Chapter 522: The City of Radiance: Arrival at the Saintlight Metropolis

Song Chi carefully looked over the highlighted quest but didn’t rush to accept it.

Normally, for the Star Tower to name something a ‘Chaos Quest’ meant it was anything but simple—either deeply involved or unimaginably valuable.

Based on Song Chi’s guess, this secret realm that only allowed captains of Fifth-Tier Battleships and below inside, had to be at least a top-tier primeval secret realm, and most likely a cosmic-level one.

Secret realms of this caliber were impossible to estimate in value. Take that Timeworld Tree secret realm before—its worth was clear.

Given all that, pretending he wasn’t interested would be a lie. But Song Chi kept his cool, especially after noting the quest intro clearly stated ‘specifics not yet available.’

An unknown high-level secret realm could be extremely dangerous. If it rivaled the Market Pocket Realm, even the Market Projection Token and Market Token probably wouldn’t work inside.

Besides, the meeting time with his older brother Song Yan was coming up. Taking this Chaos Quest now would mean bailing on their agreement last minute.

“Forget it, I’ll handle the Star Spirit Tribe business first. By then, more info on the Star Tower quest should be out anyway.”

With his mind made up, Song Chi turned away—just in time to see someone else appear at the login platform.

“Jingzhe, how’d it go?”

Gary Farandy stepped off the login pad, calling out as Song Chi turned back toward him.

Song Chi shook his head.

“Let’s just wait a bit more.”

Clearly Gary had already logged in once—this was his second run. He seemed fully informed about the quest details by now.

“So you’re waiting till more info about the secret realm updates before taking it?”

Seeing Song Chi nod, Gary smiled, but it was clear he didn’t agree.

“Sure, it’d be safer then, but who knows if the quest will still be available? I’m heading in with Xuanhu and Red Fox. If you change your mind, team up with us!”

Song Chi understood exactly what Gary was implying.

Since the secret realm was discovered by people from the Beidou Hall, the quest probably went out to everyone in the Seven Halls. Wait too long and it might vanish.

Still, Song Chi shook his head. He wasn’t about to take that risk.

Seeing Song Chi’s determination, Gary didn’t press further and switched topics:

“There’s still a while before we officially set out. You’ve got time to think about it.”

…

Chatting with the Star Tower members as they went along, Song Chi soon noticed not many had taken up the quest—besides Gary, Red Fox, and Xuanhu, there were only a few others.

But it wasn’t that most of them were as cautious as Song Chi—there just weren’t that many Star Tower members to begin with.

Counting Song Chi, there were only 30 in total. After subtracting over ten Dreadnought Captains, only about fifteen met the criteria.

On top of that, three were tied up elsewhere, and folks like Song Chi, Yulong, and Whitebrow weren’t really interested. So five members picking up the quest was already a decent turnout.

“Oh?”

Song Chi had been planning to linger for a bit—the group hardly gathered together like this, so it didn’t hurt to catch up.

But after softly exclaiming, he gave the others a quick explanation and logged out of the Star Tower.

…

Dragon Abyss City. Song Chi stepped out of his residence and spotted Song Yan waiting for him.

“That was fast.”

Song Yan nodded.

“Let’s go. The trip to Star Core City will take a while. We also have to stop in another mega-city to meet my friends.”

They made their way to the outer east sector of Dragon Abyss, then used a stargate to the family teleportation hub nearly two hundred lightyears east.

Before Song Chi could say a word, Song Yan didn’t summon his own flagship. Instead, he stepped directly into a Dimensional Spatial Stone. Song Yan had heard the Heavenly Ruin carried a high-quality concealed version, and with the Dimensional Spatial Stone, it was easy—no need for an Ember Battleship Crew License or extra Floating-land Origin.

Inside the Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi, following the coordinates Song Yan gave, activated warpspace—without worries—thanks to the Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl’s ‘Mirage’ setting.

After a violent spatial shift, the Heavenly Ruin vanished from the heavens. When it reappeared, they were thousands of lightyears to the east, not quite at their destination. The second warp drive kicked in, launching them thousands more.

The next day, once both warp drives and the Mirage Pearl finished cooling down, Song Chi jumped again.

Over eight thousand lightyears east of Dragon Abyss sat the vast Yinli Plains. In the center of these endless, lightyear-spanning plains stood an ancient, towering city.

“So this is Saintlight City—a neutral metropolis built by an Eighth-Tier Angel King!”

Two battleships, both over ten kilometers long, glided closer to the city walls. During the comm link, Song Yan filled Song Chi in on Saintlight City.

Song Yan explained that Saintlight City had the best order of any neutral city in thousands of lightyears, one of the few Eighth-Tier cities on the massive Red Star Continent.

Saintlight City was established over two hundred thousand years ago and had maintained a stellar reputation for order ever since.

That’s why Song Chi hadn’t sent Heavenly Ruin to warp straight over the city. Instead, he let Song Yan out of the Dimensional Spatial Stone nearly a billion kilometers away and approached slowly.

With the city as its center, a billion-kilometer exclusion zone ringed Saintlight City. Only low-altitude flight was allowed—space jumps, teleports, and relativistic speeds were banned.

Still, it wasn’t meant to hassle visiting Sea of Stars foreigners. It was simply how Saintlight City kept the peace.

Heavenly Ruin looked quite different than usual. Not just because Song Chi deactivated the ‘Saintlight Shield,’ but also thanks to the Mirage Pearl’s ‘Thousandfold Metamorphosis’ feature for disguise.

No surprise—once Song Yan told him the city was founded by a living Eighth-Tier Angel King, Song Chi stashed the Angel King’s Authority Wings in the Omniverse Market immediately.

After all, this golden domain component had come from a fallen Eighth-Tier Angel King. Who knew if the living one here would sense it? Better safe than sorry.

If nothing happened, great—if it was discovered, chaos would follow. Song Chi took no chances. With the Destiny Compass on board, removing the Authority Wings temporarily cost him nothing.

“Come on, my friends are already inside.”

Song Yan waved, and together they steered their ship toward the city gates.

“Halt! No personal battleships allowed inside!”

Suddenly, guards stopped them.

But Song Yan had warned him already, so Song Chi wasn’t surprised.

He layered himself with a plasma shield and slipped into his Moyun Goldvine Armor as well.

The former had Sixth-Tier defense, while Goldvine only reached Fifth-Tier right now—still not quite reassuring for Song Chi.

After all, Song Yan had said plenty of Seventh-Tier rulers lived in Saintlight City. No matter how good the order, even this city sometimes saw top-tier beings take action.

Thankfully, Song Yan, having put away his own ship, handed Song Chi an extra personal shield.

“This is a Silver-grade Infernoflame Shield, boosted to Tier Seven. Should be enough to keep you safe!”

Song Chi finally relaxed a bit.

Three layers of real shields, plus his Mind Hall from the Dragon Whale Hall, meant he was about as protected as one could get.

Still, Song Chi didn’t let his guard down—he activated Plasma Guardian on Song Yan as well, giving him an extra layer.

Setup complete, they stepped through the vast gates of Saintlight City.

The moment Song Chi entered, surrounded by towering walls etched with countless Law of Light sigils, he was honestly a little stunned.

Compared to this place, his family’s Dragon Spine City on Calamity Star Floating-Land or Silverplate City on the Silverplate Floating-land were nothing.

Just the population difference was staggering.

According to Song Yan, Saintlight City had a permanent resident count of over ten billion.

Inside, every sort of alien from the Sea of Stars could be seen—angels, vampires, Swordslave Clan, humans, half-dragons—truly an exotic crowd.

Glancing away from the broad street—wide enough to seem more like a plaza—and the incredible array of aliens, Song Chi calmed himself and turned to Song Yan.

Song Yan, guessing his thoughts, nodded.

“Let’s look around. Saintlight City draws more than ten thousand species. Whatever you need, you might find it here if luck’s on your side.”

Song Chi was all for it, and together they began checking out the booths and shops nearby.

Silver Legendary Oddity.

Intermediate Earth Law Crystal.

Void Crystal.

Red Fireseed Artifact.

…

They’d only walked a scant few of the city’s endless avenues, but Song Chi had already spotted quite a few impressively rare treasures.

Two hours later, they entered a shop called Arcane Trading House, a major marketplace located near the city center. Word was, it was backed by the Arcane Civilization, which meant there was at least one Ruler behind it.

With heritage like that, the shop had no shortage of top-tier goods—that’s what drew Song Chi and Song Yan in.

As soon as they crossed the threshold, both their eyes shot straight to a display cabinet drowning in dazzling gold light—one among many items showcased: a golden domain-quality oddity.

Oddity: Power Gem.

Quality: Gold.

Convertible: None.

Note: A unique gem born on the Arcane Continent, holding massive energy. Harnessing it, though, is extremely difficult.

“What a shame.”

Song Chi shook his head. A gold domain oddity like this was truly a showpiece, but since it couldn’t be converted into a battleship component, it was basically worthless for a Torch Captain.

Still, they didn’t leave. Instead, they slowly browsed—Arcane Trading House had more than just one gold domain oddity.

As they strolled, Song Chi suddenly stopped.

“How much for that Source-Sealing Stone?”

The shopkeeper quickly responded.

“Ten units of Sixth-Tier Floating-Land Origin, sir!”

Song Chi didn’t hesitate a second—he bought the Source-Sealing Stone on the spot.

A hint of a smile tugged at his mouth as ownership was finalized.

Torch Captains knew Source-Sealing Stones all too well. They were one of the resources for advancing from Battleship to Dreadnought.

Now that he’d gotten one, Song Chi had collected two of the four required resources—a cause for celebration.

After their shopping spree, Song Chi bought as many rare resources as he could find. These things were hot commodities back at the Market and in the Divine Realm Player Trading Space—he could flip them for ten times or even dozens of times what he paid.

Before long, Song Yan pulled Song Chi aside.

“Plenty of time to shop later. For now, let’s meet my two friends.”

…

Saintlight City, North District.

Following Song Yan, Song Chi soon met his so-called friends.

“Mirrorfolk?”

The second he saw their signature crystal-reflective physique, Song Chi recognized their identity.

Song Yan’s introductions confirmed it.

“Seventh Brother, these are Mirrorfolk prodigies—Mirror Princess and Mirror Lake.”

“This is my seventh brother…”

After the quick introductions, Song Chi stepped up and greeted them warmly.

From what he knew, the Mirrorfolk resembled the Torch Human Civilization—a top-tier advanced race swirling in the Shattered Sea of Stars, famed for disguise and subterfuge. Battlefield encounters with them almost always ended in surprises.

“Here’s the plan. Seven days from now we strike against the Star Spirit Tribe. You two keep their Ruler busy; we’ll have your backs and help hide your tracks. Spoils split forty-six percent each.”

“Agreed.”

…

With everything settled, the two teams parted, agreeing to meet at the city gates in six days.

“Bro, can we trust those two?”

Song Chi finally voiced the question lingering in his mind.

They were, after all, aliens—he couldn’t help being a bit wary.

“Absolute trust? Not likely. But I’ve worked with them for over a century—shouldn’t be any real issues.”

With Song Yan’s reassurance, Song Chi stopped worrying. The two spent the next six days exploring Saintlight City.

One day, Song Chi’s eyes sparkled—he’d spotted a shop called Apocalypse Mechworks.