Chapter 575: A Strange Discovery Amid the Forbidden Stars

The massive long-range stargate hub in the Goldenplate Galaxy was positioned in the starry sky near the first floating-land of the galaxy, just like its counterparts in the Tianpan and Silverplate Galaxies.

Three warships—one large, two smaller—emerged from the stargate hub and sped straight for the Goldenplate Floating-land, the primary floating-land of the galaxy.

Goldenplate Floating-land stretched over twenty thousand light-years in diameter. Though still some ways from the size of a peak Seventh‑Tier Floating-land, it easily surpassed lesser lands like Calamity Star and Dragon-Spine in depth and strength.

Inside the warship’s comms group chat, Song Wujian was giving Song Chi and the others a rundown of the Goldenplate Galaxy and the Tianqi Kingdom.

“The Goldenplate Galaxy was opened up over forty thousand years ago, and the entity ruling it—the Tianqi Kingdom—was founded nearly as early as the galaxy itself. With over forty thousand years of history, it’s no wonder the Tianqi Kingdom is in a completely different league than the Yaohan Kingdom.”

“While the Goldenplate Galaxy isn’t huge—its diameter is only 1.2 million light-years, smaller than the Yaohan Kingdom’s current territory—its forty millennia of accumulation and development mean the Tianqi Kingdom far outclasses Yaohan in power.”

“Just counting the immortal forces on the surface, there are six in the Tianqi Kingdom, and the land boasts five seventh-tier life floating-lands.”

“The most powerful among them, the Tianqi royal family—the Liang clan—garrisons three Star-Annihilator-class Ships.”

“And that’s only what’s public. There’s definitely more going on in the shadows.”

As they talked, the three warships entered the external access zone of the Goldenplate Floating-land.

Under Song Wujian’s lead, they shot straight toward the Public Zone’s Chigu City.

It was in this very city that the grand auction would be held.

“Elder, which faction is behind Chigu City?”

Song Yan asked.

“Chigu City was founded over twenty thousand years ago by the Chigu Luo clan. They’re also the ones organizing the grand auction event.”

Seeing that both of them were curious about this Luo clan, Song Wujian kept explaining.

“The Chigu Luo clan inherited a legacy from the Chigu Behemoth. About twenty-five thousand years ago, they produced a prodigy who, in just over three thousand years, rose to the rank of Star-Annihilator-class Captain.”

“It was then they became the fourth immortal house of the Tianqi Kingdom. Sadly, the Luo clan’s luck soon ran out. That captain died in his very first garrison mission for the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty, and so, after barely three thousand years of holding immortal house status, the Luo clan’s standing slipped away for good.”

After listening, Song Chi’s mind raced before he finally voiced a question.

“Did that captain die during a large-scale invasion by the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons?”

When Song Wujian shook his head, Song Chi figured it must be tied to the other, less-talked-about matters the elder had mentioned before. He didn’t press, just changed the subject:

“Elder, if the garrison missions are so dangerous, why not just wait until the ten-thousand-year deadline before registering?”

Faced with his curiosity, Song Wujian seemed to have a ready answer.

“It’s simple. A great war between civilizations is about to begin. This kind of war won’t end anytime soon. During that period, the Torch Judgement Court will almost certainly assign far fewer garrison missions…”

Song Chi exchanged glances with Song Yan, both catching a fleeting surprise in each other’s eyes.

Neither of them expected the elder’s motive was to exploit a loophole.

Still, none of them were too optimistic. The authorities at the Torch Judgement Court weren’t fools—they’d surely see someone trying to game the rules. There was every chance they’d post special tasks during the war to counter it.

But it was also clear they wouldn’t be the only ones thinking this way.

Once word got out that a full-scale war between these two galactic clusters was coming, lots of Dreadnought Captains throughout Torch Human Civilization would scramble to break through and try for the Star-Annihilator ranking. With enough of them making a run for it, a fair number were bound to succeed, and with a big enough group making certification attempts now, plenty might just slip through during the war window.

……

“The auction still won’t start for another half a month…”

Leaving the auction venue, Song Wujian waved the luxurious invitation pass he’d just picked up.

After showing the staff that he was a Star-Annihilator-class Captain, the officials immediately handed him the highest-level pass available. With that, attending the auction was a breeze, and bringing Song Chi and Song Yan along would be even easier.

Once the three had settled into a nearby high-end Hearthfire Hotel, Song Chi greeted the elder and Song Yan, then summoned the Heavenly Ruin and shot up toward the sky vault of the floating-land.

He was planning another Outer Domain exploration.

It’d been quite a while since his last trip into the Outer Domain, and with the auction still a ways off, now seemed like a good chance.

More accurately, he wanted to use this opportunity to test the current strength of the Heavenly Ruin.

Since the Torch Seed had advanced to gold and so many warship components had reached level eight, even Song Chi couldn’t pin down exactly how strong the Heavenly Ruin was now—he needed some real battle data.

But the randomness of deployment was still a real issue. This time, the Heavenly Ruin hadn’t landed in any promising star domain.

Even so, Song Chi didn’t rush to leave. After confirming via patrol radar and the jump star chart that there were no high-level floating-lands nearby, he switched the ship to its miniature neutron star form and activated the Scarlet Vault Jump.

When the ship reappeared, it had traveled over six million light-years.

……

“Still not a single mid- or high-tier floating-land…”

Watching the radar feed displayed by the Eyes of Heaven, Song Chi frowned deeply.

If things stayed like this, heading back to Goldenplate Floating-land would be his only option.

Scarlet Vault Jump always took a full year to cool down, and even after the combined effect of the Timepiece Chessboard and Zen Seal · Internal · Time Acceleration, he’d still be waiting half a month before using it again.

In the end, he decided to wait a few dozen minutes so the jump star chart’s collector feature on the Aurora Jump Drive could generate a new star map.

Several dozen minutes later, Song Chi shifted his attention to the new star chart.

Compared to the limited range of the Eyes of Heaven, the jump star chart revealed hundreds of times more. Plenty of things popped up that the Eyes hadn’t detected at all.

Roughly a thousand light-years ahead: a fourth-tier floating-land.

Not far from that, there was also a third-tier floating-land.

But even with all those new blips, Song Chi didn’t look much happier—the star map still didn’t show any sixth-tier floating-lands.

“Forget it. I’ll head back first. I’ll have to run the warship tests another time…”

Just as he was about to use the spatial anchor he’d left at Goldenplate Floating-land to return, something odd at the edge of his vision caught his attention on the star chart.

“Wait—that section of space looks off…”

He fixed his gaze on the star chart and spotted a strange vacuum zone.

Normal vacuum zones wouldn’t catch his eye—in the Shattered Sea of Stars, wide emptiness was the rule. But this time, the chart was different.

Vacuum zones usually stretched long and wide, but this one was surrounded by scattered floating-land fragments and asteroids, with a big area in the middle where nothing was detected at all.

Song Chi had only one thought: this didn’t look like a natural vacuum belt. Instead, it seemed more like something was actively absorbing all the detection waves from jump devices, leading to this blank spot in the middle.

Without hesitation, Song Chi put a halt to his return and decided to take a closer look at that region.

The chart showed the anomaly was only a few hundred light-years from where the Heavenly Ruin now hovered—either of the ship’s two jump modules could get him there without waiting for the Scarlet Vault Jump to cool down.

But he didn’t jump right away.

Since the previous Scarlet Vault Jump had put the Neutron-Star Fission feature on cooldown, Song Chi planned to wait for it to recover first.

Even if the Zen Seal · Internal · Time Acceleration could help speed up cooldowns, that feature itself needed time to recharge. It’s not like he could use acceleration twice in a row without a break—better to play it safe.

Judging from the map’s display, that weird vacuum zone was pretty big. If something really was alive out there, its level would be no joke.

A few hours later, the Neutron-Star Fission feature was back online. Song Chi didn’t wait any longer—he activated the Aurora Jump Drive.

As soon as the jump charged up, the Heavenly Ruin plunged into a violently churning spatial vortex.

Six hundred light-years away, the Heavenly Ruin shot from its jump passage into a patch of inky black space—there was nothing else in sight.

That didn’t mean Song Chi’s earlier guesses had been wrong; it was just that his arrival point was still a few dozen light-years away from the real anomaly.

In the bridge of the Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi focused his mind, activating the Eyes of Heaven.

A moment later, a projection screen slowly emerged in front of the command console.

He stared at the screen, and the moment he saw what it showed, Song Chi’s pupils contracted sharply.

“This… what is this…?”

Displayed right there on the screen was something that rose straight up through the void—a bizarre structure, over ten thousand kilometers long, wrapped in a blood-red glow. Its surface squirmed grotesquely, yet it simply floated in absolute silence.

There were no roots. It clearly wasn’t some kind of space plant. And it was even less like a star beast.

Just as Song Chi wondered what it was, the Sky-Domain AI quickly projected an identification screen in front of him.

Name: Gut of the Starry Sky

Type: Special Cosmic Lifeform

Description: A mysterious lifeform of the starry void. Some say it hails from an ancient multiversal era, others believe it formed after the multiverse shattered. One thing is certain—it endlessly absorbs all types of energy from the stars to nurture rare and unusual cosmic oddities within itself.