Chapter 524: A Star Map’s Gamble

Song Chi and Song Yan waited quietly for two days, but the Seventh-Tier astrologer never appeared.

As the agreed time with Mirror Princess and Mirror Lake drew near, Song Chi mulled the situation over and finally decided there was no point waiting any longer.

The Astrology Tower had stood in Saintlight City for tens of thousands of years and would continue to do so—this wasn’t something to rush.

“Big brother, let’s go!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the fortune-telling window, closed for months now, suddenly swung open just as they were about to turn away.

Song Chi understood the window would only stay open for a few minutes, so he hurried forward without hesitation and handed over the shimmering silver Timepiece Chess component.

A withered hand flashed by, and before Song Chi even realized, the Timepiece Chess was already gone from his grasp.

Song Chi reacted quickly and wasted no time saying what he wanted.

“Master, I’d like to divine the location of this item’s main body!”

There was only silence. After Song Chi spoke, several seconds passed before a voice, ancient yet calm, sounded from behind the window.

“This item’s main body is of extremely high rank. You’ll need to sacrifice three silver-tier Starsea Oddities, and even then, it’s likely you’ll only get a rough area. Are you sure you want to proceed?”

Song Chi’s face stilled as he fell silent, mulling it over.

Three silver-tier oddities—and for just a vague answer. He was forced to weigh whether it was truly worth it.

He didn’t struggle for long. Remembering that the Timepiece Chessboard component was at least a supreme black-tier oddity, Song Chi quickly made up his mind.

Still, before handing over the oddities, he probed with one more question.

“Master, about that rough area—just how big are we talking about?”

“That’s very uncertain; it all depends on the divination’s results!”

Getting this reply, Song Chi grit his teeth but agreed.

“Please wait a moment!”

Doing as he’d done before, he left for a short while, then returned carrying three silver-glowing Starsea Oddities in his hand.

He’d hoarded over forty silver-tier oddities at the Market’s exchange shop, so bringing out three now didn’t hurt too much.

Once he placed the three silver oddities in the window, silence fell inside again.

The wait was pure agony. With an oddity of this grade—especially a rare time-type oddity—stakes were high.

Song Yan just stood quietly beside him, but seeing Song Chi take out three silver-tier oddities for the divination, Song Yan easily guessed their target wasn’t anything simple.

But Song Chi didn’t say, and Song Yan didn’t press. After all, each component was the utmost secret on a Torch Battleship, and with such a high-grade part? Even clan members knew when not to ask.

A full half hour went by. At the first piercing noise from within the window, both Song Chi and Song Yan snapped to attention.

“Hmph!”

A muffled groan seemed to echo—then was gone, so fast they wondered if it was just in their heads. A gnarled hand slipped out of the window and returned the Timepiece Chess component.

“Master…”

Taking back the Timepiece Chess, Song Chi started to ask about the divination results.

But before he could get the words out, dazzling starlight burst overhead. Song Chi and Song Yan barely had time to react before a powerful repelling force pressed against them. The world spun—and when things stilled, they found themselves already standing outside the Astrology Tower.

“What…?”

At a loss, Song Chi lifted the Timepiece Chess in his hand and then realization dawned.

On one side of the Timepiece Chess component, a special divination star map had appeared.

The map held a single interstellar coordinate, and a message at the side.

“Divination coordinate XXXX… Within a radius of thirty billion light-years from this point, the main body of this item could be anywhere!”

Song Chi frowned. A sphere with a thirty billion light-year radius—utterly massive.

Compared to the endless Shattered Sea of Stars, this range was a huge reduction, but searching for a single chessboard in that stretch of space would be unimaginably difficult.

We’re talking about thirty billion light-years, radius—more than enough to contain entire galactic clusters.

“At least I have the Destiny Compass component. Its current tracking range is two billion light-years. It’ll take time, but I should be able to pinpoint the Timepiece Chessboard eventually!”

Trying to comfort himself, Song Chi looked again at the star map’s coordinate—only for his optimism to fade.

The map’s range was one thing, but how were they supposed to even reach that location?

All they had was a coordinate from the astrologer. No one knew where exactly it was—how far from Red Star Continent, or from Dragon‑Spine Continent.

What if that coordinate was literally trillions of light-years away from Dragon‑Spine? How were they supposed to get there?

To sort this out, Song Chi called for Song Yan and found a parked warship terminal. He summoned out the Heavenly Ruin, then fully sealed the ship before using the Market to return to Dragon‑Spine Continent.

At Azure Moon Estate, since Heavenly Ruin hadn’t come along, Song Chi pinged the Clan Elder via Quantum Comms Wristband.

Song Wujian replied fast—before long, Calm‑Sea Dragon‑Xiang arrived at the estate to pick Song Chi up.

Dragon‑Spine Continent, Burningfall Plains.

Inside a massive illusion space, Song Chi told the Elder about the divination coordinates.

Song Wujian was a little surprised.

“So, you want to see if the High-Dimensional Wormhole Generator can link a wormhole exit to that coordinate?”

“Yes, Elder. This coordinate is crucial for me. All we can do now is let the Wormhole Generator component give it a try!”

Song Wujian thought it over, then nodded.

“Since it’s from a Seventh-Tier astrologer, it shouldn’t be too risky. Just to be safe though, bring over the Starry Sky Dragon Shark first!”

After Song Chi brought the Starry Sky Dragon Shark from Heavenly Ruin, Song Wujian tried to activate the Wormhole Generator component.

A moment later, he shook his head.

“No good. I can’t activate it.”

That made the answer perfectly clear—the coordinates were more than thirty billion light-years from Dragon‑Spine Continent.

Catching the hint of resignation in Song Chi’s eyes, Song Wujian offered some consolation.

“The Wormhole Generator is only level 70 right now. Once it’s powered up to eighth-tier, its max range jumps to three hundred billion light-years. Then you should be able to zero in on that coordinate.”

Song Chi nodded quietly.

“Understood. Sorry for the trouble, Elder. There are things I need to take care of back on Red Star Continent, so I won’t linger here.”

Even so, internally he felt bitterly disappointed.

Eighth-tier sounded easy, but who knew how difficult it would be to reach?

And that’s not even accounting for the masses of resources required—it’d be a nightmare just getting a gold Torch Seed.

Song Wujian only had a silver Torch Seed right now. To upgrade, he’d need a strand of gold Upgraded Fire Source, which was so priceless it couldn’t even be measured. Even among Star-Annihilator-class Ship captains, over half didn’t have one. Its rarity spoke volumes.

As ether currents swirled, Song Chi returned to Omniverse Market—only for inspiration to strike. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way to boost the Wormhole Generator’s range without evolving it all the way to eighth-tier.

“Actually, I might be able to use the Oddity Essence Refinement Platform for this.”

Song Chi’s eyes brightened at the idea.

After weighing it over for a while, he realized it might truly be possible.

Still, he didn’t rush in.

“No, not yet. I’d need a trait that triples the range at least… and even then, three times is only nine hundred billion light-years. Not quite enough.”

Muttering to himself, Song Chi returned to Saintlight City.

With the idea in mind, in his final two days before leaving, he scoured the city searching for special teleportation components.

Upon hearing he needed teleport components that could double range, Song Yan agreed to help him look.

On top of that, Song Chi spread the word through the Star Order group chat, to Shen Youran, Dragon‑Spine Continent, Pan Ying, Wang Zhen, and more. He even offered high prices in the Market and Divine Realm Player Trading Space—throwing all the resources he could muster into searching for these rare traits.

Two days later, still with nothing to show for his efforts, Song Chi and Song Yan left Saintlight City. Outside the gates, they regrouped with Mirror Princess and Mirror Lake. Each of them summoned their starships, setting out together toward the Star Spirit Tribe’s outpost over three thousand light-years away.

In the Heavenly Ruin’s main control room, Song Chi eyed the two unusual starships beside them with keen interest.

Unlike the Torch Battleships of Torch Human Civilization, the Mirrorfolk’s signature warships, called Mirror Prism Shuttles, boasted stunningly sleek hulls and blinding speed. Combined with their terrifying illusion abilities, they could catch enemies off guard in any star war.

After some discussion, all four ships powered up their jump drives in succession.

Song Chi’s group used standard Torch Battleship oddity jumps, while the Mirror Prism Shuttles activated curvature drives.

A few days later, they reached the outer edge of the Star Core Plateau.

Hidden deep in the void, four starships watched from afar as a massive city came into view at the horizon.

This was Star Core City, the target stronghold of the Star Spirit Tribe. Compared to Saintlight City, it was noticeably smaller.

Throughout the journey, comm chatter flowed between both parties.

“So just to confirm—we’ll lure out the Star Spirit Dominator, and you’re certain you two can slip past the Star Core Grand Array and sneak inside?”

They’d gone over this repeatedly, but as the critical moment drew close, Song Yan still asked once more.

“Yan, trust us. Illusion is just one of the Mirrorfolk’s strengths—folding space is our true core talent!”

“Alright then. Let’s start by camouflaging my cousin’s Starry Sky Dragon Shark!”

With that, Song Yan gave Song Chi a nod. Catching on, Song Chi quickly opened the Heavenly Ruin’s hatch.

Moments later, the miniature Starry Sky Dragon Shark shot out from the ship.

Twin rays of mirrored light burst from each Mirror Prism Shuttle, converging straight for the dragon shark.

Since Song Chi had already explained everything, the dragon shark didn’t resist, simply letting the mirror light sink into its body.

In no time at all, Song Chi watched in awe as the previously normal dragon shark suddenly morphed into a huge black-toothed shark.

“Wow—you really can’t tell any difference!”

The disguise was so flawless, Song Chi was genuinely surprised.

Song Yan just grinned, already familiar with this trick.

“That’s standard for the Mirrorfolk. And keep in mind, Mirror Princess is only rank six and Mirror Lake is just rank five. To avoid drawing attention, they’re limited to disguising the dragon shark as a lookalike black-toothed giant shark. If we’d brought a Dominator-level Mirrorfolk, they could’ve made it seem like a mechanical deity—even same-rank enemies wouldn’t know the difference!”

…

“Alright. It’s go time!”

Through their comms, four figures exchanged glances.

At that moment, Song Chi sent the newly disguised Starry Sky Dragon Shark hurtling skyward. As it soared, its body rapidly expanded.

A thunderous roar split the heavens over the Star Core Plateau, instantly causing every ruler in the area to take notice.

Near the plateau’s center, Star Core City shimmered with Dominion Power—as the aura of the Star Spirit Tribe’s newly ascended Dominator stretched across half the sky.

The Star Spirit Dominator didn’t show themselves but instead used that overwhelming presence to warn the dragon shark: this plateau was under their protection. Still, that would never work. At Song Chi’s silent command, the black-toothed dragon shark charged toward Star Core City, not hesitating for a second.

Challenging another’s territory in this way was an open provocation—the accepted rule across all of Red Star Continent.

The Star Spirit Dominator inside Star Core City couldn’t ignore such a challenge. Instantly, the city’s shield blazed with starlight and an immense figure burst forth—Dominator power and the Law of Light swirling around them. With the barest pause, the Dominator crossed tens of millions of kilometers to stand before the Starry Sky Dragon Shark.

No words were exchanged. The dragon shark attacked at once, unleashing a torrent of Dominion Power that crashed into the Star Spirit Dominator.

Song Chi and his companions weren’t distracted by this clash. The moment the Dominator was drawn out, the four exchanged knowing looks. Mirror Princess and Mirror Lake unleashed two more mirror lights—this time aimed at the Heavenly Ruin and the Scarlet Sea-Boiler.