Chapter 516: A Gate to the Crimson Superdimension

Above the main hall, Song Chi and the other four wore faint smiles.

Song Yiming’s reply clearly left a strong impression—he not only showed his sense of responsibility as a Song Family member, he also won considerable favor, all without giving up the reward he’d rightfully earned.

As the Song Family’s core figures, Song Chi and the others would never hesitate to reward or support the younger generation.

After a brief discussion, they offered him a choice: any one silver component as a reward.

Song Yiming picked the energy shield. His Minglong was already equipped with silver hull plating; adding an energy shield would boost its safety even further.

Once he’d chosen his shield from the silver energy shield parts that Song Wujian listed, Song Chi suddenly spoke up.

“Your Torch Seed is still orange for now, right?”

“Yes, Uncle Chi!”

Song Yiming answered respectfully. The next moment his eyes went wide, and after a brief daze, joy swept over his face.

Song Chi, hovering above the hall, first took out a Tier-Six Silver Apple, then presented an Orange Advancement Fire Source he’d acquired over years of trading in the Market. The two fused, and before long, that orange Fire Source transformed to a red quality.

With a gentle gesture, Song Chi handed over this wisp of Red Advancement Fire Source—a treasure that would set off a fierce competition among lesser clans—directly to Song Yiming.

It was only then that Song Chi spoke again.

“This Red Advancement Fire Source is a personal reward from me. I hope you keep up this momentum and carry the name of the Dragonspine Song Family throughout the Morningstar Kingdom, the Tianpan Galaxy, and even across the Torch Human Galaxy Cluster!”

“Thank you, Uncle Chi! I promise to give my all, so the Song Family’s name won’t fall behind anyone else!”

Watching Song Yiming’s excitement from above, Song Chi felt nothing but calm inside.

He always enjoyed investing in the next generation, especially since the Silver Apple Mother Tree had yielded two more batches in the last seventy years. Nearly ten apples in hand—giving one away was hardly a loss.

Once Song Yiming left, the clan members in the ancestral hall turned to the final matter at hand.

They brought out the Tier-Seven Silver Apple won from the Bodhi Inheritance Tower, along with a component radiating a faint red glow.

After exchanging glances, the five began combining the Tier-Seven Silver Apple and the recently intact Origin Core Siphon. Within minutes, the Origin Core Siphon was upgraded to a silver component.

At the same time, Song Wujian produced a component from his Torch Ancestral Orifice called the Floating-Land Core Extraction Platform.

This component was similar to the Floating-Land Origin Core Extractor but far less efficient—each use could only extract one percent of a Floating-Land’s core and took extremely long to operate, making it rather awkward to use.

Still, the component did have one very noteworthy trait.

{Temporary Upper-Tier Floating-Land Extraction Permission: Spend a set amount of Ether Points (based on component grade and floating-land tier) to temporarily extract up to 0.1% of a Floating-Land Core a full grade higher than the component’s rated tier. Cooldown: 10 years.}

That’s the feature the Song Family valued most.

Once the Origin Core Siphon reached silver quality, they transferred this ‘Temporary Upper-Tier Floating-Land Extraction Permission’ to it, making it the component’s fourth feature.

Floating-Land Origin Core Extractor lv60

Quality: Silver

Feature: Energy Siphon

Feature 2: 60% reduced cooldown

Feature 3: Halved operation time

Feature 4: Temporary Upper-Tier Floating-Land Extraction Permission

Consumption: 500 Ether Points per second

Charge time: 1 hour. Buffer time: 4 years.

Effect: Spend 100,000 Ether Points. After a period of operation (duration varies with component grade and Floating-Land rank), siphon the core of a selected Floating-Land no higher than the component’s level.

Examining the upgraded Origin Core Siphon, the five felt a surge of excitement.

From now on, this component could do so much more than just draw power from sixth-tier and lower floating-lands—it could jump two full ranks up to work on even eighth-tier lands.

Even though the new feature limited each extraction to just 0.1%, eighth-tier floating-lands were rare and precious. For Dragon‑Spine Continent, just a fraction of an eighth-tier core was a top-tier advancement resource.

That’s why the Song Family had emphasized all along that the key to Dragon‑Spine’s advancement lay with the Hidden Vein.

According to plan, once the Dragon‑Spine Continent hit peak sixth-tier, the family’s top forces would join up and travel to the Red Star Superdimensional Continent. They’d use this newly-upgraded silver Origin Core Siphon to try to extract even a sliver of the Red Star’s core.

If they succeeded, the difficulty of upgrading Dragon‑Spine to a Seventh‑Tier Floating-land would drop significantly.

“All right, let’s stick to the plan. Once Dragon‑Spine reaches the peak of sixth-tier, we’ll leave for the Red Star Continent together. Until then, Shixing, make sure the Hidden Vein finds the perfect spot for core extraction!”

“Understood!”

…

Time passed. Two more years went by after the Origin Core Siphon was upgraded, ever since their return from the Bodhi Inheritance Tower.

One day, Song Chi withdrew from the Omniverse Market and returned to Dragonspine Manor.

“Is it time? The Hidden Vein… Red Star Superdimensional Continent!”

He glanced at the quantum comms wristband by his Voidform Avatar and found a new message.

“Xiaochi, hurry to the Dragon Spine Sacred Mountain. We’re setting out for the Red Star Continent!”

With a quick tidy up and some words to his parents, Song Chi summoned the Heavenly Ruin and jumped straight for the Dragon Spine Sacred Mountain.

At the mountain’s base, Song Shixing waved him down, and Song Chi called back the Heavenly Ruin, still confused.

He assumed the Elders had more to discuss in the ancestral hall, but when he entered, he found only thick Chaotic Mist and just Song Shixing—no sign of Song Wujian, Song Shiyuan, or Song Xingru. Only the two of them stood there.

“Ancestor Xing, what’s going on…?”

Before he could finish, Song Shixing cut him off with a raised hand.

“Don’t ask, you’ll see soon enough!”

Following Song Shixing, the two strode toward the runed stone wall deep in the hall.

“A secret passage? Or maybe a sealed chamber?”

Countless guesses flashed through Song Chi’s mind, but Song Shixing soon gave him the answer.

At the innermost spot, Song Shixing tapped several points along the unassuming runed wall. Song Chi’s brows shot up the next second.

With those casual taps, dense black light shimmered over the runed wall, which then split open into a narrow tunnel just wide enough for a single person.

Not long after stepping in, Song Chi sensed the entrance closing quietly behind him. Then Song Shixing’s voice echoed:

“Xiaochi, can you tell me when the Song Family first claimed the Dinghai Sector and the Dragon‑Spine Continent?”

Without hesitation, Song Chi answered straight away.

“Two thousand nine hundred years ago!”

“Correct. It was indeed two thousand nine hundred years ago.”

“Back then, the Old Ancestor made the call to open up the Dinghai Sector, fighting through countless obstacles to define the family’s domain.”

Then Song Shixing’s tone shifted.

“But did you know, in the early days after carving out the Dinghai Sector, there were actually two different fourth-tier living floating-lands good enough to be the clan homeland? Besides Dragon‑Spine, there was another, even closer to peak fourth-tier. So why did we pick Dragon‑Spine as our base?”

Song Chi’s gaze flickered—this was the first he’d heard of such a thing.

“Was it because of this superdimensional portal to the Red Star Continent?”

Song Shixing didn’t keep him guessing and nodded lightly.

“Exactly. The superdimensional portal is the reason. In fact, even the Dragon Spine Sacred Mountain was built later on just to conceal the portal!”

Enlightenment flashed in Song Chi’s mind, but before he could ask more, the two were already at the end of the narrow tunnel.

Ahead, they entered a secret mountain chamber—not very big, but every wall was built from rare dragon-blood diamond, overlaid with a layer of Eternal Stone Brick, making it as solid as possible.

Standing out most of all, in the very center, was a small stone teleportation gate.

Strange, ancient runes were carved all over its surface, and it radiated a sense of age. On either side of the gate stood two sixth-tier servant beasts, utterly motionless. The Song Family’s security here was at a level almost beyond imagination.

Song Chi quickly figured out the purpose behind all of this.

The Eternal Stone Brick, the dragon-blood diamond, even the two sixth-tier beasts—none of them were just for keeping outside threats away. They were also protection against what might come through the superdimensional portal from the other side.

A portal generated by an eighth-tier superdimensional continent was—within this Shattered Sea of Stars—almost impossible to destroy by any outside force.

So, if the Hidden Vein settlement on the far side was ever wiped out, enemies could invade Dragon‑Spine anytime through this stone gate. With stakes that high, how could the Song Family not go all out on defense?

While he pondered this, Song Shixing stepped onto the gate platform.

Song Chi hurried after him. Once both were in place, Song Shixing took out a special Void Crystal.

Every activation of the superdimensional portal required one Void Crystal.

Of course, this wasn’t just unique to the Song Family—the same went for all superdimensional continents and their portals.

And this wasn’t an ordinary Void Crystal either. It was high-grade, far rarer and more valuable than the standard kind. Each one was worth a fortune.

That got Song Chi thinking about their High-Dimensional Wormhole Generator.

“Ancestor Xing, have we ever tried using the wormhole generator instead?”

Song Shixing sighed and shook his head.

“You think we wouldn’t? The moment Old Ancestor got his hands on it, he had our Hidden Vein give it a shot.”

“And it failed?”

“Yeah, turns out the range just isn’t enough.”

Song Chi couldn’t help but marvel at that answer.

He knew their wormhole generator was buffed to level 70—capable of spanning up to 30 billion light-years with a single jump.

That meant the Red Star Continent had to be at least that far from the Torch Human Civilization’s territory. It was a staggering distance.

Song Shixing spoke again, voice gentle:

“Let’s hope the day comes when Old Ancestor gets a Golden Advancement Fire Source and upgrades the wormhole generator to tier eight. Maybe then it’ll bridge that gap.”

Song Chi nodded, fully agreeing.

Based on Old Ancestor’s estimate, if the wormhole generator reached tier eight, its range should hit 300 billion light-years—enough, hopefully, to link up with the Red Star Continent.

If that became reality, it would make things much easier for the family moving forward.

Just then, Song Shixing’s gaze sparkled as he turned.

“Xiaochi, be honest with Old Ancestor—could your trick for instantly returning to the Dragon‑Spine Continent also work from the Red Star Continent? Like, can you jump back and forth between the two at will?”

The sudden question made Song Chi pause. After thinking for a bit, he looked unsure.

He suspected the Omniverse Market Pocket Realm was a universe–class secret realm, but as with all such realms, they varied greatly in quality.

From what he’d read in the Beiqiong Shen archives, weaker universal realms were on par with Supreme Black Oddities; most ordinary ones matched lower colored mythic oddities, while the best rivaled upper-tier colored or even higher artifacts. The gap was huge.

After a bit of hesitation, he finally answered—with little confidence.

“Maybe—but I can’t say for sure!”

He had no way of knowing what grade the Market Pocket Realm truly was. If it was on the lower end, the sheer distance between Red Star and Dragon‑Spine might actually be too far to lock a spatial anchor across.

As for previous expeditions into the Outer Domain, they’d called it ‘random deployment,’ but in reality it was always centered within the Torch Human Galaxy Cluster, rarely beyond a hundred billion light-years. Only when someone advanced to Star-Annihilator-class could those limits break.

Upon hearing that, Song Shixing let the topic drop and muttered to himself:

“Let’s hope fortune smiles on the Song Family. If it works, our rise will be unstoppable.”

With that, he tossed the high-grade Void Crystal into the portal. Moments later, a wave of weightlessness engulfed them both.