Chapter 583: Sky-Domain Shopping Spree

He bought this batch of neutron star wreckage without hesitation, but Song Chi didn’t rush to have the Neutron-Star Core Armor devour it just yet.

After evolving to golden sanctum-tier quality, this was the first new batch of neutron star wreckage he’d encountered. Now, the Neutron-Star Core Armor was craving to devour it again, which signaled it still had the potential to evolve further—toward the ultimate, black-tier. That was fantastic news.

But Song Chi knew that the Neutron-Star Core Armor’s second evolution had required ten pieces of neutron star wreckage, and this third evolution would demand even more. So after securing this one piece, he asked directly:

“Does your shop have more neutron star wreckage?”

“Yes, sir. How many pieces do you need?”

Hearing the attendant’s answer, Song Chi raised an eyebrow. Judging from her tone, it seemed there was more than just one.

“However many there are, I’ll take them all!”

……

Half an hour later, when Song Chi walked out of the Jinwang Commercial Pavilion again, he was in excellent spirits. He’d gotten three pieces of neutron star wreckage from this one store alone.

Right as he was about to head to another big shop, he stopped short.

“AI, how long has it been since we arrived at Xian Qin Dragon Court City?”

He sent the question mentally from his Torch Ancestral Orifice, and almost immediately, the Sky-Domain AI answered from the mini form of the Heavenly Ruin.

[4 hours, 12 minutes, 27 seconds!]

“So it’s already been over four hours? That means I have at most a bit over ten hours left to wander the city.”

Thinking this, Song Chi came to a halt.

He gave up on scouring every shop one by one.

Xian Qin Dragon Court City was just too massive. Even moving at top speed without a second wasted, how many shops could anyone visit in a single day?

A few dozen, if you were lucky.

But the city had far more than ten thousand shops!

With that in mind, Song Chi decided on another approach.

He stood right where he was, linked his mind to the Torch Seed, and after connecting to the city’s local network, spent a fortune to pin a post on the Torch Network forum.

[Offering high prices for neutron star wreckage, antimatter source, time fragments, seventh-tier Star Plant Tree Heart, and various other resources! Only for today!!!]

Beneath that eye-catching title, Song Chi had carefully listed out his detailed purchasing prices.

Neutron star wreckage: 3 threads of sixth-tier Floating-Land Origin for one piece.

Antimatter source: 10 threads of sixth-tier Floating-Land Origin for one.

Time fragments: 3 threads of sixth-tier Floating-Land Origin per fragment.

Primal Chaos Qi: 10 threads of Seventh‑Tier Floating-land Origin for one thread.

……

In short, every price he offered was at least triple the city’s going market rate.

Would it work?

He honestly wasn’t worried. Although many here had impressive backgrounds, it was easy to forget: this city was packed with members of the Xian Qin imperial clan.

Sure, the Yin Family of Tianzhu had jaw-dropping heritage, but that didn’t mean all their billions of clan members enjoyed the same privileges. Plenty were flat broke or scraping by.

A dozen hours later, by the time Song Wujian and Song Yan arrived together at the city gates, they saw the massive crowd packed along the right side.

“Xiaochi?”

“Over here!”

Hearing the Clan Elder call out, Song Chi wrapped up his buying spree.

After squeezing through the throng, the three of them summoned their warships and soared into the sky.

In the main control room of the Heavenly Ruin, as they flew at full speed, Song Chi split his focus, counting up what he’d gathered these last ten-odd hours.

Xian Qin Dragon Court City deserved its reputation as the meeting point of elites for the whole Divine Dynasty. All manner of rare resources, nearly impossible to find anywhere else, were easily located here.

In just over ten hours, he’d acquired 21 pieces of neutron star wreckage, almost ten antimatter sources, and several hundred time fragments.

Unfortunately, he’d seen neither a seventh-tier Star Plant Tree Heart to help the Silver Apple Mother Tree ascend, nor Primal Chaos Qi to repair the Dragon Whale Hall.

But Song Chi knew this didn’t mean the city was out of them; his offer just hadn’t been enticing enough to draw sellers.

A seventh-tier Star Plant Tree Heart was considered an artifact for extending life—one could supposedly extend lifespans by a thousand years.

Primal Chaos Qi could permanently boost one’s perception. It was a top-tier strategic resource.

For those reasons, you could rarely buy either just using Floating-Land Origin.

Trading with a sixth-tier Timeworld Fruit might work, but unfortunately, Song Chi had already traded away his last one, and the family’s sole fruit had been exchanged for the Darkstar Mystic Turtle Armor.

True, the sixth-tier Timeworld Tree in the Cultivation Sanctuary was bearing fruit again, but it would still take time for them to fully mature.

And even if he had one on hand right now, chances were slim he’d use it for a trade like this.

After all, Timeworld Fruit was simply too tempting, especially sixth-tier and above. Even with Song Family’s current strength, they could only protect a sixth-tier Timeworld Tree at their own headquarters in the Tianpan Galaxy.

But here? Where were they?

This place was crawling with powerful captains. If anyone got greedy, they might target them on the journey home.

……

Their return plan was to head first to the long-range stargate transfer station above Xian Qin Continent.

The wait time for that transfer was agonizing—three whole months in line.

Even that was because their ship was the Calm‑Sea Dragon‑Xiang, a Star-Annihilator-class. Ordinary Torch Battleships would be stuck a year or two minimum.

Why not just leave through the Omniverse Market?

Well, on Xian Qin Continent, the Ying Clan’s surveillance was everywhere. If you up and disappeared, it wouldn’t take long for the Empire’s officials to start poking around.

Three months later, all three warships finally left Xian Qin Continent behind, entering Handan Galaxy—one of the thirty-six central star systems around the continent.

As one of the thirty-six, Handan Galaxy was developed even earlier than the East Frontier Star System. Its capital floating-land, Handan Continent, wasn’t so different from East Frontier Floating-Land—both ranked as peak-tier level-eight, neither crossing into level nine.

But it wasn’t because Handan Galaxy’s Torch Royal Court managed things less well. The gap between an eighth-tier and a ninth-tier floating-land was just too wide—nearly unbridgeable.

Once Song Yan, aboard the Scorching Sea Blazer, learned that Handan Continent was also only an eighth-tier peak floating-land, she asked a question.

“Elder, aside from Xian Qin Continent, does the Divine Dynasty have any other ninth-tier living floating-lands?”

Song Wujian clearly knew a bit about this and replied quickly:

“Of course. For example, the Langya Continent in Langya Galaxy is a ninth-tier floating-land. It may not compare to Xian Qin Continent, but its diameter is still nearly two million light years. Just that one floating-land gave rise to two powerhouse noble houses in our dynasty—the Meng and Wang clans.”

“Besides that, the Divine Dynasty has one other living ninth-tier floating-land. So in total, there are three such places in our dynasty.”

With the information gathered, the three didn’t linger long on Handan Floating-Land.

Half a month later, after crossing over 300,000 light years by hyperspace jump, they slipped into a remote asteroid belt and used the Omniverse Market to transfer back to Goldenplate Galaxy.

That’s right—Goldenplate Galaxy, specifically its Chigu Continent.

Song Chi had set up a Spatial Anchor here long beforehand, just so they could be sure of getting back within two years.

“Elder, this is a subcomponent of a Projection Device from my flagship. Once matters with the Luo Clan are settled, just activate it and I’ll come get you. Also, take this Market Projection Token…”

Right before the elder left for Chigu Continent, Song Chi handed him a Projection Emperor Stone, a component from the Void Sea Projection Emperor’s Tomb. Even from millions of light years away, it would let him project himself over instantly.

Of course, he was also worried about accidents on this side, since they’d be facing the hidden maneuverings of several immortal forces from Tianqi Kingdom.

If the elder truly got caught by something special, he could summon the Heavenly Ruin’s projection to assist. With its current might, it might not win in a head-on fight, but it could definitely keep a Star-Annihilator-class ship busy.

As for the Market Projection Token, that was purely a last resort. He trusted the elder wouldn’t use it unless all hope was lost.

Song Yan also took out a special part—a unique silver component called the Thousandfold Escape Talisman. It could randomly send her 10,000 light years in a random direction, ignoring spatial blocks, ship restraints, anti-magic fields, and more. It was top-tier for survival.

……

Before heading for Chigu Continent, Song Wujian split off 15 Dominion Souls for Song Chi and Song Yan—from the 50 he’d gotten at the Torch Judgement Court on Xian Qin earlier.

Both of them had been desperate for these, so neither refused.

Watching the Calm‑Sea Dragon‑Xiang slip toward the far-off, peak-tier level-six Chigu Continent, Song Chi and Song Yan vanished into the asteroid belt via the Market once again.

On Dragon‑Spine Continent, at Azure Moon Estate:

The Dreadnought warship Scorching Sea Blazer slowly lifted off as Song Chi saw Song Yan off, then turned towards the Omniverse Market.

In the Free Stall Area, he summoned the Heavenly Ruin as light flared between his brows.

He hurried onto the warship and immediately took out all 21 pieces of neutron star wreckage.

Next came the repeated flashes of golden light.

After several hours, all 21 pieces had been devoured and fused. Checking the component’s stats, Song Chi saw they had indeed shifted.

Neutron-Star Core Armor lv80

Quality: Gold (21/30)

……

“So it needs thirty pieces? That’s manageable.”

Seeing the (21/30) at the end of the quality line, Song Chi let out a breath.

He’d been worried it’d be fifty pieces, or even a hundred. If that was the case, he might not finish collecting them for ages.

Now he was only nine pieces short. With some luck, the Neutron-Star Core Armor could evolve again soon.

After that, he merged a few antimatter sources into the Antimatter Evolution Engine. Devouring those, the current evolution progress hit 30%—almost a third of the way there.

He also spent some Titanite Crystal and a seventh-tier Dominion Soul to upgrade the Soul-Devourer Sacrificial Altar from lv60 to lv70.

As for pushing it to eighth tier, he reconsidered and held off.

Honestly, while the altar’s soul-devouring phase did speed up from seventh to eighth tier, it wasn’t a dramatic leap.

If he had extra Dominion Souls, he wouldn’t care, but right now that clearly wasn’t the case.

He only had about a dozen seventh-tier Dominion Souls left—just enough to upgrade a single component to eighth tier.

He already knew exactly which one he’d pick.

Eyes of Heaven.

For a Torch Battleship, its scanner—Patrol Radar—was crucial.

Soon, the Eyes of Heaven component hit lv80.

Eyes of Heaven lv80

Quality: Gold

Trait: Eye of Spirit-Seeking

Trait 2: Detection Priority +7000

Trait 3: Spiritual Detection

Trait 4: Omnidistance 3D God’s-Eye View

Trait 5: Eyes of Heaven

Consumption: 1800/s (Eon Energy Points)

Detection Range: 180 light years

Precision: 6000

……

{Omnidistance 3D God’s-Eye View: Costs 300,000 Eon Energy Points. The Patrol Radar temporarily enters a 3D omniscient interface, displaying all changes in a designated region for fifty minutes. Cooldown: six hours.}

{Eyes of Heaven: Costs 500,000 Eon Energy Points. Without space blockades, magic dampeners, or supermagnetic interference, can scan any area across the stars. Current max distance: 10,000 light years. Lasts 24 hours. Cooldown: 240 hours.}

With the component now at eighth tier, its normal scan range reached nearly two hundred light years. Including the Jump Star Chart’s feature, he could now scoop up star-route maps from tens of thousands of light years around in one go.

The Eyes of Heaven remote peek now spanned up to 10,000 light years. If he ever needed to do something unseen, this power would guarantee secrecy.

After finished upgrading two components, he found he still had plenty of Titanite Crystal left from his Xian Qin Dragon Court City spree, and more than enough Seventh‑Tier Floating-land Origin.

While he could only synthesize one thread per month, after decades he’d stockpiled at least a few hundred, plus what was already in hoard—close to two hundred threads now.

The real bottleneck was eighth-tier Floating-Land Origin. That was another beast altogether.

Song Chi stowed away the Heavenly Ruin, turned, and made for the depths of the Market.

He’d been in too much of a rush lately to open a new Market transaction. Now, with some time to spare, it was the perfect chance.