Chapter 615: Mythic Artifacts and the Fury of the Battlefield

Rumor has it that the Blood Sui Yang Clan’s Zhou Tian Star Tower possesses heaven-defying defensive power. At full strength, it can withstand attacks from even mythical beings.

Of course, this refers to the Zhou Tian Star Tower in its prime, and like all rumors, there’s probably some exaggeration in there.

For one, the Zhou Tian Star Tower, much like the Song Family’s Dragon Whale Hall, isn’t just a shipborne component. It’s fused with the Blood Sui Yang Clan’s ancestral land’s Origin Core, drawing power from an entire floating-land. As their ancestral land is now just an Eighth-Level Floating-land, using only that much power isn’t enough to unleash the tower’s full might.

Besides, there’s another catch—even now, the white jade star tower floating above the Star River-class Battleship isn’t the real thing. It’s just a projected phantom of the Zhou Tian Star Tower cast across the stars, so its defenses are no doubt much weaker than the real deal.

Every captain who recognized that white jade tower out in the surrounding starry sky was thrown into utter turmoil.

Still, no matter what they thought, everyone felt the same blend of anticipation and curiosity in their hearts.

A mythical artifact of legend—what captain hasn’t dreamed of possessing one?

Now, with the chance to witness it firsthand, their curiosity brimmed over. All longed to see just what sort of earth-shaking power a so-called mythic artifact could unleash.

Hummmmmm!

An enormous demon blade, crackling with menacing energy, came crashing down on the ethereal white jade tower above the Star River-class Battleship.

In that instant, the void exploded. A shockwave carrying energy nearly at the ninth tier blasted outward from the point of impact, sweeping across space at breakneck speed.

The first to be caught up were the Blood Sui Yang Clan’s Star River-class Battleships, closest to the blast. Next, it spread to the nearby Eighth-Tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demons. After that, over a dozen Star-Annihilator-class warships were engulfed.

“Activate every defensive trait you’ve got—now!”

Across every fleet’s comms as they scattered, the urgent roar echoed almost at once.

A few lower-ranked captains followed orders and activated their ship’s defenses immediately, but most chose to wait and see.

You couldn’t really blame them. Each Torch Battleship only came with a handful of defensive modules, with long cooldowns. Nobody would use them unless they saw the threat with their own eyes.

By contrast, the noble house fleets who maintained strict discipline acted differently. With orders passed down by the venerable clan elders, almost every captain instinctively activated their defenses without hesitation.

The Song Family was the classic example.

At Song Shiyuan’s reminder in the group chat, any clansman who still had a defense trait didn’t hesitate to activate it.

Even so, it hardly meant they were out of danger. There were only so many Torch Battleships in the fleet. Most were just ordinary warships, without the space for extra components or any special defenses to lean on.

The energy storm swept forward, and any ship—Torch Battleship or ordinary, even Sky Serpent Warships—that hadn’t triggered a special defense was battered and ravaged by the ninth-tier storm. Losses piled up fast.

“Flamefire Domain!”

Aboard the Scorching Sea Blazer, Song Yan activated a unique flame-domain trait. Waves of fire radiated from the ship, quickly enveloping most of the Song Family’s fleet.

But this field was only a silver-grade ability. Even though Song Yan had leveled it up to tier seven, it still wasn’t enough to resist a shockwave close to tier nine.

The flame domain lasted just a few seconds before shattering.

As the hearts of the Song Family elites tightened in fear, suddenly that raging storm was halted mid-rush—as if some unseen barrier had appeared, blocking it completely from advancing a single step.

“What’s this…?”

Looking up, every member of the Song Family saw a phantom chessboard floating overhead.

The ghostly chessboard radiated a surge of temporal power, shaping a field of time beneath it. Thanks to this temporal barrier, the rampaging outside storm couldn’t break through.

“Who did this? Which elder’s handiwork?”

“Who knows? But it’s definitely someone from the Song Family. Otherwise, it wouldn’t only shield our fleet.”

Off to the side, the Heavenly Ruin was also covered by this phantom chessboard.

Inside the control room, Song Chi stayed quiet. Anyone looking at him could see the pain on his face—like he’d just taken a big hit.

To shield the entire family’s fleet this time, he’d burned through 108 chess pieces constructing the Time • Chessboard. He’d saved the fleet, sure, but now the cooldown would last 108 years—even with the Pusa Zen Seal helping, it’d still be more than 20 years before he could use it again.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions echoed through every corner of the starscape. Wreckage drifted everywhere—ships torn apart by the onslaught. By rough count, this single exchange and its aftermath had sunk at least ten million vessels.

But no one had time to care. For the survivors, one thought trumped all: get as far as possible from this star domain, and fast.

“Move! Don’t stop for anything!”

The Song Family fleet raced away with everyone else. At one point, a golden light burst from the rear-most ship, the Heavenly Ruin.

That golden light shot out at breakneck speed, crossing hundreds of thousands of kilometers before piercing straight into the body of a seventh-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demon.

Seizing the chance, Song Chi immediately recalled the Dominator Worm.

Once the Tiger Carapace King Bug made it back into the hanger, the Heavenly Ruin sealed its doors and a ring of subtle spatial ripples appeared around the ship.

The moment the serpent demon shook off the time stop, the Heavenly Ruin had already vanished, and even the phantom chessboard above disappeared without a trace.

……

“Xuancang, more Sky Serpent Warships are on our tail again. Take twenty Zhulu-class Cruisers and intercept!”

“Understood, Prime Ancestor!”

With a new order in the comms, an elite squad of captains broke away from the main fleet, racing off to block the pursuers.

This was the joint force of the Song and Luo Families. Days had passed since their retreat from the eighth-tier battlefield, so they’d put a good stretch behind them—but with so many enemy search ships patrolling, they never got much distance before being spotted again.

Luckily, there hadn’t been any seventh-tier Serpent Demon Lords in these waves. The Song Family could manage so far.

Suddenly, a comms module aboard the Unmoving Vajra beeped. Incoming message.

Song Shiyuan glanced over. The message came from a clansman out on point, scouting the way ahead.

“Reporting to the Prime Ancestor: there’s a battle zone ten million miles off the port side!”

Song Shiyuan’s reply was quick and easy, like he’d done this a hundred times.

“Any chance of confirming who’s involved?”

“Pretty certain it’s the Stark Family of Yaohan Kingdom. They’re up against two massive Sky Serpent motherships!”

This news prompted the high-ranked group in the encrypted family chat to exchange looks.

Song Shiyuan: “Let’s help them. That Mermaid Queen’s Blessing still hasn’t reached us!”

So Song Chi, Song Tianhao, and Song Tianshu—piloting three warships—along with hundreds of Hellfire Mechs, all set out, rushing toward the embattled Stark Family.

With the Heavenly Ruin’s mirror warship on their side and no seventh-tier Serpent Demon Lord present, the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons’ fate was sealed.

Once they’d helped the Stark Family eliminate the enemy, the Starks returned the favor with a surprise.

They delivered the Mermaid Queen’s Blessing early, but only if their fleet was brought under the Song Family’s protection immediately.

After what they’d just seen, the Starks had learned just how deadly this vast war of civilizations was. They understood that without a protector, there was nothing to gain and no hope of surviving future battles, so defecting to the Song Family was the safest chance they had.

Song Family Senior Command Chat

The core members discussed where the Mermaid Queen’s Blessing should go. They’d originally agreed it was best for the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang.

It would double the combat power of a Star-Annihilator-class ship.

And the same for a Dreadnought.

Given the choice, the answer was obvious.

But with the clan elder tied up at the eighth-tier battlefield and no idea when he’d regroup, they had to reconsider.

In the end, the Mermaid Queen’s Blessing went to the Heavenly Ruin.

Song Chi didn’t react much after that—he’d have to remove the part sooner or later anyway.

No sooner had he leveled it up to 70 than bad news struck.

Three seventh-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demons were closing in at high speed.

“So? Do we fight, or stall for time?”

Having noticed this, the core members calmly weighed their options.

Compared to before, they were far more confident now.

After all, besides the Dominator Worm carried off on the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang, they still had two more, plus a Domination-level Starry Sky Dragon Shark. With that kind of firepower, the Song Family’s leaders didn’t scare easily.

Just then, Song Chi spoke up.

“Prime Ancestor, you and the others take both Dominator Worms and keep two of the Serpent Demon Lords busy. Leave the last one to me.”

Song Shiyuan offered no objections. He, Song Xingru, and Song Yan took off together with two Dominator Worms in tow.

……

Out in the starlit void, a Serpent Demon Lord wielded a silver halberd. When the Heavenly Ruin appeared, the creature rushed forward to attack without hesitation.

Inside the control room, Song Chi’s eyes blazed with energy.

A moment later, the hidden mirror warship phased into view.

The two warships hovered side by side, locking onto the charging Serpent Demon Lord. Song Chi called up every drop of focus he had.

Void Sea Projection Emperor’s Tomb: Quadruple Projection—activated!

Not just the Heavenly Ruin’s true form, but its mirror warship both rippled the space around them. Each conjured four new projections.

From two ships, they suddenly had ten on the field.

But that wasn’t all. With the eight projected warships in play, Song Chi continued, activating even more components.

Pusa Zen Seal: Samsara Time Domain!

Pusa Zen Seal: Zen Seal, External—Time Stop!

Blood Spear: God of the Hunt’s Weakpoint Mark!

Blood Spear: Blood Judgment!

Myriad-Spirit Annihilation Bow: Life-bane Arrow!

Black Hole Evolution Layer: Black Hole Singular Burst!

Pusa Zen Seal: Zen Seal, Internal—Time Acceleration!

Each component didn’t just activate for the base of the Heavenly Ruin, but for the mirror warship as well.

Ahead, the Serpent Demon Lord immediately sensed the lethal threat and jerked to a stop. Its pupils glowed with dense gray light.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

From the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon’s arsenal, Petrifying Rays shot out.

Song Chi didn’t even bother to dodge.

As it turned out, these seventh-tier Petrifying Rays couldn’t do a thing to the Heavenly Ruin protected by its golden Blood War Stele.

When the enemy saw its Petrifying Rays had no effect, it realized it wouldn’t be able to break Song Chi’s charge-up, so it tried to escape with Dominion Power surging around it.

But by then, the Heavenly Ruin had already fired its time-stop golden light.

Hummmmmm!

Space trembled. Two waves of time-stop energy pierced into the Serpent Demon Lord, but the beast clearly had strong resistance to time-based attacks and shook off both Zen Seals: External Time Stop.

With its enemy almost free, Song Chi’s gaze turned icy.

“Thanks to the Zen Seal: Internal Time Acceleration, Blood Spear doesn’t need a long charge. If I hold him for even a split second, Blood Judgment will land!”

As the thought flashed by, another component on the warship powered up.

Voidlock Skyseal Sigil: Heaven-Binding Shackles!

A special chain shot from the void, binding the Serpent Demon Lord in the blink of an eye.

Voidlock Skyseal Sigil might just be silver-grade, weaker than the Pusa Zen Seal, but it could at least momentarily lock down the Serpent Demon Lord.

Serpent Demon Avatar!

The seventh-tier Serpent Demon Lord activated its second inherited divine power. With the boost from Serpent Demon Avatar and its physically powerful body,

Crack!

In an instant, the Heaven-Binding Shackles were shattered by brute force. There was no way they could cage the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon’s monstrous frame.

But it was enough. That brief moment allowed the Blood Judgment spear from the Blood Spear to drive straight for the Serpent Demon Lord.

Boom!

The spear of judgment punched into the Serpent Demon Lord’s skull, followed swiftly by an explosive blast.

It had shown such physical might a moment ago, but now it was in complete disarray.

With the spear’s unstoppable penetration and the micro-black hole erupting right after, it was impossible to imagine the agony that seventh-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demon now faced.

And it wasn’t done. Next, the God of the Hunt’s Weakpoint Mark exploded in full force, delivering a second wave of damage.

Pale silver blood spattered across the starry sky.