Chapter 740: Storm Over Blazing Silence: The Contest for the Secret Realm

Blazing Silence Continent, Heavenly Fire Mountain Range.

Countless captains piloted their formidable warships across the sky, leaving only the deafening roar of cannon fire in their wake.

Columns of light rained down as fire swept over the bramble-thick wilds, rock fragments flying, while scarlet creatures hiding in the mountains were caught in the onslaught, howling as they were wiped out.

After this fierce barrage ended, clusters of mid- and lower-tier warships rushed in from low altitude, seizing the moment before the scarlet figures could recover from the bombardment to inflict even heavier losses.

……

“Lu Da, Lu Er, draw their fire. Pear Lady, don’t hold back that orange Supercannon of yours—use it freely, and we’ll double your reimbursement for Violet Spirit Crystals afterwards.”

“Captain, leave it to us!”

“If you were this generous every day, would I ever need to be stingy?”

Their exploration squad’s internal chat buzzed with fast-paced exchanges.

This team had a history spanning centuries; every member had fought together many times. As soon as the battleship captain spoke, their core team quickly divided tasks with practiced order.

Two Zhulu-class Cruisers clad in orange hull armor plunged first toward a freshly reconstituted unit of scarlet creatures below.

Behind them, a swarm of Zhulu-class Cruisers prowled the sky, each warship’s prow gathering white light as the main ship cannons charged.

Elsewhere, the squad’s sole battleship intercepted a looming fifth-tier scarlet mutant swooping toward them.

Thanks to their flawless teamwork—and the enemy’s mounting injuries—their twenty-ship team paid the price of just one lost ship and two temporarily disabled to completely annihilate that scarlet force.

But teams like theirs were few; along these ranges, the fight was far bloodier: for every thousand the enemy lost, eight hundred ships paid with their own lives.

It took a grueling half month before the mountain-front campaign finally ended in a narrow victory for the Torch Captains.

Over the blazing red earth, more than ten warships shot ahead at top speed in the same direction as warship magnetic chats lit up:

“Captain, does this mean we can finally kick back for a few years?”

“Not quite. Two fifth-tier Crimson Fire Mountain Fiends, over thirty fourth-tier ones—the blood essence we’ll refine from that alone should let us relax for several decades. That’s not including the tens of thousands of tons of Crimson Flame Iron ore we scored. That’s worth a fortune by itself.”

Listening to their chatter, the battleship captain nodded with a faint smile.

“Absolutely right!”

His answer finally set off a cheer throughout the group chat.

This was a team of veterans—everyone trusted their captain completely.

As a seasoned battleship captain, he had more than a few connections. He’d have no trouble offloading all their spoils for a solid profit.

Just then, someone else piped up in the chat with curiosity:

“Captain, I heard a new shop opened up in Heavenly Fire City not long ago—something called the Ocean-Stabilizing Trade Pavilion. From what I’ve gathered, they buy fire-attribute resources in bulk for far better prices than the other guys—as long as you’ve got enough stock!”

“I’ve heard that too. And it’s not just the good prices—the other shops are practically robbing us. Why don’t we check out the Trade Pavilion this time?”

“I’m in!”

……

Heavenly Fire City.

As one of the Torch Human Civilization’s precious few strongholds on this seventh-level floating continent, it sprawled for miles.

Massive walls cut from thick scarlet ridge-stone circled the city with impenetrable might. Torch Battleships of every class landed and launched in the busy airspace.

The Blazing Silence Continent was first discovered by one of the Immortal Houses. They managed to squeeze into its core, only to find it was no normal floating-land—the Crimson Fire Mountain Fiend tribe here was terrifyingly strong, with more than twenty seventh-tier elders prowling about, far beyond what a single Immortal House could handle.

To cope, that House had to ally with several friendly Immortal Houses just to claim a fraction of the continent. Later, to hold those gains, they issued a public summons deep within Torch Civilization territory, drawing waves of civilian captains and exploration teams to help withstand the monsters’ relentless assaults.

Over time, the Blazing Silence Continent’s coordinates became an open secret.

After thousands of years, the land now hosted multiple human outposts, with ever more factions flocking to this seventh-tier floating continent, strip-mining it for every last resource.

Heavenly Fire City, Second Street.

Ocean-Stabilizing Trade Pavilion.

Though opened just a few years back, the Pavilion’s stellar reputation made it a favorite with the locals.

On the top floor’s guest parlor—

“Captain Huang, we’ll take your whole shipment of Crimson Flame Iron. Here’s to a good partnership!”

“Haha, Manager Chuan, you’re as straightforward as ever!”

“Here’s the fifth-tier Floating-Land Origin you wanted, Captain Huang. If you get any more raw ores of this scale in the future, please give priority to our Pavilion!”

“Of course. Rest assured, Manager Chuan.”

“By the way, I’ve heard there’s been some commotion near the Heavenly Fire mountains—any idea what’s going on, Captain Huang?”

“Don’t get me started. I just came from there. I don’t know what drove the Mountain Fiends mad—swarms of them moved in, launching suicide runs at our Heavenly Fire defense line. But no worries, Captain Sun and Captain Liu crushed their main force. The line is still firmly under our control!”

……

“Take care, Captain Huang!”

With a bright smile, the Pavilion’s manager walked more than a dozen Torch Captains out the door before heading upstairs to the top floor.

Once inside a private chamber, the manager’s earlier pleasant expression vanished, replaced by a cold neutrality.

“We can basically confirm something major happened in the Heavenly Fire mountains. The only thing that could provoke the Crimson Fire Mountain Fiends this much has to be some rare resource discovery.”

“Hurry back to the family and use my name to bring five Shadow Division squads here. I want to see what exactly has the Fiends acting this wild!”

“Oh, and take all the fire-attribute resources we’ve stockpiled lately with you—send them to the family as well.”

“Understood!”

……

Not long after, a battleship cloaked in the depths of the void quietly rose into the sky. Shortly after reaching the upper reaches of the Blazing Silence Continent, violent space ripples gathered around it, and then the ship vanished without a trace.

Only after that warship finally disappeared did those watching from the city below withdraw their gazes.

In the top-floor chamber of the Trade Pavilion, Song Yichuan pulled back his gaze, the shadow of his Dual Pupils slowly fading from his eyes.

As a Dreadnought Captain, he was naturally among the core of the Song Family of Longji.

That’s why—even though his clan’s Vermilion Divine Bird Breeding Plan had little to show after a thousand years—he’d been granted the right to contract with one of the rare birds himself.

After confirming his battleship captain subordinates’ safe retreat with his own eyes, he finally relaxed and turned his mind back to business as usual.

The Blazing Silence Continent was a textbook fire-attribute floating-land, bursting with fire-aligned resources. That, above all, was why the family had sent him here.

For centuries, the Song Family had been pouring fire-attribute resources into the Flame God Clan’s Land. Now, that area hovered at the edge of transformation.

If the transformation succeeded, the Song Family would have a stable pipeline of silver-grade and below Fireseed Artifacts. For any Immortal House, that was crucial.

But now, at the final hurdle, they needed to invest even more fire-attribute resources to ensure the Flame God Clan’s Land completed its metamorphosis.

Song Yichuan’s entire posting to the Blazing Silence Continent was for the family’s need for abundant fire-attribute resources. This sudden unrest caught them off guard—otherwise, he wouldn’t need to call on Shadow Division members at the last minute.

“Let’s hope we make it in time.”

……

Half a day later, a small fleet emerged from the void and plummeted rapidly from the skies.

Given advance orders, these dozens of warships skipped Heavenly Fire City and headed straight for the mountain range.

This fleet was none other than the five Shadow Division squads from the Song Family.

After many rounds of reform, the Shadow Division’s structure was now unrecognizable compared to its founding days.

The Division now boasted over one hundred thousand members, though its organization was strikingly simple.

Besides the Dreadnought Captain–serving as division chief–and two vice-chiefs, everyone else was grouped into ten-person teams.

That’s right—just ten per squad. The hundred-thousand-strong Shadow Division was divided into thousands of squads.

Why? It was simple: Shadow Division members specialized in secret intel gathering—tracking, scouting, surveillance. Sending a crowd would only blow their cover.

So, the ten-person squad was the perfect fit.

Of course, even though every team was small, the Division’s ten thousand-plus squads were sorted into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.

Yellow Tier—ten members, all second-tier escort ship captains

Profound Tier—ten members, all third-tier cruiser captains

Earth Tier—ten members, all fourth-tier Zhulu-class Cruiser captains

Heaven Tier—ten members, all fifth-tier battleship captains

Naturally, the Yellow squads were most common, up to 9,000 in number, while there were about a thousand Profound squads.

There were only ten Earth squads in the Division.

And as for Heaven squads—there was just a single one.

This time, of the five squads Song Yichuan dispatched, four were Profound, and the last one was Earth tier.

Only someone of Song Yichuan’s status could pull that off. Normal fifth-tier family members could command nothing higher than Profound squads.

Now, at the front of the fleet, ten Zhulu-class Cruisers—all of which belonged to the Song Family Shadow Division’s Eighth Earth Squad—moved ahead. Each ship bore red-grade Void Shrouds, and the squad leader’s ship carried a small temporary team stealth module.

With double layers of concealment, the ten cruisers slipped into Heavenly Fire Mountain unannounced. None of the Immortal Houses defending the line noticed a thing.

Of course, even with stealth, scouting wasn’t easy.

It took nearly two weeks before Song Yichuan, far away in Heavenly Fire City, finally received word from the Earth-tier squad.

Ocean-Stabilizing Trade Pavilion, top-floor chamber.

Song Yichuan’s eyes flickered with hesitation, struggling to make up his mind.

He’d just gotten the Earth squad’s report: a single sentence, simple but complicated—

“Entrance to a secret realm found in Heavenly Fire Mountains, likely a Primal Secret Realm!”

A secret realm—its value could be enormous, or negligible. Everything depended on its tier and what it produced.

Song Yichuan’s dilemma was just that: the intel was vague. The message included no specifics on the secret realm’s tier or expected treasures.

What if it was shattered? A ruined Starsea secret realm meant nothing now. For the Song Family, only realm’s above Primal grade were worth the effort.

If it was masterless, excellent. But the current secret realm was already under the joint control of several Immortal Houses. If the Song Family intervened, that meant direct conflict.

If the secret realm proved valuable, fighting for it could be worth it; if not, it was a waste of effort.

Song Yichuan wavered, torn between choices.

He thought long and hard before finally deciding.

“Someone, come in!”

“Clan Elder Chuan!”

“Return to Dragon-Spine Continent at once. Report everything happening on Blazing Silence Continent to the Prime Ancestor. Let her know—the odds are very high that new secret realm is incredibly valuable.”

……

In the end, Song Yichuan chose to alert the family’s Star-Annihilator Prime Ancestor—not out of paranoia, but because, judging from the Crimson Fire Mountain Fiends’ wild reaction, the secret realm had to be anything but ordinary.

He was ready to bet it all.

Even if it meant a minor punishment, if the gamble paid off, Song Yichuan was sure he’d earn rewards beyond imagination.

At that thought, anticipation flickered in his eyes.

His ship was still a ways off from Dreadnought class, but that wasn’t stopping him from laying the groundwork to someday challenge for a Star-Annihilator-class vessel.

He might not have the talent of his elder brother, Song Yiming—the clan would offer some support—but most resources had to be earned the hard way. For that, he’d need to build up plenty of merit.

Less than half a day later, a strange Star-Annihilator-class Ship descended on Blazing Silence Continent. Just like before, it arrived and linked up with Song Yichuan without being detected by any of the other Immortal Houses on the continent. Together with him, the Unmoving Vajra made straight for Heavenly Fire Mountain.