Chapter 549: Golden Blood War Stele and the Shadows of War

With a golden Blood War Stele in hand, Song Chi could technically call this mission complete.

Unless something unexpected happened, the family would have surely started full mobilization once they got word that a civilization war was coming.

Preparations before the war had already begun.

The Dragon-Spine Continent was ascending.

The Calm‑Sea Dragon‑Xiang was ramping up to challenge a Star-Annihilator-class Ship.

And there was a whole list of other things.

All of them required Song Chi to head back as soon as possible and coordinate. But with Shang Jie just dead, rushing off right now was clearly inappropriate.

Left with no choice, Song Chi could only let the Sky-Domain AI keep piloting the battleship toward the core region of the Secret Realm. As for himself, he entered the Omniverse Market as quickly as he could.

In the Free Stall Area, all the stats of the golden Blood War Stele appeared before his eyes.

Blood War Stele lv0

Quality: Gold

Trait: When mounted to a battleship, grants a control immunity aura—negates control effects below the enhancement level of this component.

Trait 2: Blood Frenzy

Trait 3: War Inspiration

Trait 4: Bloodbattle Spirit Armor

Trait 5: Authority of the Control Immunity Aura raised by one level

……

Compared to the silver Blood War Stele, the golden one not only had a higher potential for enhancements but gained an additional ‘Trait 5.’

Yet it was precisely this Trait 5 that sent this component’s value skyrocketing.

With ‘Authority of the Control Immunity Aura raised by one level,’ once the component was enhanced to seventh grade, it could significantly weaken the controlling methods even from Eighth-Tier Dominators.

Why not complete immunity? Naturally, that’s because of the ship’s own tier. Battleships and even Dreadnought-class ships just couldn’t fully bring out the power of a seventh-grade component.

After reviewing the golden Blood War Stele’s stats, Song Chi temporarily deposited it in the Oddities Exchange. He didn’t dare install it directly, wary of Shang Clan using some secret method to track it down.

Golden Blood War Steles in this Blood War Secret Realm were strictly limited. Even one extra or missing could easily raise suspicions.

Next, a second golden sanctum component appeared in his hands—the one claimed from Shang Jie’s flagship.

Frost King’s Crown lv0

Quality: Gold

Trait: Shield of Frost

Trait 2: Increases battleship’s Ice Law comprehension efficiency by 140%

Trait 3: +1000 Ice Resistance

Trait 4: Frost Bind

Trait 5: True Spirit Guard of the Frost Phoenix

Consumption: 40 per second (Eon Energy Points)

Effect: Once installed, endless frost power envelops the ship, boosting its hull strength to a certain degree.

Upgrade Requirements: 40 units of Floating-Land Origin (zero grade), 4000 Eon Energy Points, 1 drop of Frost Phoenix blood (zero grade)

{Shield of Frost: The Frost King’s Crown holds boundless frost within. When mounted, it creates an extra frost shield around your energy shield. The frost shield’s value is half that of a standard energy shield of equal quality; after overloading, there’s a 1-hour cooldown.}

{Frost Bind: Consumes 80,000 Eon Energy Points. Activates frost power to freeze a designated target for 2 seconds, with a 72-hour cooldown.}

{True Spirit Guard of the Frost Phoenix: Consumes 100,000 Eon Energy Points. Summons the true spirit of an eighth-grade Frost Phoenix for protection. All designated friendly units within its area enjoy 80% of its guard effect, lasting 30 minutes with a five-year cooldown.}

Song Chi’s brows arched. The Frost King’s Crown was remarkably similar to the Angel King’s Authority Wings on his Heavenly Ruin. Both were large-area true spirit guard components—one light-attribute, the other ice.

For Song Chi, who hadn’t mastered Ice Law, this wasn’t a perfect fit. Still, it was undeniably a top-tier find.

For starters, the ‘Shield of Frost’ trait could provide Heavenly Ruin a third energy shield after the Yin‑Yang Counter‑Phase Annihilation Shield and the Shield of Holy Light, pushing its defenses even higher.

Secondly, Frost Bind was a seriously powerful crowd control effect.

But the most important was the ‘True Spirit Guard of the Frost Phoenix.’ With protection from an eighth-grade Frost Phoenix, Heavenly Ruin would gain another significant trump card.

No matter how tempting though, Song Chi didn’t dare install it on Heavenly Ruin yet. He’d have to wait for the heat to die down first.

Aside from the Frost King’s Crown, none of the other recovered parts were especially compatible with Heavenly Ruin, so Song Chi didn’t give them a second glance.

Back outside, Song Chi’s silhouette flickered into view aboard the warship.

“Maybe I should pay more attention to the Destiny Compass as well,” he mused. “The fifth sealed trait is ‘Destiny: Shrouding Fate.’ If I could unlock it, even mounting both the golden Blood War Stele and Frost King’s Crown wouldn’t let Shang Clan track me.”

That thought raced through his mind but was followed by a shake of the head.

The Destiny Compass was also incomplete. To unlock the fourth and fifth traits, he’d still need to find the missing half. That was easier said than done.

He’d spent decades in Saintlight City and never managed it.

Not only that, he’d even asked a Seventh-Tier astrologer at the Astrology Tower to divine the location of both the Destiny Compass and the Taiyi Quantum Swordlight Battery. Both attempts came up empty.

According to the astrologer, the missing sections of those two components were simply too far away, completely outside even his range.

Shaking his head, Song Chi put those thoughts aside and continued with his previous plans.

For the next two years, Heavenly Ruin roamed the Secret Realm’s core, using Eyes of Heaven’s ‘Spiritual Detection’ and ‘Eye of Spirit-Seeking’ traits to locate as many sixth-grade Bloodwar Clan members and purple-quality or higher Blood War Steles as possible.

Even though he’d already snagged one golden Blood War Stele, parts with permanent control immunity were very rare—gathering as many as possible would benefit everyone, including his parents, Song Ting, the Family Patriarch, and dozens of senior clan members.

Now that he didn’t need to hunt for gold Blood War Steles relentlessly, Song Chi could let loose. Over these two years, his haul was very impressive.

Among the sixth-grade Bloodwar Clans, the Celestial Authority Ring had enslaved 16, the Enslave Medal another seven. In the Cultivation Sanctuary, a dozen or so were sealed temporarily, and there were several dozen more inside the Market Pocket Realm—for a grand total of over seventy.

But that was just about his current limit. The Dimensional Spatial Stone couldn’t seal enemies like these. If he tried to store a sixth-grade Bloodwar Clan member in it, he’d wreck the entire Oddity inside.

Other than that, he’d also found his fair share of Blood War Steles of all qualities.

There were 80 purple, 35 orange, 15 red, four silver, and one gold—making a total of 135.

One day, just as Song Chi planned his next move, Eyes of Heaven sent a special alert.

“Someone’s attacking a real Seventh-Tier Bloodwar Clan Dominator…”

Seeing the energy signature pop up on his radar, Song Chi was more than a little surprised.

According to the radar, there were two seventh-grade units present. Not the kind with mere remnant souls—these were true, corporeal Dominators.

After hesitating briefly, Song Chi activated the ‘Mirage’ trait, then steered Heavenly Ruin closer.

He wasn’t sure what was going on yet, but being this deep in the core zone, such activity was bound to be worth checking out.

“Whitebrow?”

At the edge of the battlefield, Song Chi spotted Whitebrow’s flagship ahead. If he wasn’t mistaken, Whitebrow wasn’t just here to watch—she seemed to be actively supporting the main fight.

On the distant battlefield, a twelve-winged archangel with six pairs of holy wings was trading blows with a Dominator-level Seventh-Tier Bloodwar Clan lord.

He had to admit, the Angels really lived up to their reputation as one of the ten overlord civilizations. Even face-to-face with a Bloodwar Dominator of terrifying solo strength, they didn’t back down.

Inside Heavenly Ruin’s command center, Song Chi frowned deeply.

Both sides looked evenly matched at a glance, but he knew better. That Dominator-level twelve-winged archangel—likely summoned by Whitebrow—wasn’t in good shape.

After all, there were Eighth-Tier Bloodwar Clan Dominators lurking in this place. He had no clue what Whitebrow had done to stall such a being, but however she managed it, it definitely wouldn’t last forever.

While Song Chi hesitated, Whitebrow suddenly sprang into action.

A streak of black light shot out from Whitebrow’s ship. Immediately, the seventh-grade Bloodwar Dominator locked in battle with the archangel froze up for a split second.

Song Chi understood at once—Whitebrow had triggered the Flow of Time Platform’s time-freeze ability.

This trait was even more dangerous than the Zen Seal: External Time Stop. Even as a battleship, Whitebrow’s ship was able to stop the Bloodwar Dominator in its tracks for several seconds.

Using this chance, the twelve-winged archangel unleashed a burst of holy light and, just before the Bloodwar Dominator broke free, managed to grab the golden Blood War Stele.

“Go!”

Inside Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi heard Whitebrow’s urgent call.

She moved fast—no sooner had she used the Flow of Time Platform than she was already making her escape, not even bothering to check for the final result.

Song Chi wasn’t far behind. The moment she shouted, he triggered the Scarlet Vault Jump Drive, followed at once by the Zen Seal · Internal · Time Acceleration.

The ship jumped so quickly it seemed nearly instantaneous. In a heartbeat, they reappeared almost ten thousand light-years away at the secret realm’s entrance.

But Whitebrow was even faster. By the time Heavenly Ruin exited the jump channel, Whitebrow’s ship was already waiting.

Before either could exchange greetings, another massive spatial fluctuation erupted behind them.

Song Chi tensed, focus locked on the Angel King’s Authority Wings and Neutron-Star Core Armor. The moment trouble showed, he’d activate True Spirit Guard of the Angel King and Neutron‑Star Fission without hesitation.

Only when the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of what was happening behind did he finally relax a little.

Chasing after them came Whitebrow’s twelve-winged archangel, having crossed the void in pursuit.

Once it arrived, Whitebrow promptly recalled the archangel, and both warships wasted no time escaping from the secret realm.

Neither Song Chi nor Whitebrow realized that just two seconds after their exit, a rift tore open at the entrance. A Bloodwar Clan Dominator, over a million kilometers tall, loomed in the cracks of space. Power surged outwards, but seemingly daunted by the presence of three Eighth-Tier auras outside, it turned away and vanished.

……

Beyond the secret realm entrance, the starry sky lay silent.

The first thing Song Chi noticed was the strange tension hanging in the air. He looked up and his eyes narrowed.

Hovering in the starry void, besides the three giant Star River-class Battleships from before, there was now a Star-Annihilator-class Ship—somehow appearing at Shang Clan’s flank.

On the shipwide comms, Whitebrow’s voice came through.

“That’s the Shang Party Spirit Sovereign, Shang Jie’s backer.”

Her words only confirmed what Song Chi had already guessed.

With the clan’s own Eighth-Tier patriarch standing guard, what could force Shang Jie’s father to cover all these light-years in person?

Clearly, Shang Clan already knew Shang Jie was dead.

He steadied himself. All traces had been wiped. The parts were stashed in the Omniverse Market. No matter what means they used, no way they could trace anything to him.

Song Chi’s thoughts spun and his face became calm again.

Nearby, Whitebrow’s ship and Heavenly Ruin flew side by side.

Inside her command room, Whitebrow stared across the void at the Shang Party Spirit Sovereign, her eyes sharp and cold.

Suddenly, a flash of black light lit up inside the ship.

Life-link from the Twin Fate Knot activated!

In a spot no one could see, a faint black beam fired from Whitebrow’s ship, shooting unseen into the hull of Heavenly Ruin. No one—neither the captains of the three Star River-class ships nor even Song Chi himself—noticed a thing.

The two battleships shot across space, soon docking alongside the Greedwolf Hall Master’s Star River-class.

Some Beidou Seven Towers members had returned ahead of time. Under normal circumstances, Song Chi and Whitebrow’s return shouldn’t have drawn much attention, yet reality proved otherwise.

As soon as both ships arrived, countless eyes across the sky locked onto them.

Beidou Seven Towers group chat.

“Yaoguang Star Tower, Jingzhe: What’s going on? Why is everyone staring at us?”

“Tianxuan Star Tower, Chilian: That Shang Clan heir we clashed with got killed in the Secret Realm. See that Star-Annihilator-class Ship? His dad’s here for payback. Don’t tell me it was really you two…”

“Yaoguang Star Tower, Jingzhe: Seriously?”

……

Song Chi put on a look of surprise but kept quiet.

Sometimes it’s safer to say less.

Just as the group chat was in full swing, the Greedwolf Hall Master from the Beidou Main Hall spoke up.

“All right, go ahead and investigate if you must. These kids can’t sit around all day dealing with Shang Clan’s grudges. But as I’ve said before: do whatever you want outside the ship, that’s your business. Don’t even think about boarding!”