Chapter 637: A Relentless Pursuit Through the Immortal Domain

At first glance, the gray shadow looked no bigger than a palm, but in Zhang Lingxuan’s eyes, it felt like an unstoppable beast. The oppressive force rolling off it made his very soul tremble.

“A true immortal—no, even beyond the level of the Three True Immortal Ancestors of the Taiyi Immortal Sect…”

The moment he reached that conclusion, Zhang Lingxuan found it completely reasonable. After all, with a being as formidable as the Master of the Omniverse Market at the top, it was no surprise that followers at the true immortal level were at his command.

But in the very next second, his breath caught in his throat.

More figures soon swept out from within the warship as real and solid as could be.

Among them were a dragon-whale and a humanoid, seductive female creature with two antennae growing from her head and a mesmerizing aura—all radiating power on par with true immortals.

These three were precisely the Seventh-Tier Nightmare Soul Body, the Starry Sky Dragon Shark, and the Broodmother—Elise—whom Song Chi had enslaved not long ago in the Nightmare Secret Realm.

As a Seventh-Tier Ancient Broodmother, Elise’s bloodline could reach the pinnacle of the Sea of Stars. Naturally, she could take on a human form—though at Seventh-Tier, she still retained distinct insect traits. Only upon ascending to the mythic realm would her transformation become flawless.

The reason Song Chi called forth all three wasn’t because he planned to keep them stationed on the Immortal Continent. The battle for dominance was only heating up, and his family’s fleet needed every ounce of top-tier strength on its side. With the ruins right here and his influence already extending in, he could explore later—there was no need to get his priorities backward.

Right now, he simply wanted to put his might on display and send a little warning to his first signed Omniverse Walker.

Immortal Continent wasn’t just any land mass but the ancestral home to a civilization that once ruled as overlord of this region. Who knows what opportunities might lie buried here? If the Luofu Sword Sect’s luck really hit its peak, there could even be a way to break free from the golden-grade Covenant of Flame.

So, this not-so-subtle demonstration of strength was absolutely necessary.

……

“This matter is settled. You may withdraw for now!”

A majestic voice echoed from above, wrapped in purple mist energy high up in the sky.

On hearing this, Zhang Lingxuan bowed respectfully in his thoughts. But before leaving, he raised his spent Market Projection Token.

Far away, deep inside the Omniverse Market.

Inside the Exchange Shop, a silver-grade oddity suddenly vanished. Once its core essence was completely extracted, it crumbled to dust. Above, Song Chi’s right arm—drawing on Eighth-Tier Dominion Power—lifted. That wisp of silver essence shot from his arm.

In the projection over the Immortal Continent Ruins, a handprint emerged. At its point, a streak of light fell from the heavens, striking the Market Projection Token in Zhang Lingxuan’s hand with perfect precision.

Sensing what just happened, Zhang Lingxuan lifted his head and confirmed his token’s charges had been restored. He bowed again before turning back to rejoin the Luofu Sword Sect elders and disciples.

……

In the Heavenly Ruin’s control room, Song Chi listened as the Sky-Domain AI reported that all outsiders had departed and the market projection above began to slowly dissolve.

The moment the Omniverse Market’s purple mist projection faded away, a subtle ripple of space floated through the control room. Who else could it be but Song Chi appearing inside?

The instant he arrived, Song Chi’s gaze flicked to the side, landing on the radar display projected by the Eyes of Heaven.

Even though he had already gotten the Sky-Domain AI’s initial confirmation, he swept the system again with his Dual Pupils, just to be safe.

Once he was doubly sure, the three enslaved Seventh-Tier beasts quickly shrank their forms. As soon as Song Chi recalled them into the warship, he activated the Scarlet Vault Jump Drive for a routine jump, not hesitating for a second.

The Void Sea Projection Emperor’s Tomb’s ‘reality-conversion’ only lasted for a limited time. Song Chi had to choose a suitable spot and set up a spatial anchor before that window closed if he wanted free access to the Immortal Continent Ruins later on.

Above all else, safety came first.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

Once charged, ripples of space swirled around the warship’s hull, and the Heavenly Ruin surged straight into the swirling spatial vortex ahead.

In a remote, unknown area within the Immortal Continent Ruins, a portal of space condensed into being and the Heavenly Ruin burst forth from the jump.

Back in the control room, a flicker of surprise showed in Song Chi’s eyes.

Staring at the radar to the side, he remained silent for several seconds, then muttered,

“We only jumped a hundred-some light years? Seriously?”

He checked over and over—sure enough, the jump barely covered a little over a hundred light years. Song Chi couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Normally, a single jump from a silver-grade Scarlet Vault Jump Drive would cover more than ten thousand light years at minimum. He had no idea how, but this time the distance was forcibly compressed a hundredfold.

Before he could think it over, the Sky-Domain AI offered a theory.

“Jump function severely restricted. Running database comparison…”

“Based on all available database information, the possible causes are…”

“One: Suppression by the Star Continent’s core will. 92.5% probability…”

“Two: Residual energy from prior invasions of the Immortal Continent. 7.49% probability…”

“Three: Space energy from the Void Sea’s Shadow Side. 0.01% probability…”

……

“So it’s the Star Continent’s core will rejecting us…”

Song Chi repeated the words, his mind racing.

With the Sky-Domain AI’s assessment, it was clear that suppression by the continent itself was by far the most likely answer—meaning there was no easy solution.

So, what exactly is a Star Continent?

Only the Sea of Stars’ floating lands above level ten are called Star Continents. Their status matches that of colored oddities and myth-level creatures.

If you want to ignore that kind of suppression, you’d need power on the same level—forget silver gear, even black jump drives wouldn’t cut it.

After a long silence, Song Chi activated the Scarlet Vault Jump Drive again, only this time, it wasn’t a normal jump. He went for a full ‘Scarlet Vault Jump.’

Of course, first things first. He switched on Neutron-Star Fission to shrink the Heavenly Ruin into a micro-neutron star. Better safe than sorry!

This time, the Heavenly Ruin jumped over sixty thousand light years in one go.

At last, Song Chi could relax as he set about finding the perfect spot for his spatial anchor.

He needed to put that much distance between himself and civilization because with the rate sects like those on the Primeval Continent investigate, they might take centuries or millennia just to cover that much ground. From that far, he could safely use mirror warships to explore the Immortal Continent—no one would ever find out, not even if a fight broke out.

Soon, Song Chi spotted a hidden cave deep in a massive mountain range. The chamber was huge, easily big enough to house the Heavenly Ruin, and the rock around it was solid as could be. Once he sealed up the entrances, safety wouldn’t be an issue.

Satisfied, he immediately laid claim to the location as his base for all future operations on the Immortal Continent.

First, he unloaded a large modular illusion array—including a Sixth-Tier controllable nuclear fusion reactor—from the warship’s hold.

Once the reactor powered on, the illusion array activated in full. A shimmering screen of light enveloped the entire entrance, hiding it completely from view.

That wasn’t enough for Song Chi. He then installed a nuclear shielding array, powered by his fusion reactor. Soon, a sixth-level nuclear shield—camouflaged by the illusion—rose to protect his base.

With the illusions and the nuclear shield working together, his stronghold was now genuinely secure.

Once everything was in place, Song Chi summoned a Sixth-Tier Doomstar and handed it a Market-Walking Token.

For the foreseeable future, unless absolutely necessary, he had no intention of setting foot in the Immortal Continent Ruins himself.

After all, things on the Star Continent were anything but clear. This trip had been smooth, but that didn’t mean there weren’t dangers lurking. Even sixty thousand light years was just a drop in the ocean for something of this scale.

Level-nine floating lands in the Sea of Stars can reach a span of millions of light years. How much bigger must a Star Continent be?

His plan was simple. He’d let his enslaved creatures handle things on this side, linking up through the Market-Walking Token. When the Mirror Image Split finished cooling down, he could use the Projection Emperor Stone to summon his mirror warship. That way, exploration could continue without risking his own safety. The best of both worlds.

Of course, along with the Sixth-Tier Doomstar, he’d also keep the Seventh-Tier Nightmare Soul Body here—not just for security, but because summoning it directly with the Song Family would arouse the suspicions of the Lingyue Zhao Clan, the Ruan Clan, or even the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty’s various advance fleets.

Rather than keeping it locked up on the Heavenly Ruin, it was better to make use of every resource.

With all these arrangements complete, Song Chi’s gaze finally landed on the Destiny Compass.

More specifically, he focused on the Map Disk within.

Just one look, and brilliance flashed through his eyes.

“Is this… the missing piece of the Destiny Compass?”

There on the disk was a single, blinking black light.

Currently, the Compass · Trace to Source feature wasn’t bound to anything. So that black light was almost certainly the missing core piece of the Destiny Compass itself.

That flash of excitement faded as quickly as it came. Song Chi’s brows soon furrowed again.

Based on the map’s tracking radius, that black light was more than ten million light years away from the Heavenly Ruin.

“Yeah… Must be at least fifteen million light years,”

After a bit more calculation, Song Chi’s frown only deepened.

If this was anywhere else in the starry sky, it’d be nothing—a mere three Scarlet Vault Jumps. But inside the Immortal Continent, with its suppressive will, it would take at least two hundred jumps to cross that distance.

That meant, even if he factored in the Timepiece Chessboard and the Pusa Zen Seal, he was looking at a minimum of twenty years.

And that was if nothing unexpected cropped up along the way. Any mishap could drag things out even longer.

A few minutes later, Song Chi shook his head, then waved his hand and took out the incomplete Samadhi True Fire.

He used the Compass · Trace to Source to bind with the Samadhi True Fire (Fragment).

He wanted to see if this could help him find the final piece—the Fire Within Wood.

But soon enough, he frowned again. This time it wasn’t about the distance, but because no new markers appeared on the Destiny Compass map.

With this result, Song Chi’s gaze shifted, a dozen theories spinning through his mind.

He would never believe such a vast Immortal Continent didn’t have the Fire Within Wood somewhere within.

That left two options: either the Trace to Source couldn’t home in on this fragment of Samadhi True Fire, or every bit of Fire Within Wood was sealed in formations that blocked the function.

In either case, it wasn’t a problem that could be solved in the short term, so Song Chi quickly put it aside and focused on something else.

Ah, the long-neglected Taiyi Quantum Swordlight Battery!

Forged from a fragment of the Infinite Sword Stone oddity, it was now little more than a peripheral component on the Heavenly Ruin.

Yes, it was a silver-grade main cannon, but compared to the ship’s current setup, it really didn’t matter much anymore.

But then, the Destiny Compass’s map suddenly shifted again. Not just a single black dot—this time, a new marker, gleaming gold.

A point of dazzling golden light.

And that light was much closer than the black one. With fast calculations from the Sky-Domain AI, Song Chi soon had an answer.

The other half of the Taiyi Quantum Swordlight Battery was just over eight hundred thousand light years away from the Heavenly Ruin.

Now that was a distance he could actually reach. Once the Mirror Image Split component finished cooling down, he could easily try to collect it.

More importantly, with this being a golden marker, that meant the other half was a gold-grade oddity—immensely boosting the battery’s potential and value.