Chapter 467: The Secrets Within the Immortal’s Corpse

Despite the jolt of shock, Song Chi didn’t slow down for even a second. He’d been bracing for something like this from the start.

Why stay so cautious? Why wait until he was deep inside the Omniverse Market to dig into the Daoist’s corpse?

Because only here, within the Omniverse Market, did he wield the full power of a peak Seventh-Tier Dominion Lord.

Anywhere else, even aboard the Heavenly Ruin, he’d never have reacted in time to that sudden blast of black light.

But this was his turf—he ruled the rules here. His Dominion authority weighed heavy.

So, the very moment that black light shot out, the completed laws of the Market converged under Song Chi’s will. The Market Pocket Realm’s rules pressed down hard, pinning and subduing the black beam erupting from the Daoist’s corpse.

Yet things didn’t stop there. No one could say what exactly that black light, firing from the Daoist’s forehead, actually was. It was too bizarre. Even under the crushing force of a peak Seventh-Tier’s might, it kept fighting back.

Right then, the speck of black light, once no bigger than a pinky nail, suddenly flared with a ghostly glow. Song Chi felt the cage of rules around it violently shake.

For a split second, a nearly invisible phantom slipped out of that cage. Only when Song Chi pushed his Dual Pupils to the limit, their images materializing in his eyes, did he catch its trace.

At that same instant, a streak of golden light burst from the body of the Heavenly Ruin.

The phantom froze. Time itself stopped.

Bound by the “Zen Seal: External Time Stop,” the mysterious phantom was locked in place midair.

In the next heartbeat, Song Chi channeled Dominion Power through his body, pushing his Dual Pupils as far as they would go.

The world seemed to flip upside down. A vast siphoning force bore down on that phantom.

Maybe it was the phantom’s extraordinary status, but the time-stop effect from the golden Pusa Zen Seal only managed to hold it for less than a second before it slipped free.

But by the time it broke loose, the world around it had transformed—it was no longer in the Market, but standing in a strange, dark void. Far above, a pair of enormous Dual Pupils gazed down at the phantom with chilling scrutiny.

“This is… a Dual Pupils illusion… no!”

A roar seemed to erupt from within the phantom, but Song Chi ignored it. With this illusion conjured by his Dual Pupils, he saw right through the phantom’s true nature.

As he suspected, it was a soul—specifically, the Daoist’s lingering soul. That wild attempt just now had been a bid for body possession.

But the Daoist obviously hadn’t expected Song Chi to wield Dominion authority here in the Pocket Realm.

Illusions born of Dominion-infused Dual Pupils were anathema to soul entities. Inside this illusion, Song Chi’s mind and spirit grew boundless while the enemy’s soul was crushed, making victory certain.

No need for pointless chatter. Two divine rays shot from the depths of the great eyes above, striking the Immortal’s remnant soul straight on.

“Aaahhh!”

A shriek split the air, but Song Chi showed no mercy. His gaze cut through the soul, grinding it away in moments.

He knew full well—showing mercy to a wisp of Dominion-ranked Immortal soul was a cruelty to himself.

When the Immortal’s will was ground away, the illusion space filled with glittering fragments.

Curious, Song Chi drew one tiny shard closer. Suddenly, a flood of foreign memories surged into his mind.

“Heaven’s Fate Immortal Sect.”

“Destiny Compass.”

“Chasing Fate Immortal.”

“Northern Star State, Immortal Continent.”

……

Fragmented, broken, wildly disjointed, all those memories were tied in some way to the Immortal Continent. As they washed through him, Song Chi could feel his own mind and spirit quietly growing stronger.

“So these… are the scattered memories of the Daoist’s life?”

Peering at the heaps of crystal fragments below, Song Chi quickly pieced things together. He was sure of it.

Thinking it over, the pupil-heavy eyes above sent another surge of gripping force, but this time he wasn’t rushing to fuse every memory fragment.

Back in the Heavenly Ruin’s command chamber, Song Chi collected every fragment he’d harvested, then rubbed his weary temples.

He’d set those memories aside to absorb slowly, over time.

Just absorbing that single piece had left his mind, already juggling thirty-five tasks at once, aching from the strain. It’d clearly take time to process the Immortal’s memories—their weight was nothing to take lightly.

Besides, what really interested him wasn’t the scattered info about some distant Immortal Continent. Who knew where that place was now? Even if it was important info, it wouldn’t help him at all.

More valuable was the power these shards granted his spirit. Not to mention, plenty of Dominion Souls were hidden among them. He’d need time to extract every last one.

After dealing with the memory shards, Song Chi’s gaze slid back to the “Chasing Fate Immortal’s” body, which still sat motionless in the Free Stall Area.

With his Dual Pupils, he scanned the corpse again and again. Only after confirming there were no hidden tricks did he signal the nearby Fourth-Tier Doomstar to haul the corpse up to the battleship.

Inside the Heavenly Ruin’s cargo hold, Song Chi’s eyes burned with excitement as he surveyed the Immortal’s body.

A complete Dominion being’s corpse—even after countless millennia, its flesh retained the marks of perfected laws. Just meditating on those traces, especially with the replica “Enlightenment Mat” in hand, would massively boost his speed at grasping universal laws.

That wasn’t all. When the time came for the Heavenly Ruin to attempt the leap to Star-Annihilator-class, he could draw out a drop of Dominion Blood from the body to greatly improve his odds.

But even this wasn’t what he cared about most. Who knew how far off such breakthroughs were? Song Chi’s eyes remained fixed on the storage pouch tied at the corpse’s waist.

It looked plain as could be, but this had belonged to a true Immortal—one strong enough to rival a Dominion of the Shattered Sea of Stars. It had to hold something truly valuable.

Maybe not a mountain of treasures, but there had to be a few Golden Sanctum Oddities at least. With some luck, maybe even a Black Supreme Oddity or better.

Tempting as it was, Song Chi didn’t reach out himself. Instead, he had the Fourth-Tier Doomstar deal with it. But the pouch didn’t react at all.

No matter how hard the Doomstar tried, the storage pouch wouldn’t budge.

This didn’t surprise Song Chi. He’d already come across something similar from Zhou Ping. After a moment’s thought, he summoned back Soul One and Soul Two from the Sacred Dragon Continent.

These Soulkin were the same ones he’d enslaved on the Soulkin Floating-land over a century ago. They were still stuck at third rank, far behind Song Chi now.

They’d spent all these years mining resources for him on the Sacred Dragon Continent.

Song Chi had often thought of replacing them after enslaving the Abyssal Devil, but it never became urgent. So they stuck around.

This time, Zhao Lei had also accompanied them back to the Traveler’s Inn.

He was the little Foundation Establishment cultivator Song Chi had once traded for from Zhou Ping. Over the years, Zhao Lei had grown to the Golden Core stage.

As soon as he saw Zhao Lei, Song Chi tossed him the storage pouch.

Zhao Lei understood right away. He poured his qi into the pouch as fast as he could.

But maybe he was still too weak. Even after burning through his entire core, he couldn’t open the pouch.

Song Chi was hardly ready to give up.

“A Golden Core can’t do it, let’s try a Nascent Soul. Still no luck? We’ll go straight to Soul Transformation!”

He handed some spirit stones to Zhao Lei to restore his qi, then had him activate the Market-Walking Token’s special rules.

Instantly, Zhao Lei’s Golden Core strength soared and broke through to Nascent Soul. But even that didn’t work on the pouch.

“It’s reacting a little…”

Song Chi caught the tiniest flicker on the pouch and narrowed his eyes.

Dominion Power flowed around him. At the same time, an Enslave Seal flared from his forehead.

Zhao Lei barely noticed before the Enslave Medal claimed full control over him.

Right before the Market-Walking Token’s effect ended, Song Chi activated the miniature Heavenly Ruin inside his Torch Ancestral Orifice, unleashing “Enslave Seal: Berserk.”

The pressure in the Traveler’s Inn soared. Zhao Lei’s power, once only fourth rank, skyrocketed right into Soul Transformation.

Sure, borrowed Soul Transformation strength was nowhere near the real thing. But Song Chi didn’t need him to fight—just to supply massive power.

Cloaked in crimson steam, Zhao Lei grabbed the pouch again and pumped in torrents of qi.

No one knew how long it took, but suddenly Song Chi’s gaze sharpened.

“Just a bit more…”

Muttering, he drew out spectral energy from deep within, triggering the miniature Heavenly Ruin a second time—but this time, he activated the red component “Superpower Controller.”

“Superpower: Overcharge!”

The moment this trait activated, Zhao Lei’s nearly dry spiritual power erupted with new vigor. In mere seconds, he was overflowing with force, his power climbing another step.

He never reached Void Return, though—Zhao Lei was, after all, just a Golden Core cultivator. His body could only take so much. Two leaps in rank was already his limit.

But even without reaching Void Return, it was enough. With another pulse of energy, the immortal’s storage pouch finally popped open.

Before Zhao Lei could dump out the contents, Song Chi slipped away from the inn. Only after making sure nothing else would happen did he come back.

As he stepped into the Traveler’s Inn, a burst of colorful light met his eyes.

One glance was all he needed—those swirling colors came from a pile of Oddities, all different grades from the Sea of Stars.

The first things to grab Song Chi’s attention were two objects twined in black light.

With a simple wave, Dominion Power drew the two black Oddities into his hands. As expected, they were Black Supreme Oddities.

【Oddity: Primal Motherstone】

【Grade: Black】

【Convertibility: None】

【Note: A primordial origin stone from the era of multiverses, tempered by endless eras and now a Black-quality Oddity.】

But Song Chi’s excitement faded reading the first’s details. Despite its grade, it couldn’t be made into a battleship component. Best to sell it at the Market’s Oddity Exchange.

“First one’s a no-go for the battleship. Maybe the second’s different?”

He turned to the other black Oddity.

But his face fell immediately. This second one couldn’t be turned into a battleship component either.

【Oddity: Immortal-Slaying Spear】

【Grade: Black】

【Convertibility: None】

【Note: A spear stained by the blood of countless immortals, brimming with monstrous power.】

Still, the Immortal-Slaying Spear was better than the first—at least he could use it as a weapon for the Heavenly Ruin’s mech form.

Frowning, Song Chi stashed both black Oddities and looked over the rest.

Beyond the two black Oddities, three gave off golden light, and there were over ten at silver legendary level.

Most everything else was just immortal tools—common weapons made by cultivators, not true Starsea Oddities. That stung a bit, but he figured trading them to the Luofu Sword Sect could get him something good.

With that, Song Chi shifted his attention to the three golden Oddities. Finally, he caught a break—the first Golden Sanctum Oddity could in fact be fused into a battleship component.

That eased his mood a bit. Plus, the Oddity seemed extraordinary, even among Golden ones. It didn’t look anything like the ordinary pieces.

【Oddity: Destiny Compass (Incomplete)】

【Grade: Gold】

【Can Be Converted: {Destiny Compass Plate}】

【Note: Once the supreme artifact of the Heaven’s Fate Immortal Sect on the Immortal Continent, famed for unraveling mysteries and tracing origins. Now, though, it’s incomplete.】

……