Chapter 475: Crimson Light over the Dusk Star Domain

As soon as the Heavenly Ruin’s advancement mission began, two strands of red integrated light shot out from the hull of the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang. In an instant, Heavenly Ruin and the Violet Moon Longsong were tightly bound together.

Then all three ships sequentially initiated their warp jumps to the Outer Domain.

With a violent surge of spatial energy, the trio of battleships vanished from the skies above Dragon-Spine Continent.

……

Outer Domain, Sea of Stars. Illusory Spirit Star Domain.

Song Chi stood in the battleship’s command center, his eyes flickering with doubt as he gazed down at a floating landmass below, nearly ten light-years across.

Relying on the extreme vision granted by his Dual Pupils, he peered straight through the clouds beneath the Floating-land’s shield and could clearly see the surface below.

On this level-five life-type Floating-land, there were still quite a few remains of human civilization. While many spots looked abandoned, Song Chi could spot scattered settlements of medium and small Song clan members here and there.

It was obvious this Floating-land had now become a family colony.

As for the many empty settlements across the land, Song Chi could guess the main reason—most likely, over the past few decades, the family’s carrier ships had transported those people away.

With the Song Family now holding eighty thousand light-years of new territory in the Tianpan Galaxy, migration efforts were in full swing. To solve the problem of insufficient population, every branch was transferring large numbers of clan members out of their colonies.

The thing that puzzled Song Chi: since this was already a mature immigration point, all the high-level local alien species should have been wiped out. So then, just what did the Clan Elder bring Heavenly Ruin out here to do?

Invisible in the ship-wide comms, Song Wujian noticed his doubt and offered an explanation:

“Though our family controls the Illusory Spirit Domain, its northern boundary borders an emerging mid-grade level-six civilization.”

The answer clicked for Song Chi. An emerging level-six civilization would have very few tier-six forces. With two dreadnoughts, the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang and the Violet Moon Longsong, they could sweep through all resistance with ease.

Without hesitation, the three ships all activated spatial warp again.

By the time they reached the domain’s far north, what caught Song Chi’s eye were two massive steel battlestars, clad in pitch-black armor.

Compared to the two basic mobile battlestars orbiting Sacred Dragon Continent, these were even larger and, bristling with cannons, looked menacing. Still, they were noticeably inferior to the high-grade mobile battlestar the Eagle Family had unleashed in the recent frontier war—a ship that rivaled tier-six powers.

“These are two mid-grade mobile battlestars sent through a space wormhole by the family,” Song Wujian explained. “With the Clan Elder leading expansion campaigns elsewhere, we only managed to pull these two in for intimidation against that ‘Bloodbat Civilization.'”

Song Xingru’s voice explained by his ear, reminding Song Chi of the intelligence he’d just seen on the Bloodbat Civilization.

The Bloodbat Civilization bordered the Illusory Spirit Domain to the north. Its heritage was nearly as old, close to fifty thousand years, and its territory stretched almost forty thousand light-years—much larger than the family’s domain.

According to what the family had gathered, the Bloodbat Civilization now had a newborn tier-six Starblood Bat, more than twenty tier-fives, and over a thousand tier-four bloodbats.

If they really took down every last one, the Heavenly Ruin would have a solid chance to upgrade.

With the two dreadnought-class ships in the lead, Heavenly Ruin charged straight into Bloodbat territory.

Opposite the two tier-five mobile battlestars stood a defensive sector studded with Bloodbat Civilization’s forces. This starfield, spanning only a few dozen light-years, hosted six tier-five bloodbats and several dozen tier-fours.

Without delay, Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang activated its spatial lockdown module to prevent the high-tier bats from trying to escape.

While the Starblood Bats followed the Law of Blood, and didn’t use space abilities, they were still star beasts. Their wings were exceptionally unique—at high speeds, they could phase through darkspace, letting them cross vast distances. If they didn’t seal space first, exterminating them would be a nightmare.

But with space sealed, everything grew easy. Heavenly Ruin just had to handle the tier-four bloodbats—let the two dreadnoughts mop up the fives.

In just a few hours, all six tier-five bloodbats and more than fifty tier-fours fell to the fleets’ firepower.

After clearing the defensive starfield, the trio of ships charged ahead for the very center of Bloodbat territory—the location of the tier-five Bloodbat Continent.

The Zhulu-class Cruiser had just one year to advance to battleship. Only after a battleship advanced to dreadnought would that window stretch to two years. Every minute mattered.

Song Chi also recalled from family files: when a dreadnought tried to advance to a Star-Annihilator-class ship, the mission timer ballooned to a full ten years.

Just a glimpse was enough to show how fearsome that final breakthrough would be.

……

Bloodbat Domain. Bloodbat Continent.

Starblood Bats, as star beasts, could live freely in the vast sea of space. But that didn’t mean they ignored valuable floating lands.

The simplest reason: high-level floating lands reliably produced core origins, which massively accelerated the growth and evolution of fleshy life—benefits the raw Sea of Stars couldn’t compare to.

Even though the Bloodbat Civilization had reached level six, it was still new to this tier. The Bloodbat Continent was over twenty light-years wide, yet remained stuck at the peak of level-five.

This was exactly why Song Wujian and Song Xingru had brought Song Chi here.

If it had been a level-six Floating-land, it might have bred more powerful beasts, but its shield would be far beyond what the Song Family could crack right now. In contrast, a level-five shield was much easier to breach.

The Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang and Heavenly Ruin fired synchronized beams. These weren’t destructive weapons, but special shield-breaker lights.

Heavenly Ruin unleashed its newly evolved red-quality Skybreaker Drill, while Song Wujian used a red shield-break component too. As the beams struck the Floating-land’s barrier, visible ripples spread across the surface and its glow rapidly dimmed.

But being powered by a peak level-five Floating-land, the shield held fast. Even two enhanced tier-six red shield-breakers couldn’t smash through at once.

When the barrage ended, a massive webwork of cracks covered the shield’s surface—but it still hadn’t fully broken.

Song Chi and the others had never pinned all their hopes on shield-breakers alone. All they needed was to weaken the barrier. The true ace was the armada of battleship cannons, which had been steadily charging from the moment those beams had been fired.

Inside the shield, the tier-six bloodbat roared, unleashing torrents of dark-red blood energy imbued with the essence of the Law of Blood. These quickly condensed into a bloodbat phantom over a hundred kilometers wingtip to wingtip. The giant shadow burst through the shield, hurtling toward the three charging battleships.

Sensing the threat from them, the tier-six Starblood Bat launched this desperate strike, hoping to disrupt the charging process.

But all three battleships were prepared. The Heavenly Ruin glowed with a ring of golden light.

In a flash, that giant bloodbat phantom slowed dramatically. By the time it reached the ships, every cannon was powered up and ready.

Just then, Song Wujian’s voice, brimming with praise, echoed over the comms.

“Chi, that time-domain module on your ship is really something. Once you upgrade to battleship, consider enhancing it to tier seven. It might even help us when we finally have to deal with the Black Devourer King Beast.”

At the mention of the ‘Black Devourer King Beast,’ Song Chi’s gaze sharpened. He’d never forgotten the sovereign beast sleeping inside the black hole of the Hun Tian Domain. He had reported it, but after that, news from the elders trickled off. Only now did he hear the clan’s plan concerning it.

Still, there was no time to let curiosity distract him.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Dozens of energy beams shot down, all targeting the giant crack like a spider’s web on the battered shield.

Crack!

A nearly imperceptible sound rang out. Looking down, Song Chi saw a sizable hole torn open on the shield over Bloodbat Continent.

Screee!

Inside, the tier-six bloodbat shrieked at an ultrasonic pitch, frantically trying to rally the other tier-five and tier-fours to plug the breach. But it was already too late.

On Song Chi’s order, the tier-six Abyssal Devil was first to act, sending instructions to a swarm of over a hundred tier-four and above Doomstar Race warriors. They flooded through the breach, plunging into a chaotic melee with the bloodbats inside.

The lone tier-six Doomstar, following remote orders from the Abyssal Devil, braced itself under relentless Scythe of Blood attacks—planting both palms on the shield’s gap to keep it from repairing itself.

Only then did the Song Family’s three ships break through, bringing their own enslaved tier-six creatures like the Flamewrath Giant, Fire Drakesaur and Dragonfiends.

From the moment they penetrated the Bloodbat Continent, it was obvious how this would end.

A month and a half later, every tier-four and above Starblood Bat on the continent had been slaughtered by the Heavenly Ruin. A few stragglers escaped, but it had no real impact.

With a Firebreather Dragon posted to guard Bloodbat Continent, it waited for the next wave of family fleets. This peak-level-five Floating-land would, according to Song Wujian’s plan, be queued up after the level-sixes like Jiefeng and Jiemoon as the next target for the Origin Core Siphon.

When Dragon-Spine first reached tier-six, it was only fifty light-years across. But after non-stop infusions during the war, it was pushing a hundred light-years wide. If they kept pouring core origins from Jiefeng, Jiemoon, Longji-001, Longji-002, and the other six-tier lands, it could easily double or triple in size.

In other words, if the Song Family committed enough people and resources, it wouldn’t take long for Dragon-Spine to reach the peak of level-six—and when that happened, they could aim for a tier-seven breakthrough.

Once everything was arranged, Song Chi and his two companions immediately returned to Dragon-Spine Continent.

Over the following months, Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang and Violet Moon Longsong took Heavenly Ruin through many more Outer Domains. Some were old family colonies, others had only recently been reported as alien strongholds by their kin.

Seven months later—nine months after Heavenly Ruin began its upgrade mission—their campaign finally ended.

And it wasn’t Song Wujian or Song Xingru who called it to a halt. Song Chi took the initiative this time.

“Clan Elder, Ancestor Ru, that should be enough. I also know of a primitive secret realm, but due to a confidentiality agreement, I can’t say anything about its details. Still… if possible, I’d like to borrow the tier-six Dragonfiend and Fire Drakesaur on your ships.”

Pretty much everyone at the top of the Song Family already knew Song Chi could access a unique beast domain. So when he asked, neither Song Wujian nor Song Xingru objected at all.

With control over the Dragonfiend and Fire Drakesaur transferred to him, Song Chi used the Market as a relay and quickly entered the Spirit Beast Sanctuary.

After summoning Heavenly Ruin, he didn’t act immediately but cautiously closed in on a fragile nexus where the sanctuary touched the outer land fragments. Only after he was sure there was nothing strange did he begin to put his real plan in motion.

Three years ago, after handling all affairs in the Morningstar Kingdom, Rosetta Morningstar had indeed returned to the Dusk Star Domain. Armed with the Star-Annihilator-class ship’s unfathomable power, she tore open the shield protecting the Immortal Domain Continent fragment and began her total sweep.

Luckily, until now, she had yet to discover the Spirit Beast Sanctuary.

“Still feels too risky. One last full sweep and the sanctuary’s value is pretty much gone. After this, we really can’t risk coming back… The Morningstar Family might just catch us next time!”

Muttering to himself, Song Chi turned Heavenly Ruin and flew straight for the mountain range where the Vermilion Plume Divine Bird nested.

To Song Chi, the biggest prizes in the Spirit Beast Sanctuary were the Vermilion Plume Divine Bird and the Skyweed Phoenix. If he could, he intended to take both of the Vermilion Plumes with him.

Compared to the family’s Dragon-Spine Secret Domain, the Spirit Beast Sanctuary was definitely inferior. He was sure the birds could be moved to the Dragon-Spine Secret Domain easily.

Soon enough, Song Chi tracked down the tier-five Vermilion Plume Divine Bird, who was still with her offspring—now a tier-four herself.

He thought it might take some convincing, but as soon as he released Chongyu, the reunion changed everything. With mother and child together at last, the elder Vermilion Plume at tier-five peak agreed instantly. She brought along the young one, let Song Chi enslave them both, and calmly entered the Heavenly Ruin.