved the tearing force.

Shield attrition slowed to a crawl; barring disaster the ship could escape.

But nothing is ever that simple.

Roused from its slumber the Black Devourer King Beast raged at both the Market and the Heavenly Ruin.

Devouring energy gathered. Through his dual‑pupil sight Song Chi watched the power in that maw skyrocket.