Chapter 442: Loot, Legacy, and Unseen Ambitions

Naturally, Song Chi was thrilled for his family with the massive profits they hauled in. Opportunities to solidify their foundation like this didn’t come often.

It meant that when the expansion war finally ended, all they’d need was a few decades—maybe even a hundred years—of peace to digest their gains. By then, Song Family’s power would soar, laying an unshakeable foundation for their ascent.

Compared to the Family’s windfall, Song Chi’s own harvest was nothing to scoff at either.

In thirty years, he’d acquired another Fifth-Tier Stellar Plant Core and gotten his hands on some Dense Black-Hole Stone. He still couldn’t upgrade the Black Hole Evolution Layer straight to sixth rank, but at least there was hope now.

There was also a treasure trove of Floating-Land Origin. Setting aside the ones below fifth rank, just in the past thirty years, he’d wrangled nearly two hundred strands of Sixth-Tier Floating-Land Origin.

With those, his Yin-Yang Counter-Phase Annihilation Shield, now level 67, was pushed to the warship’s current max at level 69. The Neutron-Star Core Armor component kept pace. Even the Taiyi Quantum Swordlight Battery—the massive silver main gun—had joined them.

With all three core pieces hitting level 69, the Heavenly Ruin’s combat power jumped significantly once again.

But the biggest haul, of course, was all those Starsea Oddities that couldn’t be forged into ship components.

Between Wang Zhen, Song Chi, Shen Youran, Shen Qing, and several Family elders—plus the swath of high-rank floating lands they’d occupied—an avalanche of Starsea Oddities kept flooding the markets, and Song Chi, flush with funds, could barely keep up with snatching them all.

After tallying everything up, he found he’d grabbed over a hundred thousand Starsea Oddities in the last thirty years. Nine-tenths were white or blue, but still—purple exceeded ten thousand, orange approached a thousand, and he even corralled more than a hundred Red Epic Items.

And the very best? Four silver Oddities, and—most precious of all—a single golden Sanctum Oddity.

No need to say much about the four silver Oddities. Officially, they were up for grabs in the exchange shop or the player market, but let’s be real—they’d likely wind up powering the Market Projection Token sooner or later.

In fact, the first silver Oddity Wang Zhen acquired was already drained to recharge the Market Projection Token Song Chi burned up deep inside the Void Sea.

The golden Sanctum Oddity, though, Song Chi still didn’t know how best to use.

Oddity: Imperial Barbarian Blood Puppet

Quality: Gold

Convertible: None

Note: The corpse of a ruler-level Barbarian God from the Imperial Barbarian Tribe—undying for hundreds of thousands of years—was ultimately transformed by Starsea energy into this uniquely gold Oddity.

The first time he laid eyes on it years ago, Song Chi immediately thought of the Primeval Continent behind Zhou Ping.

Corpse puppets—a staple of every Xianxia of his past life. You’d expect a place like Primeval Continent to have plenty of demonic sects who’d pay a fortune for this.

But there was a snag. Zhou Ping hailed from Luofu Sword Sect, not some demon sect, and for years had shown zero interest in buying.

Plus, Song Chi had figured out by now that Primeval Continent was probably just a sixth-level Floating-land. Asking them for a trade of equal value—another golden Sanctum Oddity—was basically impossible.

That’s why Song Chi said he didn’t know what to do with this Oddity.

For now, it would serve as the crown jewel in his Oddity exchange shop.

Maybe, someday, a Starsea alien with both interest and means would show up to trade.

If not, his family might have to handle it on his behalf.

……

Tianpan Galaxy, Doomstar Star Domain.

As the heartland of Doomstar Race civilization, Doomstar stretched over 100,000 light-years. For countless eons, it stood as one of the richest regions in all Tianpan Galaxy.

Within its borders, there was one Seventh-Tier, seven Sixth-Tier, and over fifty Fifth-Tier life-type Starsea Floating Lands. The resource-type floaters only multiplied from there.

It’s no wonder so many high-ranking Doomstar were born here—even the current two Seventh-Tier rulers both hailed from this land.

Yet now, all that abundance had crumbled. Island after floating island was shattered in the war—broken debris now blanketed more than half the entire domain.

Doomsea Floating-land, one of the outer Sixth-Tier defensive lands of Doomstar, had become the home base of the Yaohan Kingdom’s Eastern Fleet.

Up above, the Floating-Land Sky Vault—here, a Torch fleet patrolled its assigned route without rest.

At the fleet’s head were two Zhulu-class Cruisers. The dragon-whale insignia on their hulls said it all—these were ships of the Song Family from Dinghai.

Zhulu-class communications channel:

“I just got an invite to a private trading meeting. What do you think—should we check it out after our patrol’s done?”

Hearing Song Yan bring it up, Song Chi hesitated for a moment before asking back:

“Who’s hosting it, any idea?”

The two Zhulu-class Cruisers were none other than the Heavenly Ruin and the Ditian Xuanjia. It was Song Family’s turn for patrol duty, so both Song Chi and Song Yan—two key Family members, or let’s say, members of the previous generation—had to follow orders from the Family’s old patriarch and show up in person.

Just a few thousand light-years from Doomsea Floating-land stood Doomstar Floating-land. With the war hanging in the balance, nobody dared let their guard down now.

Song Yan seemed to know plenty about this trading meeting and quickly filled them in:

“Not sure about the organizer, but rumor says it’s someone from the upper echelons—maybe a prince from the Royal Palace. As for attendees, pretty much every Zhulu-class captain in the Eastern Fleet with any reputation got invited. Meeting’s happening right in Doomsea City, noon tomorrow.”

That settled it for Song Chi, who nodded:

“Alright, let’s check it out together tomorrow.”

If the Eastern Fleet’s top dogs were behind this, the event had to be first-rate. No harm in seeing what’s up.

With luck, maybe even Fifth-Tier Stellar Plant Cores or Dense Black-Hole Stone would pop up.

After all, at this stage of the expansion war, who didn’t have something good in their pockets?

The next day, Song Chi and Song Yan showed up on time and headed straight to Doomsea City.

Just like Doomwind City—home to the Doomwind Sanctuary—Doomsea City was the biggest metropolis on Doomsea Floating-land. These days, it served as a networking and trading hub for the Torch Captains of the Eastern Fleet.

Central Avenue, Building 12, Doomsea City.

With the invitation’s location verified, Song Chi and Song Yan entered the high-rise hosting today’s exclusive trading event.

They weren’t early. A few dozen people were already milling around the lobby.

That wasn’t many at all, given that there were thousands of Fourth-Tier Torch Captains on Doomsea Floating-land alone. A few dozen was a drop in the ocean.

But this time, Song Chi’s gaze was different. Carefully masking his Dual Pupils, he avoided any outward sign—yet he could still scan the details inside each Fourth-Tier captain here.

If he wasn’t mistaken, every Zhulu-class captain present had a mastery of laws above 25 percent.

Which meant these folks were either experienced Zhulu-class veterans or geniuses who started grasping laws by the third rank—way above the ordinary.

Simple logic: To sense over 25 percent of law power—unless you started at third rank and got law amplification on your breakthrough—normally took centuries.

And if you’d survived as a Fourth-Tier for centuries, it wasn’t hard to evolve your Torch Seed to orange, equip all-Fifth-Tier base components, and stack on three or more Fifth-Tier specialty parts.

Picking up on this, Song Chi’s expectations shot up. The stronger the attendees, the better the loot that could surface—and the odds of him finding what he needed.

The more high-level the crowd, the greater the chance for rare treasures to appear—which meant a better shot at scoring his own sought-after items.

He withdrew the Dual Pupils’ power and swept it from his eyes. He’d done his best to be covert, but who knew if some captain here had a counter for special eye arts? Best not to show off.

Song Chi was about to grab a spot in the corner with Song Yan when a call rang out.

“Over here!”

He looked up and saw Ansevi waving at him from across the room.

She was seated with several other striking women, smiling as she gestured for him to come over.

After a moment’s pause, Song Chi led Song Yan toward Ansevi’s group.

He got along well with Ansevi—he’d even lent a hand during her warship’s Fourth-Tier promotion quest.

“Ansevi, what brings you here?”

He knew it was a pointless question, but the words tumbled out anyway.

Ansevi just shrugged, then turned the conversation:

“And you? Where’s your wife? Didn’t bring her along?”

She’d attended Song Chi and Shen Youran’s wedding, so her question wasn’t a surprise.

“Youran’s with the Western Fleet. She’s staying close to her family, can’t relax otherwise.”

A few more greetings and introductions followed around the group.

Ansevi’s companions were no pushovers—apart from her cousin, the rest were all highborn ladies from the Yaohan Kingdom.

They only hailed from Sixth-Tier noble houses, but in their eyes, Song Chi caught a fleeting disdain—a flash of superiority aimed at him and Song Yan’s lesser pedigree.

One glance with Song Yan, and they let it slide.

Ansevi, noticing the subtle snobbery, frowned. She ignored their reactions, left her cousin behind to handle the others, and led Song Chi and Song Yan toward a private room.

“Old family habits—they’re snobs. Don’t even bother with them!”

Song Chi shook his head, showing he didn’t mind. Instead, he asked,

“So, where are we off to?”

“My brother’s here. Aren’t you still hunting for Dense Black-Hole Stone? His friend’s got some, you might be able to strike a deal!”

Of course—the only one Ansevi would call brother was former fourth prince Sai’en of the Chenxing Family.

He’d reached fourth rank even earlier than Ansevi herself. Song Chi had seen his ship in past fleet actions—hardly weak.

With Ansevi leading the way, Song Chi and Song Yan soon entered a side suite.

Only two others were inside: Sai’en of the Chenxing Family, and a tall, lean man. Judging by his look, this must be the captain with the Dense Black-Hole Stone.