Chapter 532: A Song Family Awakening

“Lier, time to eat…”

The call from the kitchen was soon followed by the side hall’s training room door swinging open. A girl stepped out, her skin slick with the remnants of mysterious training ointment.

The plump woman poked her head out from her kitchen duties in a hurry.

“Lier, did you just put on body-tempering lotion? It’s fine to wait a bit. You know, the family’s supply of this stuff is always tight. Your dad worked hard to exchange contribution points for it! You only have two years left till your Torch Seed awakens. Every chance to improve your Guiding Technique counts, so don’t waste a drop!”

Flushed cheeks, still lingering in the afterglow from a morning training session, the girl shook her head.

“It’s alright, Mom. The medicine’s fully absorbed. Let me go wash up!”

Ten minutes later, mother and daughter sat at the dining table. Before picking up her chopsticks, the girl paused as if remembering something.

“Mom, where’s my brother?”

Hearing her precious daughter ask that, the woman rolled her eyes.

“Where else? Probably holed up in the Battleship Summoning Chamber practicing Guiding Technique again.”

Waving her hand as if annoyed, she continued.

“Let’s not worry about him. Your brother’s already a frigate captain. It’s not unusual for him to skip meals for months at a time. You should eat more…”

Crunch!

Before the words were out, a loud noise came from the main hall. Both turned to see a broad-shouldered, bare-chested young man emerge from the underground Battleship Summoning Chamber entrance.

This was Song Liang, the girl’s older brother and the woman’s son.

The moment she saw Song Liang, joy lit the woman’s face. She was sharp with her words, but what mother could truly be indifferent to her son? She hurried over, her voice full of warmth.

“Liang, come here. Perfect timing—Mom just made your favorite…”

But Song Liang cut her off first.

“Mom, did you make fire carp stew?”

At the mention of fire carp stew, realization flashed across the woman’s face. She jumped up, her eyes shining with excitement.

“Liang, did your Torch Seed just advance?”

Don’t let her housewife look fool you—she’d been around for nearly a hundred and fifty years, and was a seasoned frigate captain in her younger days.

Without waiting for an answer, she hurried to the kitchen and opened the cupboard.

There, tucked in the corner, was a bowl of steaming, fragrant fish stew sealed inside a shimmering barrier of energy. She swept away the barrier, hands deft and practiced.

Song Liang took the bowl and drank it down in one long gulp, then sat cross-legged right where he stood.

His mother watched him, conflicting emotions playing out on her face—anticipation, joy, and a touch of worry.

Song Li walked over, watching the scene unfold.

“Mom, what’s going on with brother?”

Suppressing her tangled thoughts, the woman replied gently.

“You know how your grandfather gave up on advancing to third rank, then spent over two hundred years’ worth of contribution points to get your brother that new resource, the ‘Fire Carp’? With years of steady nourishment, your brother’s white Torch Seed is finally about to evolve to blue!”

Hearing this, Song Li’s joy for her brother was genuine. With this breakthrough, Song Liang’s potential would rise to cruiser captain—great news for her, since she hadn’t even awakened yet. The help she’d get in the future would only grow.

Song Liang’s Torch Seed transformation lasted for dozens of minutes. When he finally opened his eyes, the fleeting blue flame in them left Song Li and her mother beaming with delight.

“Mom, Li, I need to head back to the Battleship Summoning Chamber for component upgrades. Don’t wait up.”

“Do you have enough Floating-Land Origin on hand?”

“Plenty!”

Watching Song Liang’s figure disappear into the chamber entrance again, the woman’s happiness lingered. Yet after a moment, she turned to her daughter, her tone more stern.

“Lier, the family is growing fast right now. The Clan Elders and Head never hold back when it comes to nurturing young clan members. Body-tempering liquid, blood bodhi, Floating-Land Origin, fire carp…all those rare resources others would kill for, you can get just by earning merit or contribution points. You’re lucky to be born in this era—so don’t get complacent.”

“If your grandfather’s generation had such resources, maybe he’d be a top cruiser captain by now—maybe even close to a Zhulu-class Cruiser Captain. Don’t let us, or the entire Song Family, down!”

“Mom, I understand!”

……

On Jiesong Floating-land, a hundred-meter-long frigate soared up and vanished into the sky.

In the warship control room, Song Liang didn’t hesitate—he activated the jump drive.

A hundred light-years away, at the edge of Jiesong Star Zone, the Chenliang darted forward, coming out of jump.

Back in the command seat, Song Liang’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Thanks to Dad’s and Grandpa’s support, the Chenliang is solid as a rock after fifty years as a frigate. Now that my Torch Seed’s blue and with just one more 10,000-Year Volcanic Lava Iron Core, I’ll be able to try for the warship’s advancement task.”

“Once I succeed, I’ll be a cruiser captain before I’m even eighty-five. That’s upper tier in the clan, and maybe one day, I’ll be chasing after a Zhulu-class Cruiser Captain title!”

Just thinking about it got Song Liang fired up. A Zhulu-class Captain could hold sway over a low-ranked floating-land and outlast countless star ages. In any power, they’d rank in the upper echelons.

His thoughts racing, Song Liang was jolted by the sudden boom of cannon fire up ahead.

Brilliant energy blasts lit up the pitch-black sea of stars.

The abrupt chaos sent a chill down his spine—but thanks to his father and grandfather’s constant high expectations and training, Song Liang was no sheltered flower. He calmed himself instantly.

He slowed his ship at once, using his newly strengthened third-tier blue Void Shroud. With the Chenliang hidden, he watched the unfolding battle in safety.

“That’s Dad’s First Dragon Whale Guard Fleet, Fourteenth Squadron. Looks like the Morningstar Family’s fleet is here, too. And that’s the Violet Butterfly Clan—are they after the Violet Butterflies together?”

Watching the battle closely, Song Liang pieced together the basics, though questions lingered in his mind.

The Jiesong Star Zone borders Morningstar territory, and this region was always co-managed by both families. But not once in over a century had their fleets joined forces. What brought them together now?

Puzzled, he glanced at a special disk by his side.

It wasn’t just another ship component, but a sub-comm module linked to the main comms gear—his father’s, a true Third-Tier cruiser captain.

Years back, the clan made a full push to buy up comms tech, and it had finally paid off—now, almost every family cruiser had a set. His father was one of them.

After a short hesitation, Song Liang activated the module.

A faint stream of light appeared, resolving into a comm window.

“Liang? What are you doing here? Where are you now? Stay away from the borders, you hear me?”

His father’s comms module wasn’t top grade, its max range scarcely ten light-years. So, the fact Song Liang got through right away meant he must be near the squadron.

“Dad, I’m fine. My Torch Seed’s advanced, and the Void Shroud’s up to third-tier. The Violet Butterflies haven’t spotted the Chenliang.”

“Enough about me—Dad, what’s really going on? Why team up with the Morningstar Family? Do the Violet Butterflies have a high-rank Starsea Oddity or something?”

The sub-comm didn’t last long, so Song Liang asked all his questions at once.

“Team up? Hardly! The Morningstar Family somehow caught wind that the Violet Butterflies have a purple-phase, long-range teleportation module—the one that can quadruple jump distance. They’re here to steal it from us!”

“Quadruple jump distance? Isn’t that the part Elder Chi put a bounty on?”

Knowing the Morningstar’s intentions, Song Liang’s gaze turned cold.

He understood perfectly—if they got that module, they’d surely try to extort Elder Chi later, and the price would be sky-high.

“Father, do you know which Violet Butterfly has the special module?”

……

After a fast exchange, Song Liang singled out his target among the fleeing Violet Butterflies.

“Found you!”

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a new message popped up on the comm window.

“Liang, don’t try anything reckless! The Violet Butterflies might be low-tier, but there are still several Third-Tier ones left. Plus, the Morningstar Family has stealth ships searching. The Chenliang is only a second-tier vessel…”

Evidently, his father did not want him diving in. Yet before he could finish, the sub-comm module’s time ran out.

Song Liang closed the comms and looked back towards the battlefield—zeroing in on a certain Third-Tier Violet Butterfly.

Ignoring his father’s warning, Song Liang locked on to the one carrying the special teleportation module.

His motivation was straightforward and only partly about impressing the family’s youngest elder. More than anything, it was about gratitude.

It wasn’t just him. Every younger member of the Dragon Whale Song Family felt the same.

Why?

Body-tempering liquid, training paste, fire carp—every rare resource came thanks to Song Chi. The Song Family would never have produced them so steadily without him.

Everyone who’d used such resources owed Song Chi their thanks.

Disguised within the Void, Song Liang wasn’t in any hurry to make a move.

He was set on striking, but he wasn’t foolish enough to take on a Third-Tier butterfly right in the swarm.

He had his plan.

“With both fleets working together, it’s only a matter of time before the Violet Butterflies are wiped out. As a Third-Tier, that one will try any means to escape. There’s no way it’ll stick with the main group—the target’s too big. As soon as it splits off, that’s my chance!”

He waited, biding his time as hours slipped by.

At last, after watching the field for hours, a smirk tugged at Song Liang’s lips. With the Chenliang still hidden in the Void, its engines flared as it sped towards a quiet patch of the stars.

Just now, that Third-Tier Violet Butterfly lost patience and triggered its flashing oddity, silently slipping free of the others.

It was cautious to the extreme—the timing was flawless. If not for Song Liang’s close watch, its absence would have gone unnoticed.

Thanks to his grandfather’s and father’s support, the Chenliang, though just a frigate, boasted three purple-tier components.

Of those three, one was the engine itself.

A third-tier purple engine brought serious speed. Even when the butterfly used its own oddity to jump a sizeable gap, the Chenliang caught up within minutes.

Boom! Boom!

The main cannon, glowing blue, roared to life as the Chenliang dropped its cloak.

The attack gave away his position—the Chenliang appeared for all to see.

The instant it sensed pursuit, the Third-Tier Violet Butterfly panicked. But seeing its opponent was only a second-tier frigate, its horror flipped to glee.

With a thousand-meter wingspan, it spun in mid-air. Countless tiny red eyes rolled in its compound ones—a sight both mesmerizing and chilling.

“Vine Seal—Stellar Vine Bind!”

Song Liang acted fast, activating a third-tier control component on his ship.

Thick black vines shot out from the Chenliang, quickly wrapping around the charging Third-Tier Violet Butterfly.

Pinned by the dark vines, the butterfly froze. Song Liang didn’t hesitate, immediately triggering his ship’s attack modules.

This time, it wasn’t the main cannon but a purple-grade external launcher under the ship.

Two nuclear missiles screamed out, striking before the butterfly could break free.

BOOM!

Waves of energy blasted out from the butterfly’s position, spreading across the void.

“Impossible!”

Song Liang’s eyes narrowed. A flash of violet whipped past—before he knew it, the enemy was right before the Chenliang.

Razor-edged butterfly wings ignored the ship’s protective shields and sliced deep into its hull.

But a look of shock flickered in the butterfly’s many red eyes. Its strongest hit hadn’t seriously damaged the little ship.

Instead, over a dozen Third-Tier Terracotta Warriors surrounded it, piling into the massive wound left by the missile barrage.

It tried to trigger its oddity to escape, but more thick vines lashed out, pinning it in place.