Chapter 601: The Rise of the Silver Apple Mother Tree

Watching the Silver Apple Mother Tree finally ascend to Tier Seven, Song Chi could barely contain his joy.

Though the Silver Apple Mother Tree is already bound to the Cultivation Sanctuary and can’t offer extra support in battle, its inherent value far surpasses that of several Dominator-level combatants combined.

A Tier-Seven Silver Apple is powerful enough to transform Red Oddities into Silver Oddities, meaning that, from now on, Song Chi can steadily produce legendary Silver Oddities. That’s a game-changer.

Right now, even just looking at the parts currently installed on the Heavenly Ruin, many of them require exactly these Tier-Seven Silver Apples.

……

Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, a few more years slipped by.

During these years, the Tianpan Galaxy Joint Fleet broke through the Void Belt and formally entered the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon galaxy cluster. The first place they set foot in was a galaxy called Serpent’s Fang.

On the edges of the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon cluster, Serpent’s Fang isn’t a huge galaxy—barely over 800,000 light years across—but within, huge armies of Eight-Armed Serpent Demons have gathered.

There were more than three hundred million standard Serpent-class warships here, and as for high-level Serpent Demons? Counting those who retreated from the Chipan Galaxy, there were ten Tier-Seven Serpent Demon Dominators. Hiding in the shadows, even a Tier-Eight Serpent Demon Dominator lurked.

Fortunately, according to what the two Divine Dynasty inspectors revealed, reinforcements from the Torch-kingdom side had arrived—a Star River-class Battleship. But it seems both the battleship and that Tier-Eight Serpent Demon have reached some kind of unspoken agreement, and neither has surfaced directly.

……

Star-Annihilator-class Ship group chat.

“Rosetta Morningstar: Inspector Wang, can you tell us exactly which Divine Dynasty Star River-class Captain came over this time?”

The moment Rosetta posed the question, everyone in the group chat perked up. Clearly, this was a hot topic for them.

Wang Li, whose roots were in the Langya Galaxy under the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty, didn’t seem impatient at all. Sensing Rosetta Morningstar’s genuine tone, he paused for a moment before giving a real answer.

But the answer he gave was definitely unexpected.

“The Star River Captain who’s here this time—it’s not someone originally from the Divine Dynasty, but from the Blood Sui Dynasty below them.”

“Blood Sui Dynasty?”

Everyone’s faces flickered with surprise at first, but soon settled.

The captains of these Star-Annihilator-class Ships were intimately familiar with the two-dozen or so Torch-kingdoms under the Divine Dynasty.

Aside from the six Kingdoms of the Wupan Galaxy, which currently don’t have Star River Captains, there are another seventeen kingdoms under the Dynasty, and out of those, four Dynasties boast Star River-class Battleships at Tier-Eight.

That includes even the glorious Tang Dynasty Song Chi once visited, and the Blood Sui Dynasty is one of them too.

“Blood Sui Dynasty! That’s a powerhouse dynasty. They’ve got three Immortal-level factions internally. But who exactly did they send?”

This time it was Liu Shu who broke everyone’s train of thought, following up with another question.

“Blood Sui Yang Clan’s Zhenyuan Prince Manor, the very first Zhenyuan Prince, Lord Yang Song!”

Upon hearing that, the Captains from Chipan Galaxy instantly relaxed. All previous worries disappeared.

The first Zhenyuan Prince of Blood Sui—a man who’s been a Star River-class Captain for over a hundred thousand years! Back when he tore apart a Tier-Eight alien with his bare hands, the rest of them weren’t even born. With someone so ruthless backing them up, there’s no need to worry about that hidden Tier-Eight Eight-Armed Serpent Demon at all.

Song Chi knew nothing about these conversations between the Ship Captains, because right now, he wasn’t even with the fleet. Instead, he was at the Omniverse Market.

“One of each of the three Storage Capsule types—and here’s my Floating-land Origin…”

“I’ll take every Silver III–V Series Fully Automated Magitech Mecha you’ve got!”

“Can I trade this purple-grade Fireseed Artifact for any same-tier Oddity from the store?”

……

Unlike the usual quiet, today was the monthly market day at the Omniverse Market. Hundreds of thousands of aliens had poured in to trade, making it a bustling scene.

Though the fleet spent these years on the move, Song Chi never let time go to waste. He handed full control of the Heavenly Ruin to the Sky-Domain AI and spent nearly all his time holed up here in the Market.

Sometimes he cultivated.

Other times he meditated on the laws.

And once a month, when the Market opened for trading, Song Chi was always there.

He thought today’s trade would be just as uneventful as all the others, but soon enough, he caught wind of something unusual.

Zhou Ping, who hailed from the Primeval Continent, was acting out of the ordinary. The moment he entered the Market, he went straight for Luke the Goblin’s Silver Home, and started buying up every silver-class Fully Automated Magitech Mecha in sight.

Song Chi was already plenty familiar with these mechas—Luke had been selling them for over a hundred years.

These units are just one size bigger than the average person, more like expendable scouts or disposable cannon fodder in ground operations. For Zhou Ping to suddenly stock up on them made Song Chi wonder if trouble was brewing for the Luofu Sword Sect behind him.

A little puzzled and plenty curious, Song Chi decided to go and ask.

As the Master of the Omniverse Market, it wouldn’t be wise for him to talk directly. He slipped into his disguise as a four-armed Blueblood merchant instead.

After a brief transformation, Song Chi strolled up to Zhou Ping as if by accident.

“Brother Zhou Ping, is there a war brewing back on the Primeval Continent? Need more of these cannon-fodder mechas? I’ve got a batch of my new fully autonomous combat robots ready, all at standard Tier-Two battle strength. Interested?”

Zhou Ping had become a Nascent Soul cultivator by now, a senior Luofu Sword Sect elder. He was nothing like the green rookie who’d first shown up at the Market.

Even so, just the fact a Blueblood merchant was speaking to him made him cautious—he didn’t hide much at all.

Song Chi understood the reason well enough. He’d spent years cultivating his intimidating reputation as a merchant whose wares were endless and rare.

“Not at all. There’s no war on the Primeval Continent, and the Luofu Sword Sect behind me hasn’t gone to war either. The reason I need all these mechas is because a colossal Immortal ruins site has surfaced back home.”

“But this site is crawling with danger, so we need lots of cannon fodder to test the waters. As for your robots, let’s start with a thousand. If I need more, I’ll let you know!”

“Deal!”

The words ‘Immortal ruins’ lit a spark of realization in Song Chi’s eyes.

But he quickly lost interest. Well, not completely.

Ruins left behind by Immortals—according to the standards of the Shattered Sea of Stars cultivation world, we’re talking about a Tier-Seven Dominator at minimum. Even a freshly-ascended Tribulation Immortal might have left some truly rare treasures.

Given the Luofu Sword Sect’s strength, they ought to haul in some nice loot, and whatever they don’t need will probably show up for trade at the Market. With any luck, he might stumble upon something unexpected.

Soon after, Zhou Ping bought thousands of Tier-Two and Tier-Three mechas from both the Silver Home and Song Chi, and Song Chi stopped paying attention. But things didn’t end there.

……

Primeval Continent, Central Province Domain.

Once the most prosperous region of this Tier-Six Floating-land continent, Central Province attracted scores of high-level cultivators. But after repeated wars shattered the ley lines underground, its spiritual energy thinned out. Over time, most mid and high-ranking cultivators left, leaving the domain to fade.

But lately, Central Province seemed to come alive again. Cultivators from all over flooded in—Nascent Soul, Soul Formation, and even several brand-new Void Return experts joined the crowd.

The Immortal ruins discovered this time lay deep underground, stretching wide enough to cover nearly half the Central Province. The size alone convinced all the major factions this was an ancient Immortal ruins site.

After Zhou Ping returned to the Luofu Sword Sect’s HQ, their exploration efforts kicked into overdrive. Middle-ranking Sword Sect disciples, each accompanied by a steel puppet, delved ever deeper into the subterranean ruins.

With time, the Luofu Sword Sect’s finds only increased—rare Red Oddities, Silver Oddities, even new cultivation methods and Dao Technique legacies.

Today, one of the Sword Sect’s Foundation Establishment disciples was using several mechas to blast through a forbidden formation deep in the ruins.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosive barrages from the machines tore at the ancient array—a formation that had barely one percent of its original power left after countless millennia. Machine after machine unleashed magitech lasers or nuclear beams, carving a path toward the formation’s heart.

Kaboom!

Now and then, the brute force approach set off a chain reaction, blowing up sections of the array in violent bursts that wiped out most of the mechas they’d brought. The Sword Sect disciple wasn’t fazed.

He knew the sect treated these steel puppets as expendable—there was no need to hold back.

And sure enough, after another huge explosion, all the mechas under his command were destroyed.

When that happened, he turned and left the ruins. Almost instantly, another Sword Sect cultivator replaced him, bringing a new batch of mechas and probably ready for more of the same.

This kind of exploration went on for half a month. Then, huge news broke at the Sword Sect’s HQ—a massive array in the ruins had been breached and they’d hit the jackpot.

With excitement building, the sect’s upper ranks, including Elders like Zhou Ping and even their recently advanced Void Return sect leader, all rushed into the depths.

After centuries spent accumulating resources—Song Chi had even supplied them with miraculous herbs from the Immortal Domain fragments—the sect master finally achieved Void Return. Thanks to this, the Luofu Sword Sect could afford to burn through the Market-bought mechas.

Having a true Void Return master in charge put the sect among the true giants of the Primeval Continent. No one dared provoke them.

Led by their chief, the Sword Sect’s leaders pressed deep underground, stopping at last before an enormous white jade platform.

“Sect Master, that platform ahead—the disciple who found it said that, just as the formation broke, there were faint traces of spiritual energy left on top!”

Beside him, an Elder who’d achieved Soul Formation a century ago explained.

But at that moment, the sect leader’s eyes went wide. He didn’t even register the voices around him.

The crowd saw his reaction and instantly understood—this white jade platform was extraordinary.

After a long silence and seeing that the sect leader refused to speak, another Soul Formation Elder voiced the question on everyone’s mind.

“Sect Master, is this one of the legendary Ancient Teleportation Platforms? If so, can we work out where it connects to?”

The first thought that jumped to mind for every sect leader looking at the platform was that it must be a teleportation device. After all, it looked just like the ones that survive today.

Yet what the sect leader said next made them all tremble.

“No. This isn’t an ancient teleportation array… It’s an Ascension Platform.”

Those three words—Ascension Platform—were enough to send chills through every Sword Sect leader present.

For a powerhouse like the Luofu Sword Sect, certain ancient secrets weren’t so secret at the higher levels.

The Ascension Platform was the greatest secret of all.

Ascension Platforms, as the name suggests, are where Immortals ascend, leaving the mortal world behind.

Legend says, in the ancient days, these platforms were everywhere. The oldest Immortal sects used them to help Void Return cultivators transcend to Immortalhood.

Everyone reacted so strongly because after the great calamity of old, the world shattered, and no one has ever set foot in the Immortal Realm since.

That’s common knowledge across the Primeval Continent.

So seeing an Ascension Platform lying before their eyes, everyone’s minds ran wild with possibilities.

Does this Ascension Platform still work?

Could it allow a modern-day Void Return cultivator to ascend to the mythical Immortal Realm?

It’s been tens of thousands of years since the Primeval Continent lost all communication with the Immortal Realm. Could it really be possible?

Could the long-broken road to the Immortal Realm be restored at last?

As the room fell into chaos, one Elder suddenly thought of something and spoke up in a rush:

“Sect Master, the implications of this Ascension Platform are massive. Should we lock down all news of this immediately?”

But the Sword Sect leader didn’t budge.

Just then, a strange noise came from the side, followed by the voice of an old man.

“Sword old ghost, this Ascension Platform ties directly to the fate of the entire Primeval Continent’s path to Immortality. The Luofu Sword Sect can’t monopolize it!”

Everyone turned to look. Across from them, a group of cultivators in Daoist robes appeared.

“Taiyi Immortal Sect!”

These newcomers were from the Taiyi Immortal Sect—the strongest Immortal Dao force on the whole continent.

Their leader was none other than Wuyazi, one of the Taiyi Immortal Sect’s three Void Return powerhouses.

And Taiyi wasn’t alone. Soon after, three more major forces arrived—every single one a continental giant with Void Return masters calling the shots.

Back on Luofu’s side, while some elders and core disciples bristled with hostility, the sect master was unusually calm.

In a quiet tone, he said:

“If I’d wanted to keep this secret, I wouldn’t have spoken the name ‘Ascension Platform’ aloud.”

“Right now, what matters most is whether this Ascension Platform still works—can it really open a path to that legendary Immortal Realm?”