Chapter 622: The Judgment Spear and the Phantom Shadows

In the pitch-dark expanse of space, a blood-red spear stretching hundreds of thousands of meters finally took shape. The next moment, it shot out with terrifying speed.

It raced straight toward the front of the Mirror Warship. Far ahead, hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, a massive gray shadow floated silently in the stars. It looked harmless, almost docile, but Song Chi already knew firsthand how dangerous it really was.

No one knew what that gray shadow actually was. Not only could it evade the Eyes of Heaven, it crept up to the Mirror Warship completely undetected. Only moments ago, a direct soul-piercing gray beam had nearly shattered his Voidform Avatar.

Voidform Avatar was a secret spatial technique passed down through the Song Family. Essentially, it used the Law of Space as its body and divine sense threads as its soul, allowing for independent movement and incredibly long-range manipulation.

This meant the Voidform Avatar’s mind was always connected to the original body. Any attack that struck the soul, no matter how far Song Chi’s main body was, would inflict the same damage.

Luckily, his mind was shielded by the Heart Hall within Dragon Whale Hall, which was the only reason he’d escaped harm.

Now, Song Chi could only hope that Blood Judgment might injure that distant gray shadow. At the very least, he needed to force it to reveal some abilities and find out what he was truly up against.

As the most powerful strike the eighth-tier golden Main Cannon could muster, the phantom of the blood-red spear brought with it a terrifying force nobody could doubt.

Still, deep down, Song Chi felt a sense of unease. Even now, that gray silhouette ahead hadn’t moved a muscle to dodge.

Was it unafraid because it had some ace up its sleeve?

Or did it simply lack intelligence altogether?

Two theories brushed through his mind, but before he could think them through, everything out front gave him the answer.

There was no explosion of energy as expected. The phantom Blood Spear passed straight through the gray shadow without the slightest resistance, finally shooting off into the endless void.

“So it really is a bodiless soul-type creature…”

Song Chi wasn’t surprised by the conclusion. Back when it fired that soul-seizing beam, he’d already had his suspicions.

The Shattered Sea of Stars was vast, but soul-attack specialists there all shared one of two traits.

Either their bodies were fragile, their bodies and souls imbalanced,

Or they had no true body at all, existing as pure spirit-forms.

That giant gray shadow clearly fit the second category.

Once he confirmed that, Song Chi relaxed. Since he now understood the enemy’s nature, he could form a proper plan.

He quickly set aside his usual ship cannons—Blood Spear, Myriad-Spirit Annihilation Bow, and Taiyi Quantum Swordlight Battery. Instead, his attention landed on the Divine Thunder Cannon and the Soul-Annihilating Iris Beam.

Swish, swish!

The moment blasts of violet lightning and soul-vaporizing beams shot out together, the massive gray shadow drifting closer abruptly came to a halt.

Crackle—

Even though it was just a standard shot from the Divine Thunder Cannon combined with the main cannon property of the Soul-Annihilating Iris Beam, the attacks slammed into the gray shadow and did massive damage.

Even from hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, Song Chi could see black smoke billowing from within its gray form as it was burned and corroded.

Seeing this, Song Chi didn’t hold back. He triggered Ten-Thousand Sigil Violet Lightning Prison.

A storm of thunder sigils engulfed the shadow, and within the terrifying surge of energy a faint, furious screech echoed out. Most of the sound was drowned by thunder’s roar, and over time, even that faded into silence.

Two minutes later, in the control room of the Heavenly Ruin in the Fire Serpent Galaxy…

“Mirror Warship has slain a sixth-tier Nightmare Wraith—Reward: 1 strand of fifth-tier Floating-Land Origin.”

“Nightmare Wraith?”

Song Chi’s eyes flickered with confusion. He had absolutely no recollection of such a creature.

“AI, search for information on the Nightmare Wraith.”

“Please wait. Retrieving data…”

“Comparing with archives…”

“No information on ‘Nightmare Wraith’ found in the database!”

……

Seeing even the warship’s data banks come up empty, Song Chi ironically found his answer.

“So… it must be a rare species bred only within Secret Realms.”

With a thought, Song Chi guided the Mirror Warship slowly forward.

After the purple thunder sigil bombardment faded, nothing much was left at the center of the battlefield. The giant gray shadow, being formless, had been utterly erased by the violet divine thunder. Only a strange fist-sized gray crystal remained.

“Is this…?”

Song Chi stared at the gray crystal, already having a guess.

Using the Market Projection Token held by his Voidform Avatar, the gray crystal was quickly sent into his hand.

He examined it for a good while. To test his suspicion, he tossed the gray crystal to an ancient six-star beast behind him and ordered it to absorb the energy inside.

“Well?”

“Master, this energy does boost the strength of one’s divine soul.”

Satisfied with the answer from his ancient beast, Song Chi reclaimed the gray crystal. His mind sharpened to full attention.

A moment later, a hundred and sixty invisible threads of divine sense quietly burrowed into the crystal. Its internal energy visibly dwindled as the seconds passed.

By the time the sixth-tier gray crystal had been completely absorbed, Song Chi found that his longstanding bottleneck—160 threads of divine sense, or multitasking at 160-fold—had finally broken through. He now controlled 161 threads.

Just one extra thread, but its significance was worlds apart.

An ordinary sixth-tier Dreadnought Captain could usually manage around 100 threads. Song Chi’s mark of 160 already surpassed his peers. That had made further improvement nearly impossible, but these special gray crystals had opened a path for rapid growth.

This discovery sparked intense interest in Song Chi. He immediately classed the gray crystals as being just as valuable as Primal Chaos Qi.

Soul power had always been critical.

It not only determined warship control efficiency, battle reflexes, and the duration one could keep a ship in Mythical Mech Form, but after advancing to seventh tier, it directly affected how quickly one could seek out and comprehend the Sea of Stars’ core principles—crucial for any being hoping to ascend to the Mythic rank. Song Chi sent this info to the family group chat, confirmed both the Clan Elder and his big brother Song Yan had received it, then turned nearly all his focus to the Mirror Warship. It was time to hunt more of those gray crystals.

After that, the Mirror Warship began drifting through the Secret Realm, scouring every region it could and relentlessly hunting Nightmare Wraiths.

Time flowed on. Two years flashed by.

In those two years, Song Chi harvested incredible rewards: more than thirty sixth-tier gray crystals, nearly a thousand fourth- and fifth-tier crystals, and too many lower-grade ones to count.

He even took down a seventh-tier Nightmare Wraith with the ‘Ninefold Violet Heaven World-Ending Calamity Thunder,’ powered by a newly bought intermediate Lightning Law Crystal. That feat earned him a seventh-tier gray crystal.

That was just half a month ago. Thanks to that seventh-tier crystal, the number of threads of divine sense he controlled soared to 182—a huge leap.

……

Inside the Heavenly Ruin’s control center in the Fire Serpent Galaxy—

Song Chi crushed an exhausted sixth-tier gray crystal to powder and drew in all his divine sense threads, shaking his head.

“After two years absorbing over thirty sixth-tier gray crystals, they barely do anything for me now. Looks like I’ll have to hunt another seventh-tier Nightmare Wraith.”

“Lucky for me, thanks to Pusa Zen Seal and a segmented Timepiece Chess being cooled down, Ninefold Violet Heaven World-Ending Calamity Thunder is ready to use again.”

With a thought, Song Chi triggered the Market Token in his Torch Ancestral Orifice. In less than a breath, his figure appeared millions of lightyears away on the Dragon-Spine Continent.

[Yaoguang Star Order Group Chat]

“Jingzhe (Order #32): @everyone—I need Lightning Law Crystals, any quality. Will trade for high-grade soul resources.”

He attached a picture of a gray crystal and described its effects in the chat.

Soon, replies started coming in.

“Yulong (Order #17): Jingzhe, Sis has three primary Lightning Law Crystals and one intermediate. My little Yu’s only shortcoming is soul power.”

“Jingzhe (Order #32): Perfect. How about this—three sixth-tier gray crystals, plus thirty fifth-tier ones…”

“Yulong (Order #17): Thanks, Jingzhe!”

Song Chi’s offer was more than generous, which naturally won Cui Yulong’s gratitude.

The ‘little Yu’ she mentioned was her own son, once the Changsun Family’s first-in-line heir—full name Changsun Yu. Now, at over six hundred years old, and with the immortal Changsun Clan’s full support, he’d reached Peak Battleship Captain for more than a century. He stood on the verge of becoming Dreadnought Captain—an extraordinary talent.

Song Chi’s generosity wasn’t just gratitude for Cui Yulong’s past help. He also intended to build goodwill with Changsun Yu.

After all, unless an accident cut his life short, Changsun Yu was certain to become one of his family’s key leaders. Building rapport early was only wise.

It wasn’t about expecting some future favor, but it never hurt to sow goodwill.

After Cui Yulong, Song Chi traded with several more Star Tower members to get a few extra Lightning Law Crystals.

By the end, he’d accumulated six orange-grade primary Lightning Law Crystals, two red intermediate ones, and that one silver advanced Lightning Law Crystal he’d traded for earlier at the Star Tower Mall but never dared use till now.

With everything ready, Song Chi hurried back to the Fire Serpent Galaxy, while his Mirror Warship also sprang into action.

Scarlet Vault Jump Drive—activated!

With a flash, the silver jump drive sent the Mirror Warship vanishing into the black void. When it reappeared, it hovered before a massive floating island.

“Nightmare Soul Continent”—this was the heart of the Nightmare Secret Realm. Its size matched a fifth- or sixth-tier Floating-land, its diameter not even a hundred lightyears.

After two years mingling in this low-grade universe realm, Song Chi had already studied all its secrets.

He wasn’t fooled by the small size of this Floating-land. Just like the old Blood War Secret Realm, he knew this land hosted eighth-tier Nightmare Wraiths.

That fact alone was why he’d never dared enter in over two years.

But for another shot at a seventh-tier gray crystal, he’d risk it now.

Of course, the most important factor was the one entering the Nightmare Secret Realm wasn’t really himself—it was just the Mirror Warship. With the Heart Hall of Dragon Whale Hall shielding his mind, even a disaster here couldn’t harm his real body, which was tens of thousands of lightyears away.

Because of their nature, Nightmare Wraiths couldn’t be detected by Eyes of Heaven, and even Spiritual Detection couldn’t sense them.

Song Chi wasn’t worried about that. After two years here, plenty of Torch Captains who entered first had already entered the Nightmare Soul Continent.

He didn’t need to hunt down the top-tier Nightmare Wraiths—just track other Torch Battleships moving about the Floating-land.

Other Torch Battleships could cloak themselves, but compared to an eighth-tier enhanced Gold Patrol Radar, that was nothing. Under the Eyes of Heaven’s scrutiny, there was nowhere to hide.

Since they’d been stationed here for a while, they already had the locations of most higher-tier Nightmare Wraiths mapped out. All Song Chi had to do was find them—and the wraiths couldn’t be far.

Five days later, by tracking the movements of the Torch Battleships, Song Chi pinpointed the location of a seventh-tier Nightmare Wraith.

Once everything was ready, he piloted the Mirror Warship straight to the wraith’s lair.

The warship floated silently, tens of thousands of meters above the Floating-land.

He could clearly see that, less than a million meters below, a seventh-tier Nightmare Wraith was lurking.

But even from so close, it didn’t notice the Mirror Warship overhead. It really showed just how powerful the Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl was, especially paired with the silver grade Void Shroud.

Song Chi barely spared that a thought. At the prow of the Mirror Warship, Ninefold Violet Heaven World-Ending Calamity Thunder and Soul-Annihilating Iris Beam steadily charged up.

Seconds later, as both attacks reached their peak, an ear-splitting howl split the air.

But before either main cannon could fire, Song Chi activated the Pusa Zen Seal’s Samsara Time Domain.

This was the Nightmare Wraiths’ home turf. The Floating-land itself gave them huge advantages, so to guarantee a hit, Song Chi had to play it safe.

Samsara Time Domain embodied the power of time—a supreme law. Time didn’t care whether you had a body or not. Anything within the domain’s reach had to endure its effects.

Under the Pusa Zen Seal’s tenfold time-slowing effect, both attacks hurtled straight toward the seventh-tier Nightmare Wraith.