Chapter 746: Trading Stakes Among the Stars

Buzzzzz!

A deep, thunderous roar tore through the skies as the battleship shot out from the Dragon-Spine Continent. Once it broke free into space, its hull, wrapped in a plain white energy shield, activated the jump module.

After a violent ripple swept through space, the battleship quickly vanished into the silent depths of the starry sky.

Quite a few Song clansmen traveling to and from the Dragon-Spine Continent caught sight of this scene, but it didn’t spark any interest.

The reason was simple. With the Song Family of Longji as powerful as it was, escort ships a hundred or two hundred meters long were everywhere. When you’ve got more than eight million tier-two clansmen, it’s no exaggeration to say there are plenty you’ve never even met.

But if those tier-two and three clansmen ever learned that ship’s true identity, they would be floored.

After a single spatial jump, Heavenly Ruin—just over two hundred meters from bow to stern—arrived at a sixth-tier floating-land only tens of thousands of light-years from the Dragon-Spine Continent.

Inside the Ship’s Control Room, Song Chi’s gaze swept over the sprawling sixth-tier floating-land below. Tens, even hundreds of thousands of battleships rose and fell there, and a trace of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

This floating-land, called the Dragon-Spine Central Transfer Hub, was only ranked sixth-tier. Still, as a trading and transit super-hub spearheaded by the royal Song Family, its scale was unmatched.

Above the floating-land’s heavens, more than twenty wormhole portals were arrayed in a ring. Some connected to star domains governed by major powers from all across the Longji Kingdom, while others linked to star domains like Yaohan Kingdom or even Silverplate Kingdom, over hundreds of thousands of light-years away.

But the real centerpieces were the two central wormholes. One led to the Demon Serpent Floating-Land—a trade sanctuary built by the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty deep within the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon galaxy cluster. The other connected to Demon God Floating-Land, now the heart of commerce for all Torch Human Civilization.

In short, after centuries of work and careful negotiations with surrounding major powers, the Song Family and its allies managed to create this nexus among the stars.

Of course, even after forging alliances with Silverplate, Redplate, Dragon-Serpent, and other galaxy clusters, the family’s foundation was still no match for Demon Serpent Continent or Demon God Floating-Land. Since this transfer hub’s opening, the majority of transactions have just been passage fees. Trades themselves make up only a small part of the profits.

That’s because most captains from the major galaxies preferred to conduct business directly on Demon Serpent Continent or Demon God Floating-Land.

To counter that, Song Chi and the allied factions raised the tolls for using the wormholes to those two floating-lands. It helped a bit, but not much.

Luckily, even just charging traffic fees, the sheer volume of ships made the Song Family’s income soar. It was even more lucrative than running a mid-sized market on their own.

For that, the family had left the Three-Eyed Clan’s Dominion Flagship moored above this floating-land, keeping order in the Central Hub.

……

On any other day, the sudden appearance of a Star-Annihilator-class Ship here, where up to millions of battleships passed each day, would’ve caused an uproar.

But with Heavenly Ruin’s hull disguised as just over two hundred meters long, it blended right in with the coming and going, drawing no attention at all.

“This new Wishborne Vessel the family got… not bad at all,” Song Chi murmured.

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to a gold component sitting nearby.

Wishborne Vessel, Level 80

Grade: Gold

Unique Trait: Wishborne Adaptability

Consumption: 1,650 Eon Energy Points per second

Effect: Increases hull activity by 70% when equipped, grants medium-tier self-repair, and extends Mythical Mech Form duration moderately.

……

{Wishborne Adaptability: Allows the battleship to freely adjust its body size. Minimum: shrinks to 1/80,000; Maximum: expands up to 8 times original size. Changes in hull size also affect mass proportionally.}

Song Chi had received this Wishborne Vessel from his family not long ago. At first, it was just a silver module. But with three more Eighth-Tier Golden Apples harvested from the Cultivation Sanctuary, he quickly evolved it to gold quality.

And now, the benefits were obvious.

As for the other two Golden Apples, he used one to upgrade the Oath Contract Module to gold, pushing its confidentiality effect up another level.

With the third, he hesitated. None of the remaining silver components aboard Heavenly Ruin were urgently in need of an upgrade, so Song Chi decided to use it on a Silver Upgraded Fire Source.

After its evolution, the silver fireseed became gold. In the Torch Human Civilization’s domain, upgrading a fireseed like this bumps its value up by a whole tier.

He hadn’t rushed to sell the golden fireseed. The family could use it, sure, but he wanted to see if he could trade it with another captain for rare items or resources first.

Heavenly Ruin was hovering at the very peak of seventh-tier now. As Captain, Song Chi’s main job was to prepare for the battleship’s advancement to the next class: Star River-class.

But collecting all the special and extra resources needed for a Star-Annihilator-class Ship to evolve was anything but simple.

Even with Dragonblood Stone, Earthmother Stone, Chaotic Blood Heart, and a handful of other rare resources in hand, he still didn’t have enough.

Lost in thought, Song Chi piloted Heavenly Ruin—disguised as an escort ship—toward the central wormhole below.

This trip had one purpose: visit the main trade hubs on Demon Serpent Continent and Demon God Continent and see if he could gather the full recipe needed for the Star-Annihilator’s advancement. If opportunity allowed, maybe he’d pick up an extra promotion resource too.

He’d calculated it in detail. Factoring in the blessed blood from the cloned Blood Chalice, Ninth-Tier Dominion Origin Blood, Eighth-Tier Evil God Blood, Chaotic Blood Heart, and the Spiritbone of a Chaotic Demon Ape, Heavenly Ruin still only had a fifty-percent chance of advancing successfully.

He needed to gather every required special resource and at least one or two additional promotion items to push that rate above eighty percent. Add in the Seventh-Tier Timeworld Fruit, and the odds started to look reasonable.

And even if the Timeworld Fruit failed, he still had the Timepiece Chessboard’s Time • Reversal ability, letting him reset Heavenly Ruin to ten seconds before the breakthrough. That was practically four tries for the price of one—almost a guaranteed success.

If that still didn’t work, he could always revive with the Nine Lives Game of Life and Death ability. Worst case, he’d start collecting resources all over again.

He didn’t actually insist on getting a ninety percent success rate. Not that it was impossible—it was just too hard. For most captains, after fifty percent, every point was a huge leap. The norm for boosting a Star-Annihilator was fifteen to thirty percent.

Besides, even if you did raise your chances above ninety percent, the cost in time and resources was so extreme it just wasn’t worth it.

Song Chi’s thinking was simple: instead of pouring energy into chasing that last few percent, he’d rather make the most of the Timeworld Fruit while it still worked. After all, once he advanced to the Star River-class, the fruit would be useless.

……

‘One Chaotic Blood Heart, a seventh-tier mist shroud snakefolk slave, a golden upgraded fireseed… If it comes to it, I could even offer my spot for bathing in the Ninth-Tier Floating-Land Origin tidal energy…’

Seated in the control room, Song Chi’s mind raced through the bargaining chips he had on hand for trades.

As for the Seventh-Tier Evil God Blood or Eighth-Tier Dominion Origin Blood, he barely considered those. For captains aiming for a Star River-class, everyone already had them—and they were always a last-resort backup, nothing special.

“Still not enough!”

Song Chi frowned, realizing his bargaining chips were coming up short.

“Wait…”

Something occurred to him. He handed ship control off to the Sky-Domain AI, and his figure vanished from the battleship. Seconds later, he reappeared, holding a storage capsule.

Opening it, he revealed two wisps of eerie black flame inside the control room—the black fireseeds he’d spent years collecting, plus the one he recently traded from the Pure White Tower’s master. Now he finally had three black seeds that couldn’t be converted into upgraded fire sources.

One had already been used to craft a Breakthrough Immortal Pill, dimming by a third, but that didn’t stop him from refining new Breakthrough Immortal Pills—or the long-desired Threefold Golden Body Pill.

He turned his attention to the damaged Creation Eight Trigram Furnace. One by one, the three black fireseeds were thrown into the furnace.

Light sparkled and the furnace rumbled four times. Song Chi soon held four high-grade pills inscribed with intricate patterns.

Two Breakthrough Immortal Pills.

Two Threefold Golden Body Pills.

Staring at these four treasures, Song Chi’s eyes glinted.

Three black Oddities-level fireseeds burned away to make these pills. These weren’t just any old pills—they could each rival a black Oddity.

He already knew what the Breakthrough Immortal Pill could do: boost seventh-tier breakthrough chances by twenty percent.

The Threefold Golden Body Pill was murkier. It supposedly granted blood-and-flesh beings a special constitution, the Threefold Golden Body—but how exactly it worked, and what benefits it brought, he had no idea.

Still, he trusted in the Creation Eight Trigram Furnace. He wouldn’t doubt its products himself, but if he wanted to use them as trade chips, he’d have to know more than nothing about their effects.

With that, he entered the Market again.

Above the Market, only two figures could be seen: Song Chi, the owner, and one more.

“Try this Threefold Golden Body Pill, see what happens…”

“Yes, master!”

Catching the pill Song Chi tossed, the Ashura Emperor swallowed it without hesitation.

Instantly, the mighty Ashura Emperor—already at the peak of eighth-tier—shut his eyes as crimson radiance boiled over his skin. Blood energy surged, thick with pressure, soon shrouding the entire Omniverse Market.

With the Ninth-Tier Dominion Power enveloping him, Song Chi stood unaffected, watching it all calmly.

“His body’s growing stronger.”

With his Dual Pupils, he could clearly see the Ashura Emperor’s physical strength climbing higher still.

Even the vitality of someone who’d hit the eighth-tier limit was growing anew, giving the sense he was ready to barrel straight into ninth-tier.

Of course, the gap between eighth and ninth-tier was monumental. At last, the Ashura Emperor’s aura hovered at the halfway point—half a step into the ninth-tier.

Even so, that was fantastic news. From eighth-tier peak to half-step ninth? It seemed tiny, but the leap in power was massive.

Think of how the Market’s projection, crossing endless starry skies, manifested as a half-step ninth-tier being. Even facing ordinary eighth-tier lifeforms, it was utterly overwhelming.

Eighth-tier peaks were no exception.

And just as the Ashura Emperor reported, after gaining the Threefold Golden Body, there was more than just stronger flesh and force—his Dominion Power was purer, flowing faster, and his body advanced in every way.

It meant his battles would now be even more formidable among peers, while his odds and rate of future breakthroughs soared.

That Threefold Golden Body transformed his bloodline potential and body’s foundation from the roots up.

With these results, Song Chi’s mind turned over countless possibilities.

First off: should he just take the second Threefold Golden Body Pill himself, for a permanent boost to his cultivation speed and breakthrough odds? It would help him master the Guiding Technique later as well.

Then the idea occurred to him: should he reclaim his reserved spot for bathing in the Ninth-Tier Floating-Land Origin Energy?

Previously, he’d considered offering the spot as a trade chip, since there weren’t any suitable clansmen to use it—besides himself, only the Scorching Sea Blazer was eligible. As for the Clan Elder, Prime Ancestor, and the like, even their ships weren’t close to advancing to Star River-class.

Why let it go unused for thousands, even tens of thousands of years? Better to put its value to use now.

But now, with the Ashura Emperor just a step away from ninth-tier thanks to the Threefold Golden Body, using that Origin bath spot on him would almost guarantee a real ninth-tier subordinate.

A true ninth-tier enslaved creature would be worth more than anyone could imagine.

Torch Human Civilization as it stands today—there can’t be more than twenty powers that own a ninth-tier slave. Maybe with the civilization’s current expansion, that might hit triple digits someday, but not yet.

If he really could raise one more true ninth-tier servant, Song Chi wouldn’t hesitate for an instant.

“But that means I can’t take that last Threefold Golden Body Pill myself—it goes on the trading table, along with both Breakthrough Immortal Pills. That should do the trick.”

With his mind made up, Song Chi returned to the outside world.

The Ashura Emperor, having just reached half-step ninth-tier, still needed time to stabilize his power.