Chapter 537: The Ancient Ruins and the Silver Oddity

The moment the Starshield shattered, a true ancient sound echoed out of that colossal city, towering higher than countless mountain ranges.

It was as if the voice came from the lingering souls of the Ancient Demon Race, carrying a power that chilled the soul. But after being filtered through several layers—the Saintlight Shield, the Yin-Yang Counter-Phase Annihilation Shield, the Neutron-Star Core Armor—by the time it seeped inside the Heavenly Ruin, it had lost nearly all its strength and could no longer affect Song Chi.

He didn’t bother responding, having already set his plan in motion. He wouldn’t waste a single second.

“Divine Thunder Cannon: Ten-Thousand Sigil Violet Lightning Prison!”

The cannon’s second attack trait activated, and thanks to the Zen Seal · Internal · Time Acceleration, this area attack seemed to unleash all at once.

Purple thunder sigils formed throughout the Ancient Demon King City. An instant later, a wave of thunder erupted, engulfing the massive city.

Powered by the golden main cannon’s seventh-tier upgrades and the Yang·Tongxin Pendant’s extra boost, with Song Chi pumping in black hole energy, this strike wiped out over ninety percent of the ancient demons inside.

Of course, the entire city was left as little more than ruins.

That didn’t bother Song Chi at all.

Guided by his Eye of Spirit-Seeking, he could pinpoint the location of the city’s core vault.

Twin angelic wings at the rear of the Heavenly Ruin fluttered gently. In the next heartbeat, the ship vanished from the sky.

Over a spot of ruined city, the Heavenly Ruin appeared out of nowhere, the battleship’s hull releasing a powerful gravitational pull.

Debris and shattered ruins below lifted into the air one after another, finally flung far into the distance.

As the moments passed, the pile of wreckage below shrank rapidly, visible to the naked eye.

Suddenly, an intense energy surge came from the side. A six-star Ancient Demon, who’d survived the thunder sigils, charged at them. Every stomp of its huge body sent deep tremors through the earth.

With stones flying, the six starlike gems on its head shone bright, packed with the Laws of Light and Power. Its massive claw seemed poised to smash the Heavenly Ruin to pieces in a single blow.

Song Chi caught the charge, but ignored it. The battleship continued hauling away the rubble with all its might.

BZZZZZT—

The energy and law power swirling around the Ancient Demon’s hand grew almost unbearable. Even before it touched the Heavenly Ruin, the storm of energy it gave off rippled across the ship’s Saintlight Shield.

The light of the Saintlight Shield gradually dimmed.

Song Chi might’ve looked unfazed, but in truth he wasn’t that careless.

The Yuangu Family branched into ancient gods, ancient demons, and ancient monsters. None were weaker than the others. All had shocking celestial and physical talents. If he took that claw head-on, even with the Neutron-Star Core Armor upgraded to gold, he’d still be in real trouble.

Just as the six-star Ancient Demon’s hand nearly reached the ship, a surge of pure light erupted above the Heavenly Ruin.

“True Spirit Guard of the Angel King!”

Another golden component trait awoke. This time, it wasn’t for attack—it was all about defense.

With the Angel King’s spirit apparition standing guard, the power of the Ancient Demon’s sky-shattering slap was hugely diminished. By the time the remnants struck, they couldn’t do much to the Neutron-Star Core Armor or the Black Hole Evolution Layer.

As the Ancient Demon’s assault paused, all the debris was finally cleared, revealing a wall covered in ancient runes and a faint red glow—the vault’s barrier.

“So these stones are soaked in high-tier Ancient Demon blood. No wonder they didn’t get destroyed by the thunder cannon.”

Recognizing the wall’s origin, Song Chi’s eyes narrowed.

“Looks like it’s time for another round!”

At the bow, light swirled—Taiyi Quantum Swordlight Battery’s main cannon trait, the True Immortal Quantum Blade, activated.

But this time, he couldn’t accelerate with the Zen Seal · Internal · Time Acceleration. He’d have to let it charge the slow way.

That gave the raging six-star Ancient Demon another shot at him, but the Angel King’s spirit apparition would last a while yet. He wasn’t worried.

While charging, Song Chi glanced at the furious Ancient Demon. His mind raced.

Should he try enslaving some of these Ancient Demons while he had the chance?

After all, the Yuangu Family’s Ancient Demon branch was a legitimate high-level lifeform in the Sea of Stars. If he could bring some back for the clan to raise, the benefits would be immeasurable if they succeeded.

Several core family members planned to have the Calm‑Sea Dragon‑Xiang attempt to break into the Star-Annihilator-class. If they pulled it off, the Song Family of Longji would be recognized as Immortal Houses. And they couldn’t show up without a few imposing enslaved creatures to their name.

Before he could think further, the charging for True Immortal Quantum Blade finished. Sword energy roared out, striking the special stone wall below.

BOOM!

The quantum swordlight was made for piercing. Even the toughest wall couldn’t stand against it—the barrier collapsed completely.

Inside the vault, everything was visible from Song Chi’s vantage above.

HISSS—

A hatch on the Heavenly Ruin slid open, releasing nearly a hundred terracotta warriors. Led by three Void Shadow Assassin Warriors marked with mindwave imprints, they dove straight for the vault.

Song Chi had his eyes set on one thing: an unknown silver oddity. The rest, he’d leave to luck.

The warriors burst into the vault and split into three teams, snatching everything they could at top speed.

On the Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi kept most of his focus on the surrounding ruins, searching for any surviving Yuangu Family members.

His ship now carried the Celestial Authority Ring, a slave component. Enslaving efficiency was high. While the warriors scoured the vault, the hatch opened again, and a swarm of Doomstar Race surged out.

Their simple mission: take down any surviving Ancient Demons in the area, making them easier to enslave.

Top-tier civilizations like the Yuangu and Eight-Armed Serpent Demon races were far harder to enslave than others. If it weren’t for that, the Torch Human Civilization and Eight‑Armed Serpent Demon Civilization’s border would have been crawling with enslaved monsters by now.

Luckily, the Celestial Authority Ring was high-grade and had a special effect—’Slave Authority Level Up’—making its success rate much higher than ordinary Enslave Medals.

In no time, Song Chi had successfully enslaved dozens of Ancient Demons of various strengths.

Of course, the Celestial Authority Ring couldn’t mark that many, so Song Chi sealed the weaker Ancient Demons into the Market or sent some to the Cultivation Sanctuary for isolation and raising. That let him claim so many so quickly.

“Hm… is that titanite crystal?”

Using the vision of a Void Shadow Assassin Warrior, he spotted a small pile of titanite crystals in the vault’s corner.

There weren’t many—maybe a hundred or so—but the find gave him a pleasant surprise.

Titanite crystal always came from a vein. Even the smallest would have more than a hundred crystals, so he guessed the Ancient Demons here had found a titanite vein but didn’t know how to use them, only mining a small batch.

With that thought, Song Chi turned and asked the newly enslaved, now human-sized Ancient Demons behind him.

Their answers were unanimous—they didn’t know.

The strongest of his slaves was only five-star, so Song Chi’s attention shifted to the six-star Ancient Demon outside, still attacking the Angel King’s spirit apparition.

“Pusa Zen Seal: Zen Seal: External Time Stop!”

Time froze. The Heavenly Ruin transformed into its Mythical Mech Form, seizing the Silver Dragon Spear and driving it hard at the Ancient Demon.

It wasn’t just the Mythical Mech; he summoned a six-star Flamewrath Giant and six-star Doomstar Race as well—all storming the frozen Ancient Demon to unleash everything they had.

Even so, the Ancient Demon’s body was so tough that the combined might of three attackers barely managed to hurt it in that brief moment.

At last, Song Chi activated the Taiyi Quantum Sword Array trait.

With its area-of-effect firepower, the city took even more damage. The surviving Ancient Demons dwindled further, and the enslaving operation drew to a close.

Thankfully, the six-star Ancient Demon was badly wounded by the attack. Song Chi only needed to use the Celestial Authority Ring five times to fully enslave it.

“These titanite crystals, do you remember where you found them?”

Once the six-star Ancient Demon was inside the ship, that was the first thing Song Chi asked.

This time, he wasn’t disappointed—the Ancient Demon knew exactly where the titanite vein was.

In a distant mountain range billions of miles away from the city, laughter echoed through the Heavenly Ruin as it hovered low over the spot.

Just then, his four mining vehicles sent him an alert—the vein below was a small one, but it would yield at least seventy thousand titanite crystals.

Seventy thousand wasn’t a massive haul, but with Song Chi’s supplies nearly gone, the timing was perfect.

He ordered the mining trucks to pick up the pace, then glanced at the six-star Ancient Demon behind him.

He realized he’d already spent quite a bit of time here; waiting until all the titanite was extracted would take even longer.

Thinking quickly, he asked:

“Do you have a way to quickly contact your kin on other floating-lands? What about this one?”

Hearing that, the six-star Ancient Demon responded without hesitation:

“Yes, Master! Deep beneath this land, there’s an ancient clan transmission array. It links us to another floating-land of our race—a seventh-tier one!”

Song Chi’s heart sank as he heard this.

This was definitely not good news!