Chapter 651: Storm Before the Auction: Shadows Gather at Shengtian City

“Forget it, it doesn’t matter anymore…”

Word just came through the Yaoguang Star Tower chat—the operation targeting the Demon Serpent Floating-Land will kick off in a few short decades.

That means, within a hundred years, the Heavenly Ruin will officially attempt to upgrade into a Star-Annihilator-class Ship.

As long as the Heavenly Ruin ascends to the Star-Annihilator level and gains the power of the Market, even if those undying titans start eyeing him, he won’t have anything to fear.

Thinking of this, Song Chi’s eyes hardened. He’d made his decision.

Of course, if he can stay hidden, all the better.

Even after his flagship reaches seventh tier, making him immune to threats from Star River-class Captains, he can’t forget—every Captain in Torch Human Civilization still lives under the shadow of the Four Pillar Divine Mountains.

Song Chi figured, given the status of the four Human Emperors of the Torch Empires, they’d never stoop to coveting the chance of a lowly Star-Annihilator Captain like him.

Still, when your life hangs on the whims of others, who would ever be comfortable?

……

Time slipped by. After Song Chi gave the signal, the Mirror Warship, now under the duplicate control of the Sky-Domain AI, headed straight for the Tianyue Galaxy.

Even pushing the Mirror Warship to the limit, it took over half a year to jump across tens of millions of light years from the Canglang Galaxy, finally arriving at the Tianyue Continent.

The good news—he wasn’t too late. There were still nearly two months before the Tianyue Auction officially opened.

……

Song Chi didn’t waste these two months. As always, he deployed the Abyssal Devil to roam the great open cities of Tianyue Continent, relentlessly searching for more neutron star wreckage.

Luck was still on his side. The day before the auction, his true body secured another three pieces of fresh neutron star wreckage, pushing the Neutron-Star Core Armor’s evolution progress to 13 out of 100.

Tianyue Continent, Public Zone, Shengtian City.

For ten millennia, the Shengtian Consortium has always hosted the once-every-ten-thousand-years Tianyue Auction in their own Shengtian City, and this time proved no different.

At the gates of the Shengtian Auction Hall, under the gaze of an endless crowd, the Abyssal Devil was stopped by one of the hulking guards.

Though called guards, they were really enslaved beasts—and this one was no less than a seventh-tier creature.

The Seventh-Tier Thunder Giant.

“Show your invitation if you want to enter!”

The guard’s voice crashed into the Abyssal Devil’s ears like thunder. The sheer force of it made the Abyssal Devil shudder, nearly breaking under the pressure.

Its genetic and racial lineage weren’t weak—Abyssal royalty, after all—but at only sixth tier, it stood no chance against the near-peak pressure of a Thunder Giant.

Just as its body was about to be blasted back by the giant’s raging power, a tiny gray shadow clinging to its left shoulder suddenly swelled and expanded.

An aura no weaker than the Thunder Giant’s dominance rolled out across the entrance.

Instantly, the Thunder Giant’s crackling energy snapped away to nothing.

“You meet the requirements for entry without an invitation. Go on in!”

With that minor episode over, the Abyssal Devil stepped into the auction, surprisingly assigned a private box thanks to its Dominator-level background.

Watching the whole thing from the Omniverse Market, Song Chi nodded in satisfaction. This was exactly what he wanted.

The auction boxes here were built of special materials, providing excellent privacy—shielding the Abyssal Devil from countless prying eyes.

Settling in, the Abyssal Devil waited quietly inside its box for the event to start.

Song Chi made no move to have it negotiate with the Shengtian Consortium about putting the seventh-tier Timeworld Fruit up for auction.

A treasure like that would certainly be the highlight if arranged with the auction house in advance. And with some heavy promotion, it would fetch a spectacular price.

But that would also give every schemer ample time to prepare—drastically raising the risk of exposing both the Abyssal Devil and the Mirror Warship. Song Chi would never allow that.

His plan was simple: slip the seventh-tier Timeworld Fruit in mid-auction, then make a swift exit right after, leaving no time for anyone to react.

As the minutes ticked by, the crowd swelled. Just through the Abyssal Devil’s senses, Song Chi counted over twenty Star-Annihilator Captains present.

Meanwhile, his seventh-tier Nightmare Soul Body reported sensing at least five eighth-tier presences scattered among the other boxes.

The privacy of these boxes was decent, but the Nightmare Soul Body’s spirit sense was extraordinary—no wonder it could read the vibes of its mysterious neighbors.

Song Chi guessed these had to be Star River-class Captains arriving as projections.

Made sense—this was wartime. While a few Star-Annihilator-class Captains might remain on home defense, Star River Captains were the aces just under the Four Human Emperors. Under grim orders, they had to attend every stage of this civilization war.

So projection was their only option if they wanted to show up in person.

Perhaps knowing the Star River Captains could only project themselves for limited periods, the Shengtian Consortium wasted no time. A Star-Annihilator Captain took the stage as auctioneer, and things began in earnest.

As expected, the first item sent a shockwave through the entire auction hall.

“First up: a Gold Upgraded Fire Source—Flame Dragon Dragonbreath Fire. No reserve price—place your bids, and the seller will pick whichever offer they like best.”

The moment these words left the auctioneer’s mouth, the hall exploded into a frenzy of bids.

Gold Upgraded Fire Sources made even most Star-Annihilator Captains’ eyes light up. Some were here expressly for it, but plenty of Dreadnought Captains jumped in as well.

“One gold universal cooldown-reduction component, plus 1,000 threads of Seventh‑Tier Floating-land Origin!”

“A black supreme-quality energy shield…”

“Fifty threads of eighth-tier Floating-Land Origin, five threads of ninth-tier…”

……

Song Chi wasn’t interested. In the end, a Star-Annihilator Captain won the Gold Fire Source with a black Medical Restoration Pod.

After that, item after item came under the hammer.

Silver components.

Titanite Crystal.

Sovereign-level enslaved beasts.

Gold energy shields.

Still, Song Chi never signaled the Abyssal Devil to bid. The injured seventh-tier Gold Armored Colossus was tempting, but prices soared too high in the end.

Besides, he’d just managed to save the life of his furious Tiger Carapace King Bug using a single Genesis Creation Pill, who’d since regained its fighting strength. Soon, the Flamewrath Giant would be back on duty as well. He had enough Dominator-level beasts for now, so he let it go.

Next item came up.

“One Tier Eight Golden Apple—you all know what it does. Make your offers.”

A Tier Eight Golden Apple again—now Song Chi perked right up.

He’d gotten one from the Divine Dynasty’s war vault before, but with so many parts needing upgrades on the Heavenly Ruin, there was always demand.

Take the Silver Four Symbols Rotating Sigil he’d taken from the Ruan clan—it was a component begging for further enhancement. Once boosted, the effect would rise to a whole new level.

“One sixth-tier Timeworld Fruit…”

For the first time, the Abyssal Devil called out a bid from its box.

That single offer immediately drew a flood of attention.

At least ninety percent of those hot, eager stares came from Dreadnought Captains.

Song Chi wasn’t fussed—he’d expected this.

That was just for a sixth-tier Timeworld Fruit. Once the seventh-tier version hit the stage, all eyes would really be on him.

If he hadn’t known this from the start, he’d never have used one of those precious Tier Eight Golden Apples on the Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl.

As the tension in the room shifted, the auctioneer called out from the stage.

“Friend in Box 26, a single sixth-tier Timeworld Fruit falls a bit short. Might you add some Floating-Land Origin to sweeten the deal?”

“Would sixth-tier Floating-Land Origin work?”

With a nod from Song Chi, the Abyssal Devil responded quickly. The seller was satisfied, and Song Chi secured the Tier Eight Golden Apple with a sixth-tier Timeworld Fruit plus 5,000 threads of sixth-tier Floating-Land Origin.

By now, the auction had reached the high-value stage. Every new item was a serious prize.

Midway through, Song Chi scored a Gold Main Cannon with another sixth-tier Timeworld Fruit.

Antimatter Annihilation Cannon LV0

Quality: Gold

Effect: Antimatter Energy Ballistics

Feature 2: True Armor-Piercing

Feature 3: Main Cannon Power Boost +140%

Feature 4: Antimatter Crit

Feature 5: Matter-Antimatter Annihilation Strike

Consumption: 100 Eon Energy Points per shot

Attack: 180

Charge Time: 10 seconds; Cooldown: 20 seconds

Upgrade Cost: 40 threads of base-level Floating-Land Origin, 4,000 Eon Energy Points

{Antimatter Energy Ballistics: Each antimatter beam attack from the main cannon triggers intense reactions with surrounding matter, causing continuous explosions along its flight path. This deals massive damage to any units in the blast area.}

{True Armor-Piercing: The antimatter beam is imbued with true armor penetration, ignoring conventional armor, scales, and shields. It also has minor penetration against True Defense and True Shield effects.}

{Antimatter Crit: Any strike from the main cannon causes double damage on impact.}

{Matter-Antimatter Annihilation Strike: Consumes 100,000 Eon Energy Points to power up the main cannon, rapidly integrating vast amounts of matter and antimatter. Once charged, it unleashes a super-charged energy ray at a chosen target, loading all the gathered matter-antimatter into the first unit hit. The next second, these will violently react, releasing world-ending annihilation energy. Cooldown: 240 hours.}