Chapter 541: A Subtle Operation in the Timeworld Sanctuary

After carefully reviewing the upgraded attributes of the Omniverse Market, Song Chi’s gaze finally rested on the “Dominion Authority” trait.

Now that his Dominion Power had officially reached eighth tier, there were plenty of things he could finally start putting into motion.

…

Morningstar Kingdom, within the Song Family’s territories in the Doomstar Star Domain.

The Doomstar Star Domain was far from wealthy—among all the domains the Song Family currently controlled, it was definitely one of the most barren.

Because of this, few clan members, kingdom citizens, or even Torch Captains had ever come to this area over the years.

But that changed over a century ago. For reasons no one else quite understood, the Song Family suddenly started paying much more attention to this star domain.

On this day, dozens of second- and third-tier Torch Battleships gathered here, with ships from both the Song Family and the Morningstar royal lineage. After joining up, the united fleet headed toward a specific region of space.

Their travel speed wasn’t particularly fast, nothing out of the ordinary. But then, in the blink of an eye, this forty-ship fleet simply vanished from the dark starry sky.

Inside a vast composite illusion, the forty battleships split off in an organized fashion. Ahead of them, two colossal ten-thousand-meter battleships floated in silence.

Behind those two warships, a swirling vortex shimmering with powerful spatial energy marked the entrance to the Timeworld Tree Sanctuary.

Each of the two battleships belonged to a different clan. The Song Family’s flagship was captained by none other than Song Tianshu, who had just recently ascended in rank.

“Greetings, Elder Tianshu!”

Twenty Song Family members greeted him with utmost respect.

Song Tianshu, aboard his warship, responded with a slight nod.

“You here to relieve the twenty-man team that’s been guarding the secret realm for the last two decades?”

“Yes, Elder!”

At the front of the fleet, Song Liang’s eyes shone with excitement. He couldn’t help but feel restless, thinking of the special mission he’d recently received.

Fortunately, he was still inside the battleship, sealed off from the outside. Nobody noticed his restless mood.

“Alright, go on in. Remember, don’t let your guard down at any point—the Family needs this sanctuary, it’s absolutely critical!”

“Understood!”

…

Blending in among the fleet, the newly-upgraded cruiser “Liangchen” drew no attention at all. As soon as the group slipped into the sanctuary with the Morningstar clan, all forty battleships sped toward their assigned station.

Not every Timeworld Tree in this secret realm grew in the same place—some grew deep underground, while others stretched up from the surface.

Song Liang’s station was, of course, far beneath the ground—right at the deepest part, where the Buddha’s golden head statue was located. Three clanmates accompanied him there.

In a secure communication channel, Song Liang exchanged a glance with another Song Family cruiser captain. Both men gave a subtle nod.

In the main underground passage, near its deepest point—

One Song Family cruiser suddenly lurched out of control, careening into the wall.

As luck would have it, the edge of its hull slammed right into the Morningstar clan’s lead cruiser, traveling beside it.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A screech of metal echoed as the Morningstar clan’s lead cruiser was shoved hard into the stone passage wall, taking another round of damage from the impact.

But that wasn’t the worst of it—a gaping spatial rift lurked on that section of wall. The lead cruiser’s energy shield instantly overloaded from the rift’s cut, gouging a nasty hole in its hull armor.

“My apologies, my apologies. Spaced out there for a second.”

The Song Family cruiser captain who’d caused all this quickly apologized.

He sounded genuinely sincere and since the damage wasn’t that serious, the Morningstar clan’s lead cruiser captain decided to let it slide.

But just because he didn’t make a fuss didn’t mean everyone behind him felt the same.

Suddenly, an ill-timed voice interrupted.

“What, are you blind? How do you manage to crash in a passage this wide?”

The speaker was another third-tier cruiser captain from the Morningstar clan—a close friend of Reiser Morningstar. With Reiser taken out by a Song Family Zhulu-class captain, he’d been holding this grudge for a long time.

“What’s your problem? He already apologized! Or should I remind you how you came groveling onto our turf trying to claim this sanctuary? What, now you want to chase us out completely?”

The Song Family wasn’t about to back down. They fired right back.

“Who are you calling a groveler? This is Morningstar Kingdom territory. You think the royal family has no say here?”

“Cut the crap. Without our Dominion-class battleship, there’d be no Morningstar Kingdom for you to lord over!”

…

Tempers quickly flared. The argument escalated and some even threatened to ram their ships.

The uproar couldn’t escape the notice of the previous team of sanctuary guards farther in. Several battleships soon arrived at top speed.

“What do you think you’re doing? Trying to start a fight here?”

“Who’s causing trouble? It’s the Morningstar side picking a fight!”

Refusing to back down, the Song Family’s third-tier captain even swapped to a special ramming prow—making it way harder to cool things down.

But no one noticed that while everyone was distracted, at the rear of the Song Family’s column, the “Liangchen” quietly cracked open a hatch.

A faint ripple of space energy slipped out, as a black shadow darted toward the very deepest part of the underground.

At the bottom of the pit, the captains on both sides were still laser-focused on the disturbance behind them—leaving an ideal window where nobody was watching.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

A flicker of spatial power—Void Shadow Assassin Warriors materialized out of nowhere.

The instant they appeared, the terracotta warriors swiftly pulled out a golden token.

The Market Projection Token activated, sending purple mist swirling over the entire bottom of the pit.

From within the Omniverse Market, looking through a projection, Song Chi finally spotted the seventh-tier Timeworld Tree he’d hidden away before.

Purple mist surged; a veil of spatial light instantly sealed off the tunnel leading back, and in the eyes of both groups of captains, absolutely nothing had changed at the pit behind them.

With the passage blocked off behind him, Song Chi wasted no time. Purple mist, crackling with near-eighth-tier Dominion Power, surged and formed a giant hand that lunged right for the seventh-tier Timeworld Tree.

Without the bronze concealment seal hiding it, the entire ten-thousand-meter White Jade Tree was once again fully exposed at the bottom of the pit.

The purple mist hand seized the trunk and slowly lifted it upward.

Unlike before, this time, with near-eighth-tier power, the hand managed to uproot the Timeworld Tree. Its underground roots began to rise, one after another.

Just as he was about to finish, a faint Buddha-light suddenly flared at the bottom of the pit. Though dim, it resisted the next step. Song Chi ignored it, unleashing torrents of eighth-tier power inside the Market’s heavens.

At last, the Buddha-light was ground away by the purple mist, and the seventh-tier Timeworld Tree was ripped out, root and all.

There was no rush to dismiss the projection—Song Chi quickly used purple mist to smooth over the crater, wiping away all traces until nothing seemed out of place. Only then did he cancel the projection.

With the seventh-tier Timeworld Tree and Void Shadow Assassin Warriors in tow, he made his way back to the Omniverse Market.

A few minutes later, the uproar in the tunnel subsided as both sides made concessions. The changeover of captains proceeded smoothly, and no one ever realized anything was different at the pit.

…

Omniverse Market, Free Stall Area.

A beam shot down from the Heavenly Ruin above, and as it enveloped the White Jade Tree, the seventh-tier Timeworld Tree shrank rapidly.

In the end, a fourth-tier Doomstar Race member hefted the shrunken tree and carried it onto the warship.

No.004 Cultivation Secret Realm of Chicang, on the edge of the Azure Spirit Spring.

Restored to its towering ten-thousand-meter height, the seventh-tier Timeworld Tree was successfully transplanted at the edge of the spring, thanks to the finest Celestial Spirit Earth.

Song Chi’s eyes shone with satisfaction as he gazed at the great tree rising by the spirit spring.

From now on, the seventh-tier Timeworld Tree was completely his—belonging to the Song Family. The Morningstar clan could forget about it.

“With the Sanctuary Accelerator’s boost, I wonder how long it’ll take to grow the next seventh-tier Timeworld Fruit. Hopefully not too long.”

…

With the transplantation complete, Song Chi had checked off a major task. His next priority was clear: get his hands on the Timepiece Chessboard.

To do that, he used the “Compass: Return to Origins” trait to detach the Black Hole Evolution Layer, then loaded up every component he’d borrowed from Star Tower members.

Right after that, the Heavenly Ruin’s time resistance shot up to truly terrifying levels.

…

In the Outer Domain, nearly a hundred billion light-years from Dragon-Spine Continent, Song Chi appeared out of thin air.

With no ship summoned and no Market Projection yet, getting the next steps in place took him several days.

Only after boarding the Heavenly Ruin and calling up a near-eighth-tier Market Projection did the suffocating time-slow effect finally ease up.

[External time is slowed by 80,000 times; inside the ship, time is slowed by 80 times.]

With the eighth-tier Market Projection’s protection and monstrous time resistance, the time flow inside the ship was now a thousand times faster than outside. It was almost absurd.

Even so, Song Chi finally felt a little more at ease. He piloted the warship ahead once more.

After a long while, Song Chi in the Omniverse Market shook his head.

“No, still not enough. I need to stack even more time resistance!”

Outside, the Market Projection was almost depleted but the Heavenly Ruin was still dozens of miles from the Timepiece Chessboard.

Even when he first got within a thousand miles, time outside had already frozen. If not for the Market Projection and the warship’s own resistance, even the inside would be stuck in a timelock.

Before heading back, he swiftly turned the Heavenly Ruin around, retreating to a thousand miles out.

This way, next time he returned, he’d be sure not to get trapped in timelock himself.