Chapter 415: Into the Mists: The Perils of the Misty Star Zone

What exactly is the Misty Star Zone?

As the name suggests, it’s a vast region filled with a special kind of starsea mist energy. This mist might be a remnant from the multiversal era, or maybe it formed by chance after the shattered starsea came to be.

One thing’s for sure though—this mist energy packs an intense disruptive magnetic field. Ships and living creatures entering the zone find their radars practically useless. It’s all too easy to get lost in there.

Song Chi’s gaze flickered in hesitation, but he didn’t rush straight into the Misty Star Zone.

It wasn’t that he doubted the intel from Kendall Eagle. The Oath Contract Module had already confirmed every word he said was true.

His hesitation was about whether to leave a spatial anchor at his current location. Doing so meant he’d have to cancel the one set inside the Heavenly Ruin.

The benefit? If he got lost, he could always use the Omniverse Market to return to the starting point and set out again—no need to backtrack all the way to the Dragon-Spine Continent.

The downside: without a spatial anchor in the Heavenly Ruin, it would be much harder to freely enter or exit the Market while inside the mists. If the battleship waiting outside shifted its position even slightly, he might leave the Market only to end up lost in the endless mist.

As for leaving a spatial beacon using a location marker device?

That won’t work.

Because of special Torch Human Civilization protocols, only spatial beacons placed far outside the Torch Human Galaxy Cluster can be activated. Any beacon set within their territory—or even in a cluster next to it—won’t respond.

This rule exists for a grim reason. Back in the early days, the civilization once faced a crisis no one likes to talk about.

Some Torch Captains lost out in alien territories were enslaved by outsiders. Using beacons left in the civilization’s space, they returned and eventually opened up a long-range portal for a high-level alien civilization. This led to a massive invasion.

The four great empires of Torch paid an enormous price just to eke out a narrow victory. Back then, the Torch Human Civilization hadn’t even met the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization yet—if it had, beset by trouble inside and out, who knows if they’d have survived to this day?

That agony forced the four empires to come together and carve this rule into law.

Ever since, nothing like that has happened in the two hundred thousand years since.

At the end of the day, Torch Captains—protected by the Flame Seed—have minds ranked among the strongest in the shattered starsea. Even if they run into starsea races skilled in enslavement or illusion, it’s nearly impossible to subdue a captain in just twenty-four hours.

And if they fail to do so in that window, the warship will automatically return home. Even if the captain is enslaved later, they can’t help the enemy cross a billion light years to return to Torch territory and cause more trouble.

……

“Forget it, who knows how long I’ll be wandering these mists. I’ll still need to enter the Market for trading—if I get lost, I’ll just head back to Dragon-Spine Continent. It’s less than ten thousand light years from the Chaos Sector anyway. It won’t take long.”

Muttering to himself, Song Chi’s eyes grew determined. He fired up the engines and the Heavenly Ruin roared forward, plunging straight into the mists ahead.

Zzzzt!

The moment the battleship pierced the mists, the side-scanning radar crackled with static. Song Chi glanced over and frowned.

The mighty Spirit-Seeker Radar’s range was now just ten million kilometers across. That might sound huge, but out here, compared to the hundreds-of-light-year-wide Huntian Star Zone, it was barely a blip.

Thank goodness the Aurora Jump Drive’s ‘Jump Chart Collector’ feature still worked. Now upgraded to level five, it could chart an area 240 times larger than the radar—twenty-four billion kilometers across, twelve billion in radius.

Still minuscule compared to the Huntian Star Zone, just a couple light-minutes really, but it was something. At least it kept the Heavenly Ruin from blundering around blind.

Right then, another warning echoed through the ship.

[Alert: Corrosive external energy is eroding the energy shield. Shield integrity down by 1%.]

Song Chi barely batted an eye. The Heavenly Ruin had been in the mists for several seconds already, so it took about 5–6 seconds to shave off 1% of the shield. That was well within what the Neutron Star Core Pulse could repair.

Pushing deeper into the fog, Song Chi ordered the Qiongtian AI to alert him the moment it detected a strong energy surge.

He also left behind a Voidform Avatar on the battleship, then stepped into the Omniverse Market.

The Misty Star Zone was vast—who knew how long it would take to find the trace of that small black hole? Song Chi wasn’t about to waste time waiting.

After the Guiding Technique broke through to tier four, progress had slowed to a crawl. He needed every moment to practice.

Right now, he was ready to use up his last Jade-Blood Peach.

Over the decades, he’d collected more than a hundred Jade-Blood Peaches, even handing several to his parents and other elders in the Family.

But despite having plenty, he could only use one more—the rest would do him no good now. That was a real shame.

Inside the level 47 all-attribute training chamber, Song Chi took the Jade-Blood Peach, then downed a top-tier body-forging potion.

Only then did he settle into the proper pose for practicing the Guiding Technique, diving into full-speed cultivation.

Nearly a month later, stepping out of the chamber, his Guiding Technique had climbed from level 40 to 41.

Still, luck played a part in his breakthrough this time.

Truth was, after hitting tier four, nine-thousand-year Jade-Blood Peaches barely helped anymore. He only advanced thanks to some good fortune and over ten years of accumulated training.

He’d just made it to 41—still a long grind to reach its peak, not to mention level 42. Still, Song Chi was plenty happy.

Suddenly, his brow arched—through the Voidform Avatar outside, he instantly got wind of something new.

“Detected a massive creature—there are starbeasts in the Misty Star Zone?”

Back on the battleship, Song Chi immediately checked the radar.

Just as the avatar saw, the radar displayed a rapidly moving creature over 200,000 meters long.

Qiongtian AI, not waiting for Song Chi’s order, had already activated its ‘Mirage’ feature.

A body length of 200,000 meters—undoubtedly a tier-six starbeast. These monsters were best avoided at all costs.

As distance grew between the Heavenly Ruin and the beast, Song Chi called to the Qiongtian AI:

“AI, can you deduce what species it might be?”

[Command received. Comparing with database…]

[Known: body length over 200,000 meters, resides under mist energy, moves extremely fast…]

[Hypothesis one: Starbeast ‘Mist-Tooth Shark’—probability 83.5%]

[Hypothesis two: Starbeast ‘Mist Fox’—probability 12.5%]

[Other possibilities: 4%]

“A Mist-Tooth Shark, huh…”

Hearing the AI’s prognosis, a chill ran through Song Chi.

Mist-Tooth Sharks are notorious. Fiercely territorial and experts at scent tracking, one could pick up the faintest whiff from light-years away and hunt you down.

Thankfully, the Heavenly Ruin’s energy shield and armored hull had masked its presence. Otherwise, even at this range, the beast would have sensed the ship ages ago.

With that in mind, Song Chi was just about to re-enter the Market when the AI chimed again.

[Attention: Detected a sizeable circular void zone on the jump chart, likely caused by a black hole’s pull.]

Song Chi snapped his gaze to the new star chart from the Aurora Jump Drive.

In the corner of the chart was the distinct, rounded edge of a void zone. He couldn’t see the whole thing yet, but the pattern was unmistakable.

Acting on this clue, he jumped the ship two light-minutes ahead. Now, a much larger cross-section of the circular void zone dominated the chart.

At this point, Song Chi was certain—a vast circular void lay ahead. The very core likely housed that small black hole.

Without another moment’s hesitation, he steered the Heavenly Ruin straight for the heart of the void.

Inside the void, the mist energy vanished. The battleship’s Five Elements Grand Energy Shield stopped corroding entirely.

That sudden change only strengthened Song Chi’s suspicions.

No way you’d find a void like this in a mist-choked star zone—

Unless, of course, the mist energy here was all sucked up by the black hole.

To prove it, he piloted deeper into the void.

At first, there was little change. But as they penetrated further, the pull got stronger and stronger. On the tenth day, the Five Elements Grand Energy Shield finally started losing ground. Still, the Neutron Star Core Pulse kept pace, just barely.

By the fifteenth day, after several jumps, the Heavenly Ruin had reached the black hole’s inner fringe. There, the crushing pull finally equaled the shield’s regeneration speed.

If Song Chi pressed on, that balance would shatter. The shield would weaken, then overload bit by bit.

Once the shield overloaded, the hull and the ship itself would face that terrifying force head‑on.

In the past, Song Chi would have hesitated. But not today—he pressed the assault, not slowing for a second.

The reason was plain: a few hours ago, the Antimatter Evolution Engine had trembled slightly, sensing an antimatter source up ahead.

For that alone, Song Chi wasn’t turning back.

The faster the ship raced forward, the quicker the energy shield withered.

[Warning: External pull and shearing have reduced shield to 74%.]

[Warning: …Shield at 51%.]

[Warning: …Shield at 18%. Immediate repairs recommended.]

As the shield fell below 20%, Song Chi quickly activated the Last Aegis module.

Now at level six, each activation could restore 80% of the shield.

Sure enough, the Five Elements Grand Energy Shield surged almost back to full brightness.

It wouldn’t last though—the alarms kept sounding. The freshly restored shield value was already dropping fast.

Up ahead, he was almost at the location sensed by the Antimatter Evolution Engine.

But those last twenty thousand meters felt endless. He considered jumping the ship, but the crushing force made it insanely risky—a single miscalculation could destroy him.

He could only edge the Heavenly Ruin forward at a crawl.

[Warning: …Shield at 16%. Immediate repairs recommended.]

In a flash, the shield dipped under 20% again. Song Chi triggered ship repairs a final time, and the shield bounced back to 95%.

At the same time, he stepped on the gas, accelerating away.

At last, the ship arrived at the antimatter source identified by the Antimatter Evolution Engine—a special sphere of black energy. Without the engine’s help, Song Chi would never have guessed it was pure antimatter.

No time to spare—the cargo bay hatch opened just a crack, allowing the tractor beam to squeeze out.

Even so, the outside shearing force poured right through the tiny gap.

Immediately, the Qiongtian AI’s alarm was shrieking.

Just a single instant left the hull badly battered. Still, Song Chi couldn’t stop. Shut the hatch now, and the tractor beam would cut out—he’d have to start over.

Jaw clenched, he stared at the beam extending from the battleship. In the colossal pressure outside, even the tractor beam was crushed—normally it could reach over a hundred thousand meters but now it barely stretched past one hundred.

Despite the ship hugging close to the antimatter source, pulling it in was a painful struggle.

All the while, the shield outside burned away at a frightening rate.

By the time the antimatter clump was inside, the Five Elements Grand Energy Shield had dropped below 20% for a third time, this time dipping to just 11%.

Gritting his teeth, Song Chi pushed the Bodhi Zen Seal · Internal · Time Acceleration trait to instantly refresh the Last Aegis cooldown and activated that silver repair module a third time.

Instantly, the shield recovered to 91%.

Meanwhile, the Qiongtian AI spun the ship around and blasted toward the outer fringe.

But Song Chi found himself utterly distracted. His gaze lingered on the black hole’s depths. If he hadn’t imagined it, he’d just caught a split-second glimpse of black light deeper inside.

Within the black hole’s heart, everything was pitch-black, nothing else to be seen. But that flash of black light—it wasn’t the same as the darkness around it. It was glossy black, shimmering faintly.

Time was running out. If he didn’t exit soon, the energy shield would overload.