Chapter 574: The Judgement on God-Mountain Plaza

PS: The previous chapter has already been released. Feel free to check it out.

……

After upgrading the No.004 Cultivation Secret Realm of Chicang component, Song Chi didn’t rush to recall his battleship. Instead, his gaze returned to all the components of gold quality and above.

It had been over ten years since the issue with that Ancient Broodmother was resolved. In that time, he’d already refined all three Brood King corpses. Besides the Dominion Origin Blood, this latest refinement yielded a total of ninety portions of Dominion Soul.

According to the final distribution, he personally received twenty portions of Dominion Soul. Right now, he had twenty-one in hand, plus two remaining Eighth-Tier Floating-Land Origins and all the titanite crystal the family had issued over the years—enough to enhance two more components to eighth-tier.

With a sweep of his eyes, Song Chi glanced at the seven newly upgraded components: No.004 Cultivation Secret Realm of Chicang, Divine Thunder Cannon, Neutron-Star Core Armor, Eyes of Heaven, Void Sea Projection Emperor’s Tomb, Tome of Divine Will, and Destiny Compass. Each one briefly flashed through his mind.

Seeing he was having trouble deciding, he had no choice but to use the process of elimination again.

He eliminated the No.004 Cultivation Secret Realm of Chicang first. The only reason he’d used the Eighth-Tier Golden Apple to upgrade it was because it controls the output speed of a huge number of spirit roots and rare resources inside the secret realm. But that doesn’t mean it boosts the Heavenly Ruin’s combat power. With the great civilizational war looming, battleship strength still comes first.

By that logic, the Tome of Divine Will and Destiny Compass were also eliminated from consideration.

That left just four components.

After a short pause, Song Chi finally chose the Neutron-Star Core Armor and the Divine Thunder Cannon.

There was no need to explain the Neutron-Star Core Armor—it’s paired with the energy shield. Upgrading either component enhances the other’s attributes, making this a cost-effective choice.

As for the Divine Thunder Cannon, its Ninefold Violet Heaven World-Ending Calamity Thunder was a supreme trump card on the Heavenly Ruin. Especially after, on the upcoming war front, the Market Projection Token wouldn’t be convenient to use in public. In that sort of situation, just the Blood Spear, his other eighth-tier golden supercannon, wouldn’t be enough.

Checking the attributes, he found the Neutron-Star Core Armor’s defense had jumped once again after being enhanced to eighth-tier, especially those key features.

For example, the Neutron-Star Pulse: at seventh-tier, it would restore 10% of the armor every five seconds, and 10% of the battleship’s energy shield every ten seconds.

Now, it directly improved to repairing 12% of the armor every five seconds, and 12% of the battleship’s energy shield every ten seconds.

Combined with the Yin-Yang Counter-Phase Annihilation Shield’s ‘Yin-Yang Echo’ feature, unless the shield actually overloaded and failed, it would restore itself at an incredible rate.

The Divine Thunder Cannon’s offensive power skyrocketed as well.

Once he finished enhancing both components, Song Chi didn’t leave the Market. Instead, he took advantage of the amplification of the Timepiece Chessboard to focus on comprehending the Law of Time.

With just over a decade left before the great war began, all he wanted was to strengthen himself as much as possible before battle broke out.

……

Time passed. Five years later—

On the Dragon-Spine Continent, at God-Mountain Plaza.

That day, the plaza at the foot of the sacred mountain was packed with a crowd of over a million clan members. Looking up, they saw the execution platform towering over ten thousand meters above, completely filled with people.

The people on the platform were generally quite young. The youngest were only a few decades old, and the oldest wouldn’t have reached four hundred.

What shocked the onlookers most was that, at the very front of this mass of thousands, stood three newly instated clan elders.

“Isn’t that Elder Zhihao? What’s going on… why is he wearing prisoner shackles?”

“Did your younger cousin just get back to Dragon-Spine Continent?”

“Yeah, he was out handling a family mission. Got enough merit last month. He’s back to redeem another batch of fire carp. I figure after two more years of eating them, my Torch Seed should advance to blue.”

“I see. Let me tell you, all these people are family scum. Like Song Zhihao—he not only embezzled family property, he even killed a genius cruiser captain for his own selfish desires.”

……

The crowd was in an uproar beneath the execution stand. Suddenly, a burst of intense dark energy distorted the air above the plaza, and a figure fell rapidly from the sky.

Landing on the execution platform, Song Xuancang swept his cold gaze over the thousands assembled. Then, sharp eyes turned to the dense sea of clansmen below.

“Listen well, everyone. Every single person behind me is a parasite—a rotten branch grown from our family in recent years. They’ve committed every evil, feasting on three thousand years of blood-earned family prosperity without gratitude. Instead, they colluded with outsiders, embezzled family resources, murdered fellow clan members, exploited our good name to oppress the weak and kill innocent people. Tell me—how should they be dealt with?”

Reinforced by fifth-tier dark energy, Song Xuancang’s voice rang out sharply over the millions below.

Hearing the list of their crimes, every pair of eyes in the crowd flickered with revulsion.

At the very front, Song Yufeng was the first to speak.

“Execute them on the spot! These traitors don’t deserve to be Song Family members!”

With Song Yufeng taking the lead, those who’d been wronged chimed in one after another, until the entire plaza echoed with an earth-shattering chorus.

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

……

Terrified by the intensity of the chant, the three Zhulu-class Cruiser Captains at the front of the group, including Song Zhihao, all began to plead.

“Patriarch, we already know our mistakes! Please—give us a chance to change. And with the war at our doorstep, the family can’t afford to lose even a shred of strength!”

“Yes, Patriarch! We were blinded by greed before—how can you sentence us to death outright?”

……

Ignoring the desperate pleas behind him, Song Xuancang just answered coldly:

“Repent? And what about all the clansmen you killed—who gives them a second chance?”

“People who can’t respect even the most basic boundaries—how could we ever rely on you to work for the family?”

Once his icy declaration faded, Song Xuancang gave the order under the watchful gaze of millions.

“Begin the execution!”

As soon as he spoke, an army of terracotta warrior puppets surrounding the condemned made their move. Before long, blood stained the entire execution platform.

Once every traitor had been slain, Song Xuancang’s voice boomed through the plaza once more.

“Let today forever be etched in your memory. Our family became an Immortal House in a short three thousand years, but that status was built on the lives of our predecessors, on their sacrifice.

The bright future you enjoy today rests on three thousand years of blood and tears. This amazing starting point is meant to push you farther, to spread the name of the Song Family of Dragonspine to the farthest stars—not for you to indulge yourself, to grow soft and complacent!”

These words struck deep, echoing in every ear across the plaza, heavy and unforgettable.

Many of the younger relatives saw their pride smashed in an instant. As they clenched their fists, the events of today felt like a slap that finally woke them up.

Deep within the Dragon Spine Sacred Mountain, the Song Family’s core members watched it all with satisfaction on their faces.

They were confident that, after today, the clan’s traditions and discipline would quickly return to normal and that the family would head toward a healthier future.

“The Audit Hall needs even more funding. Only then can we maintain discipline and unity. Our family’s only three thousand years old—being newly listed among the Immortal Houses is just the beginning. We aim for ten thousand years of legacy and to stand among the true immortals. We can’t afford to relax!”

In the main hall, Song Shiyuan was the first to speak.

His voice was firm. The recent scandal had clearly left a mark on him, and he refused to let such rot ever take hold again.

The others in the hall agreed without hesitation.

……

With the highest authority’s orders sent from the ancestral hall, the group in the main hall soon parted ways. Only Song Wujian, Song Yan, and Song Chi remained.

Song Chi and Song Yan focused on Song Wujian, who, following a message from their ancestor, had asked them to stay. Clearly, he had something to tell them.

“We’ll have to head out tomorrow. Make sure you’re ready—we’ll go together.”

Song Yan was the first to ask,

“Ancestor, where are we going?”

“The Goldenplate Galaxy, to Tianqi Kingdom!”

Those four words made Song Chi and Song Yan raise their eyebrows. They both knew a bit about Tianqi Kingdom. It was the only kingdom in the Goldenplate Galaxy, one of five galaxies—along with Tianpan, Silverplate, and a few others—that formed a small cluster.

Strictly speaking, all the galaxies in this little cluster were developed only in the past tens of thousands of years, making them some of the newest territories under the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty.

The Goldenplate Galaxy, home to Tianqi Kingdom, was closest to the east-central core of the Torch Human Galaxy Cluster, where the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty resided.

“Tianqi Kingdom—what are we doing there?”

Song Yan kept pressing. Song Wujian, of course, didn’t hold back.

“Word is, there will be a huge auction on Goldenplate Floating-land soon. Lots of high-level components and rare resources. The Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang is missing a top-tier universal cooldown-reduction component. We’re going to try our luck.”

“A top-tier universal cooldown-reduction component? That’s extremely rare.”

Song Chi sensed the ancestor had more to say. If not, they’d risk a wasted trip—time was too precious in the current situation.

As if reading his mind, the ancestor continued.

“I have confirmation. The organizer of this auction on Goldenplate Floating-land is a declining Immortal House and there is indeed a gold-quality universal cooldown-reduction component up for auction.”

He paused, then added,

“And aside from attending the auction, we need to visit the Torch Judgement Court. For the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang to ascend to Star-Annihilator-class Ship, we’ll need to officially register it at the court.”

Register at the Torch Judgement Court?

That actually confused Song Chi and Song Yan.

They’d never heard a word about such a requirement in all the family records.

Nor had they heard it from anyone else.

But before they could wonder for long, Song Wujian explained:

“Registering at the Torch Judgement Court isn’t mandatory—at least, not for the first ten thousand years after someone becomes a Star-Annihilator-class Captain.”

“Then why are we in a hurry…?”

Song Wujian waved Song Yan silent and continued:

“Don’t rush—listen. Registering at the Torch Judgement Court is like receiving an official identity from the Four Great Empires. In that case, every Star-Annihilator-class Captain is required to complete a millennium-long strategic post every five thousand years.”

“Of course, such duties come with their own rewards. Official recognition means every captain can claim specified rewards from their empire: ten Dominion Souls per thousand years, in five-thousand-year increments.”

At this, Song Chi and Song Yan started to understand.

Song Chi asked,

“Ancestor, what exactly are these post assignments? The Great Wall of Civilization?”

Song Wujian nodded, then answered:

“That’s part of it, but not the whole story. Details of the other assignments will only be revealed after official registration at the Torch Judgement Court!”

Song Yan pressed with another question.

“Ancestor, how do you know all this?”

There wasn’t a hint of this info in the clan archives—was it just a matter of their clearance level?

“It appeared automatically once I broke through the seventh tier in Guiding Technique and my Torch Seed evolved. I suspect this system was specially installed by the Four Great Empires using the original Torch Seed.”

With that, the two were finally enlightened.

The three didn’t linger—they all took their leave.

Song Chi didn’t know what Song Yan was thinking, but personally, he was a little excited.

As a Torch Captain and a citizen of the Torch Human Civilization, the Four Empires had always been household names. Now, knowing he would soon set foot in the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty, his heart was naturally brimming with anticipation.

The next day, the trio met up again at Dragon Whale Hall.

“Xiaochi, let’s head straight for Silverplate Floating-land. We’re short on time!”

“Right!”

Via the Omniverse Market, they transferred to Silverplate Floating-land and rushed to the large long-range teleportation base beyond the floating-land.

They had to use the teleport base first to travel to a neighboring galaxy, and from there transfer to the Goldenplate Galaxy.

In that tiny galactic cluster, the Tianpan Galaxy sat in the far northeast, the Goldenplate Galaxy in the southwest—they were as far apart as possible. Silverplate Floating-land lay between them.

After buying their transit passes, the three waited three days at the stargate transfer hub before the portal finally activated.

Over half a month passed. With two cross-galactic stargate trips behind them, the trio finally arrived in the Goldenplate Galaxy.