Chapter 621: A Silver Fire’s Surprise and the Secret Realm Hunt

A sense of tension welled up in Song Chi’s heart.

“Could it be that they found a high-tier oddity or immortal artifact on that supposedly banished Immortal Continent? Are they here this time to trade for a Market Projection Token?”

The thought made Song Chi unconsciously furrow his brows.

At the moment, he only had three Market Projection Tokens at his disposal. The Song Family and Shen Youran’s side regularly needed to use up one as insurance, so if he traded another away, he’d be dangerously short.

Soon enough, Zhou Ping strode into the Oddities Exchange, and just as Song Chi predicted, the first thing he did was open his storage pouch.

But in the end, Song Chi realized there weren’t any golden sanctum-tier or higher oddities inside—just a few silver-glowing items.

His eyes shifted, finally settling on a wisp of silver flame.

“Wait a second…”

Suddenly struck by a thought, he directed a wisp of Market Power towards the flame.

When Song Chi saw the silver flame’s properties, an unexpected thrill shot through him.

He’d only expected it to be a silver fire, the sort that could upgrade into a higher-tier fire source, which already gave it value close to a typical golden sanctum oddity. But the truth gave him an even greater surprise.

[Oddity: Fire Within Stone]

[Quality: Silver]

[Convertible: None]

[Note: Part of the True Samadhi Fire. Combine with two other matching flames to forge the ultimate Samadhi Fire.]

It turned out to be a wisp of Fire Within Stone.

Song Chi hadn’t forgotten that he still had a wisp of Fire in the Air, which he’d once taken from the Chasing Fate Immortal. If he got this Fire Within Stone, he’d only need to find the Fire Within Wood to attempt the legendary Samadhi Fire fusion.

Sure enough, Zhou Ping was after Fire Within Stone.

But his request was simple—he wanted to trade it for a Market Projection Token. After all, Song Chi had been collecting fire-type oddities of all qualities at high prices in the Market for centuries.

[This item does not meet requirements. You may only exchange for any other oddity of the same quality in the shop.]

Naturally, Song Chi refused him without a second thought. Though Fire Within Stone was part of the Samadhi Fire, it couldn’t upgrade to a higher fire source, and that fact was final. On that basis, Song Chi wasn’t about to say yes.

Zhou Ping seemed to have expected this and didn’t linger. He simply exchanged the Fire Within Stone for another silver oddity from the shop—a flying sword-type this time.

Once Zhou Ping left and trading in the Market died down, Song Chi finally turned his attention back to the Fire Within Stone.

He took out the Fire in the Air, deliberately letting the two flames touch.

“Something’s off…”

Boosted by the Market Law, Song Chi soon noticed what was wrong.

“The two flames are trying to fuse, but without Fire Within Wood, it’s extremely difficult.”

With that conclusion, he pressed on, using his eighth-tier Dominion Power within the Market to keep pushing the flames to merge.

Half an hour went by. Just as Song Chi was about to give up, the tentative fusion worked. The two flames combined into one, and its glow changed from silver to gold.

He looked again, and the new properties quickly appeared before him.

[Oddity: Incomplete Samadhi Fire]

[Quality: Gold]

[Convertible: Upgraded Torch Seed]

[Note: An incomplete Samadhi Fire, forcibly fused by special means. Even so, it possesses some of the true Samadhi Fire’s might.]

“I can’t believe I forced a fusion into Samadhi Fire—and it can even be converted into an upgraded Torch Seed! That’s a genuine surprise.”

Amid his delight, another thought flashed through Song Chi’s mind.

“But this is still incomplete Samadhi Fire. If I find Fire Within Wood later, how far could it evolve—black, or even multicolored?”

Song Chi carefully put away the half-fused Samadhi Fire and didn’t dwell on the question.

Whether black or colored, that was still far off. Fire Within Wood wasn’t something he could just stumble upon.

“Still, if I can plant a spatial anchor on that banished Immortal Continent and send the Heavenly Ruin warship over, maybe I can try using the Destiny Compass to trace its origin.”

……

The next day, two spatial waves rippled out from the very heart of the Song Family’s fleet. Two massive warships flickered briefly into view and then vanished, causing barely a stir.

In a quiet corner unseen by all, three warships hidden in the void slipped away from the main fleet. Once they’d broken away, all three activated their jumps one after the other.

A Star-Annihilator and two Dreadnoughts peeled away from the fleet, yet strangely, no one seemed to notice.

The secret was that each of those three ships carried a Void Shroud module, which, boosted by fifth- and sixth-tier Silver Apples, had evolved into a red-grade Void Shroud.

But most crucially, the Song Family’s main Star-Annihilator and the two Dreadnoughts were still present—the ones that slipped away were just replicated warships.

Midway through the Fire Serpent Galaxy, on the Fire Serpent Floating-Land.

This peak seventh-level living floating-land was almost thirty thousand light-years wide. That explained why so many Eight-Armed Serpent Demons were stationed here—even after countless deaths in floating-land shield wars, they still had strength left to fight.

Outside the Fire Serpent Floating-Land, three hidden warships hovered silently in space.

“We’ve narrowed it down to the northwest sector of the floating-land. Let’s move! There aren’t many high-tier serpent demons left, so our window is short.”

Right as Song Wujian finished, Song Yan activated a brand-new module.

The Group Invisibility module—Group Phantom River!

To prep for this operation, Song Yan had purposely secured the Group Phantom River module from Song Shiyuan before summoning the replicated warships. He’d fitted it to the Scorching Sea Blazer.

Of course, Group Phantom River was still installed on the real Scorching Sea Blazer, not this copy.

The cloaking field spread across all three ships, and coupled with their Void Shroud modules, the trio glided toward the Fire Serpent Floating-Land as invisible as shadows.

Between the dual stealth effects, even with at least four Star-Annihilators on the floating-land—and even with Bloodline Yang Song likely watching—none of the three warships were detected.

Under cover of the Group Phantom River, not even a ripple escaped as they powered up their engines for the jump. It let them reach the floating-land’s northwest at top speed.

“Split up and sweep for the secret realm! If you find it, alert the other two instantly!”

The three ships swiftly diverged, each racing off in a separate direction.

At first, they thought this would drag on, but events left them caught off guard.

Elsewhere in the Fire Serpent Galaxy’s south, in the Song Family fleet’s encrypted chat, Song Yan’s voice rang out.

“Clan Elder, Seventh Brother, I’ve got something!”

When Song Chi and the elder arrived, they found a crowd of warships already gathered nearby.

Turned out, the secret realm entrance had just been exposed, with dozens of warships amassed at the spot—including battleships, dreadnoughts, and even two Star-Annihilators.

Luckily, these warships hailed from many different factions. In the end, they agreed to a joint exploration, giving Song Chi’s team a chance to join in.

A few hours later, another few dozen warships arrived. Soon, more than a hundred ships—none below battleship class—were assembled at the entrance.

“Let them go first. No secret realm could keep those Star-Annihilator captains on the sidelines. Once they head in, we’ll force our way through after!” Song Wujian said.

Half an hour later, over a hundred ships began passing through the entrance in an orderly stream. It lasted nearly ten minutes, leaving only three dreadnoughts at the gate—each one guarding the entrance for their own side.

Song Chi’s team waited another ten minutes, long enough for the explorers to scatter inside, before Song Wujian gave the order.

“Go!”

At the word, their three warships surged ahead, racing for the secret realm entrance.

With their shields still cloaking them, the three dreadnoughts at the entrance sensed nothing until Song Chi and crew came close in the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang. But by then, it was too late.

Before the defending dreadnoughts could react, Song Chi’s trio fired off beams of light, each one freezing its target in place.

Only after the Song group’s ships slipped into the secret realm did the three dreadnoughts snap back to themselves.

“Clan Elder, three outside warships just entered the secret realm—a Star-Annihilator and two Dreadnoughts.”

“Quick on the uptake, but don’t mind them. Just keep guarding the entrance!”

……

Song Chi’s vision twisted. When he came back to himself, his mirror warship was drifting in pitch-black space—they’d made it into this unknown secret realm.

Before he could look around, the elder’s voice sounded at his ear.

“Same strategy as always: spread out. Anything you get, send straight to the Market with a Market-Walking Token.”

Whooom! Whooom! Whooom!

Engines roared in answer, and the three warships vanished off in separate directions.

This realm felt a lot like the previous Blood War Secret Realm—spacious, dotted with floating-lands, and teeming with local native species.