Chapter 463: A Bargain for Power, A Path Beyond Limits

“Prime Ancestor, here’s the situation on my end…”

Song Chi quickly detailed everything to Song Wujian, listing out the items Corpse Dog could offer in trade, then sat back to wait for a response.

Truth was, he still had a sixth-grade Moon Spring on hand, but that was for his own future use. There was no way he’d use it for a trade now.

After years of dealings with the Night Elves and the Crescent Moon Tribe backing them, it was clear sixth-grade Moon Springs on their side were in short supply. They’d only ever traded two sixth-grade Moon Springs in all this time, and who knew if there’d ever be more or when they’d appear again? He needed to keep one as a backup.

Of course, if Song Wujian was willing to offer up his own sixth-grade Moon Spring for this, Song Chi would do everything in his power in the future to acquire another.

Decades of expansion wars had fortified more than just the Heavenly Ruin. The Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang had progressed into a senior Dreadnought-Class, not too far from reaching the apex Dreadnought tier itself.

This meant Song Wujian might soon attempt a breakthrough to the Star-Annihilator class, officially elevating the Family to the Immortal House ranks. For that, a sixth-grade Moon Spring would be crucial as insurance.

Of course, if he really couldn’t get one and the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang failed its Star-Annihilator breakthrough, Song Chi wouldn’t hesitate to use his own reserve.

He didn’t have to wait long. A message from Song Wujian soon appeared on his communication disk.

“This Time Crown (Replica) component is quite a treasure. It’s a rare time-type warship module, reduces cooldowns and can even turn back local time—though only briefly. Chi, ask if they have a Silver Upgraded Fire Source. The Torch Seed quality for your Prime Ancestor is still a glaring weakness!”

“Got it!”

Song Chi replied, and before the long-range comm session ended he swiftly picked up his Yaoguang Star Order No.32.

“Order 32, Jingzhe: Uncle Corpse Dog, they want a Silver Upgraded Fire Source. Do you have one?”

Star Order group chat.

With Song Chi’s message, the Yaoguang Star Tower members scattered far and wide each breathed a sigh of relief.

What they wanted wasn’t the issue. What mattered was that the other side was serious about trading.

Before Corpse Dog could respond, Yulong’s message came first:

“Jingzhe, just agree. I can secure a Silver Upgraded Fire Source on my end!”

If anyone else had said that, Song Chi might have hesitated. But since it was Yulong, he barely needed to think about it before trusting her.

After all, Cui Yulong had the mighty Changsun Family backing her—an eighth-tier powerhouse. Other members might not be able to get their hands on a Silver Upgraded Fire Source, but nobody would doubt that the Changsun vaults were well stocked.

He was just about to reply when Uncle Corpse Dog suddenly jumped in:

“No need. I’ve got a Silver Upgraded Fire Source myself—was saving it for a junior, but I’ll put it up for trade now. Yulong, don’t go rummaging through the Changsun vault, or you’ll stir up unnecessary trouble.”

As soon as he finished, he uploaded a stat sheet to the group chat.

Oddity: Moon-Worship Flame

Quality: Silver

Can be Refined Into: Torch Seed Upgraded Fire Source

Notes: Once a sacred flame venerated by the Sea of Stars’ Moon-Worship Sect, a wisp escaped and after tens of thousands of years transformed into this special fireseed oddity.

“Order 32, Jingzhe: Got it. Let me check back!”

Song Chi took a screenshot of the Moon-Worship Flame’s stats and sent it to the Prime Ancestor, then soon after got a reply from Song Wujian.

“Deal. But it’ll take me some time to return to Dragon-Spine Continent. Just come back half a year from now. Can they wait that long?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem!”

……

Star Order group chat.

“Order 32, Jingzhe: We’re good, but it’ll be ready in half a year!”

“Order 3, Corpse Dog: No issue. As long as it’s available. Jingzhe, thanks for all your help.”

“Order 32, Jingzhe: Uncle, don’t mention it! We’re family here—no need to stand on ceremony.”

“Order 26, Xuanhu: That’s right. Jingzhe, you’re awesome!”

“Order 16, Lancang: Awesome!”

“Order 19, Scorching Sun: Awesome!”

……

“Order 32, Jingzhe: …”

Stowing away the Star Order, Song Chi didn’t leave the underground summoning chamber. Instead, he entered the Market directly from the warship.

Heading toward the Full-Attribute Cultivation Chamber, Song Chi’s mind kept turning over what Corpse Dog had brought out—the Time Crown (Replica). Song Wujian was right; the value of this time-class component was solid.

Time Crown (Replica) lv0

Quality: Silver

Trait: Time Crown – Reversal

Trait 2: Reduces cooldown of all warship components by 15%

Trait 3: +800 Time Resistance

Trait 4: Always occupies only one module slot

……

{Time Crown – Reversal: Consumes 50,000 Ether Points. The Time Crown’s hand spins; the equipped warship enters a time reversal state. Current reversal: 0.1 seconds. Cooldown: 10 years.}

Honestly, its stats were excellent, but Song Chi couldn’t say he was desperately eager to have it.

The main reason? As a silver module, its cooldown trait overlapped with the Timepiece Chess module already loaded on Heavenly Ruin—they wouldn’t stack, just overlap.

Beyond that, its Reversal trait was neat but only worked on the warship itself, and for far too short a span.

And based on the initial numbers, even upgrading wouldn’t boost the reversal duration very much.

So Song Chi didn’t have much real interest. Truthfully, seeing that Time Crown (Replica) only reminded him of the Timepiece Chess on his own ship.

While various factors meant the Timepiece Chess couldn’t yet sync with a true silver legendary module, the potential it held was astounding.

Especially its matching Timepiece Chessboard module—now that was bound to be of unimaginable quality.

How many pieces are in a complete set?

If just one of them was a Silver Legendary Oddity, how insane would the quality be if he could find more pieces—or even the true Timepiece Chessboard? Song Chi couldn’t even imagine.

“Sigh, all too intangible for now. I’ll just keep pressing on…”

He let out a sigh and stopped dwelling, heading into the Full-Attribute Cultivation Chamber.

Before starting his Guiding Technique practice, he pulled out a top-grade body-tempering elixir from his storage capsule, then crushed a three-thousand-year-old deep-sea pearl and mixed the two, quickly downing the dose.

But he wasn’t done yet. Next, he took a drop of ordinary Dominator blood he’d extracted from the Doomstar Dominator’s flesh, swallowing that too.

As the sudden heat blazed from his gut, Song Chi set himself in the standard Guiding Technique pose and began a prolonged training session. Half a month later, when he finally finished, his brows were furrowed.

With Guiding Technique at level 45, progress only got harder. Even with the Dominator blood’s boost, his slow advancement was just frustrating.

This session only pushed him to the peak of level 45. Breaking through to 46? Who knew how long that would take.

Thinking on this, Song Chi glanced again at his storage capsule.

Not long after, he pulled out a vial of vivid red liquid—a super-grade body-tempering elixir he’d been awarded for submitting the full design schematics of the Moruo Voidrunner Mech.

All these years, he hadn’t used any, but patience had run thin. He set one aside for his future fifth-tier breakthrough, then used the other two now.

No doubt about it—the elixirs made from three-thousand-year Heavenly Stargrass were incredible. In just half a year, his Guiding Technique had leapt twice, straight from level 45 to 47, though both super-grade elixirs were now used up.

Song Chi then spent several more years in the Market, only managing to push Guiding Technique to the peak of 47—still not a hint of moving up to 48.

Knowing forced seclusion would do no good, Song Chi didn’t overthink it and simply left the Full-Attribute Cultivation Chamber.

……

Dragon-Spine Continent, Azure Moon Estate.

Song Chi appeared quietly in his bedroom, barely pausing before heading out to the courtyard and summoning the Heavenly Ruin to speed directly toward Dragon Spine Sacred Mountain.

But he wasn’t going to see the Prime Ancestor!

He’d already made the trip back a few years prior, getting the sixth-grade Moon Spring from the Prime Ancestor and swapping it for a Silver Upgraded Fire Source. Now, the Prime Ancestor had successfully upgraded his Torch Seed to silver and the Unmoving Vajra’s power had soared.

This time, Song Chi was headed for the Dragon-Spine Secret Domain, ready to comprehend the incomplete secret arts on the inheritance stele, such as the Sky Shaman Grand Hand Seal, and the Doomstar arts like Deathstar Descent and Deathstar Rapid Detonation.

With Guiding Technique stuck in a bottleneck, forcing it any further would only waste time. Better to spend this period mastering some new secret arts.

Dragon-Spine Secret Domain, mid-slope of Dragon Whale Mountain.

Song Chi’s first goal was the Sky Shaman Grand Hand Seal. Among the family’s legacy secret arts, it was one of the most powerful spatial techniques, highly demanding to learn—yet with his Dual Pupils, Song Chi was confident.

Just once sitting in complete stillness took three whole years.

……

“Great-grandfather, is this Dragon Whale Mountain?”

One day, two figures—an elder and a younger man—arrived at the foot of Dragon Whale Mountain. The elder was an ancestral elder left to watch the clan grounds, the younger, Song Hao, a new-generation third-tier Torch Captain.

For distinguished service in the recent expansion wars and some surprising good fortune, Song Hao had used top-level soul resources to transform his spiritual power into divine sense.

So the elder had brought him here, to gain insight into the primordial domain’s laws and speed up his comprehension and accumulation at the third tier.

Gesturing to the wide expanse at the mountain’s base, the elder explained:

“This is indeed Dragon Whale Mountain. But you haven’t yet sensed any laws, so you’re best off training at the foot for now. When you master the basics, you can climb step by step toward the top.”

“Hao, you have ten years. In those years, however far you push a single law—whether you can reach the inheritance zone halfway up and understand a secret art or two—that’s all up to you.”

With that, the elder turned and strode toward the secret domain’s entrance, leaving Song Hao to himself.

Bowing respectfully, Song Hao didn’t hesitate to start his ascent of Dragon Whale Mountain.

Twenty days later, Song Hao stood up from a trace of the Law of Light, unable to hide the happy smile on his face.

After twenty days, he’d finally grasped the basics of the Law of Light. That kind of pace was impressive.

True, the Law of Light was easier to sense than the Law of Space—but Song Hao hadn’t even used a Law Crystal for help. By that measure, his achievement was stunning.

Suddenly, an intense space fluctuation roared overhead. Song Hao looked up, and his pupils shrank sharply.

Above the Dragon-Spine Secret Domain, vast torrents of spatial laws converged at lightning speed, forming a colossal handprint five kilometers across.

As the void handprint descended, clouds and winds roared over the primordial sky. The entire domain trembled; the sight was apocalyptic.

“Is that… is an elder taking action up there?”

As his mind reeled, Song Hao muttered, then saw a figure soar from halfway up Dragon Whale Mountain, space laws swirling around him. With a casual gesture, the figure dissipated the gigantic handprint above.

Hearing a soft laugh from above, Song Hao hurriedly bowed in greeting.

“Congratulations, Ancestor!”

Even as the words fell, a faint ripple of space appeared in front of Song Hao. Looking up, he saw a figure standing quietly before him.

“Ol…”

But the rest of ‘Old Ancestor’ never left his lips—as he remembered something, Song Hao quickly corrected himself.

“Your Highness!”

Song Chi shook his head, still smiling. He didn’t explain. With the expansion wars, he’d stepped down but the family hadn’t named a successor yet. Now that the wars were over, selection for the next sequence had only just resumed.

Strictly speaking, the Song Family’s new generation sequence was still up in the air.

Song Chi studied the young man before him with growing interest.

He recognized him. Back when he received word of the second neutron star wreckage, it was from this very man. As a reward and investment, he’d gifted both him and a girl several purple modules.

Turns out, this kid hadn’t disappointed. Not only had he become a cruiser captain, he’d even comprehended a law at the third tier.

“The Law of Light? How many days did it take to grasp?”

Song Hao, facing Song Chi—now a Zhulu-class captain—didn’t dare hide anything.

“Twenty days to sense the Law of Light… without using any Law Crystals or similar aids?”

A gleam of appreciation lit Song Chi’s gaze.

If true, Song Hao’s talent in the Law of Light was honestly a bit terrifying.