Chapter 661: Into the Heart of the Serpent Continent

Seeing this, Song Chi only hesitated for a moment before the Heavenly Ruin’s hatch slid open too.

Not long after, four more battleships appeared around the Heavenly Ruin.

The Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang.

The Scorching Sea Blazer.

The Unmoving Vajra.

The Calm-Sea Rising Dragon.

These were easily the Song Family’s most important battleships.

The key was: this time, they’d all come in their true forms, not as replicated battleships.

Sure, they could have summoned their ship replications in front of everyone, but that kind of show would attract way too much attention—none of them wanted that.

Inside the comms chat, the five quietly exchanged glances but never brought up anything secret.

Inside a Star River-class battleship’s domain, there were barely any secrets—no matter how many encryptions they used, anything said over comms could be intercepted if someone wanted.

Knowing this, the five always kept their chat to mundane family talk, never touching on anything sensitive.

Song Chi wasn’t the least bit surprised.

Whether it was Song Wujian, Song Shiyuan, Song Shixing or Song Yan, every one of them was sharp—there was no way any of them would slip up on something like this.

If Song Xingru had been one of the four who came, he definitely wouldn’t have summoned her out in public.

Song Chi’s move barely drew attention anyway. Almost everyone else was doing the same thing right now.

Turning his focus to Corpse Dog’s side, several figures slipped out of their battleship too—including Yulong’s beloved son, Changsun Yu.

Once everyone called out their teammates, the Greedwolf Hall Master spoke again.

“All right, get ready. In thirty seconds, I’ll lift the domain…”

Thirty seconds later, the hidden domain hanging over the fleet suddenly vanished.

“This is it!”

The Greedwolf Hall Master’s shout echoed in the comms.

Immediately, the more than five hundred battleships split into nearly a hundred different squads, shooting off in every direction.

Moments later, only the Greedwolf Hall Master remained. Then, a surge of powerful energy rippled above the ancient forest.

An Eighth-Tier Serpent Demon appeared, leading a flood of lesser serpents right after them.

The moment it showed itself, the Eighth-Tier serpent charged straight at the Greedwolf Hall Master’s flagship. The thousands of lesser Eight-Armed Serpent Demons quickly split into teams and chased after each branch of the Beidou Seven Halls fleet.

Even so, there were fewer serpent squads than there were Beidou Seven Halls squads—it was obvious not every fleet was being tailed.

Elsewhere, off in a hidden corner of the forest, the Heavenly Ruin and four other battleships were racing full speed.

Suddenly, all five ships screeched to a halt.

With the Group Phantom River and each flagship’s Void Shroud activated, none of the five worried about getting spotted.

Encrypted group chat:

Song Shixing: “Let’s do it here. Summon the battleship replicas straight away. To be honest, my nerves can’t handle letting the real ships move around under the noses of two Ninth-Tier Serpent Demons.”

Song Shiyuan: “Agreed!”

Song Wujian: “Then let’s summon them!”

As the others reached toward the Battleship Replication modules on their ships, Song Chi stopped them.

“Hold on a second.”

“Xiaochi, what’s up?”

Song Chi didn’t explain. Instead, the hatch of the Heavenly Ruin opened once more as the Four Symbols Rotating Sigil, back in its default form, floated out.

“Clan Elder, you should be the one to equip the Four Symbols Rotating Sigil!”

The second they saw the sigil, the four understood his meaning.

“Xiaochi, are you sure? If you act alone, it’s way more dangerous…”

Song Chi’s answer was unwavering.

“Yeah. I’m sure!”

He was set on going solo.

Not because of the Four Symbols Rotating Sigil—even if it only worked for four ships, sticking together was still safer.

But Song Chi had already made up his mind: he wanted as many battle points as possible.

That meant leaning on area-effect attacks like Neutron-Star Fission, High-Energy Particle Storm, and Ten-Thousand Sigil Violet Lightning Prison. Except for the last one, most of these use the battleship’s own hull as their center, hitting everything nearby, friend or foe—not suited for group hunting.

Going it alone was just way simpler.

That’s why Song Chi chose to separate from the rest.

Since he’d made up his mind, the other four stopped protesting. The Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang’s hatch opened, drawing in the dazzling Four Symbols Rotating Sigil.

Once they boosted the component up to Level 80, the four didn’t hesitate—they summoned their battleship replicas immediately.

Song Chi watched this play out, but he didn’t activate Mirror Image Split.

“Xiaochi, you…”

Seeing he wasn’t summoning a Mirror Warship, the others looked at him, puzzled.

“I’ve got a specific reason. I can’t call out the Mirror Warship just yet, but it’s not a big deal. No need to worry about me…”

“All right, just stay safe.”

In no time, their four replicated ships burst out of the ancient woods, heading straight for a group of Eight-Armed Serpent Demons.

As for the five original ships, with the replications out, the others quickly retrieved their flags. Song Chi then sent the others into the Dimensional Spatial Stone and relocated them back to the Min Serpent Galaxy.

This Demon Serpent Continent wasn’t bad, but it just couldn’t compare to the Immortal Continent Ruins. The others could control their ship replicas remotely from across star lanes, without being repelled by the Floating-land itself.

Once everything was taken care of, Song Chi returned to the Heavenly Ruin’s main control center, eyeing the Soul-Devourer Sacrificial Altar module nearby.

That altar was now stuck at 96% into its fourth phase—just a hair away from completing its soul-devouring process.

His decision to act alone was actually tied to this, too.

He wanted to test his theory fast—to see if a fully-powered Soul-Devourer Sacrificial Altar could affect a Mirror Warship.

So as long as the altar was still absorbing, he couldn’t use his Mirror Warship yet, meaning he was stuck solo-hunting for now.

……

Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl: activating Mirage!

With Mirage active, even though the Heavenly Ruin left the Group Phantom River’s cover, the ship stayed perfectly hidden.

More so since the Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl had recently evolved into a Gold Sanctum Domain component—the Mirage effect was even more mind-boggling.

Layered with both Mirage and Void Shroud, Song Chi could move freely. The Heavenly Ruin’s engines roared as it shot out of the trees.

Now, Song Chi had only one goal: hunt down lonely Eight-Armed Serpent Demons. Every kill sped up the altar’s progress. As soon as it finished, he’d be able to summon his Mirror Warship and wouldn’t need to risk his real ship on the Serpent Continent.

Time passed. Before he knew it, five days had gone by.

For those days, Song Chi piloted the Heavenly Ruin nonstop across Demon Serpent Continent, leveraging the Eyes of Heaven’s convenient search power, taking shots whenever he could.

Checking back at the altar, its progress had jumped from 96% to 98%—the finish line was finally in sight.

That day, the camouflaged Heavenly Ruin raced across the Demon Serpent Continent at breakneck speed.

Suddenly the ship halted. Up ahead, a pack of nearly a thousand Eight-Armed Serpent Demons locked into view.

“One Seventh-Tier, ten Sixth-Tiers, and the rest are Fifth-Tier or lower. Perfect!”

Just seeing that lineup, Song Chi’s eyes lit up.

If he could wipe them all out, the Soul-Devourer altar should be just about filled.

He didn’t waste a second more.

In the void near the serpent squad, the Heavenly Ruin’s prow glowed with searing white light.

Because of Mirage, as long as the Heavenly Ruin didn’t strike, its stealth remained unbroken.

Even while charging, the serpent demons couldn’t sense a thing.

Inside the bridge, amidst swirling colors, Song Chi unleashed a cascade of abilities.

Blood Spear: Blood Judgment.

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

Black Hole Evolution Layer: Black Hole Singular Burst.

Pusa Zen Seal: Zen Seal—External Time Stop.

Divine Thunder Cannon: Ten-Thousand Sigil Violet Lightning Prison.

With so many components firing simultaneously, the Heavenly Ruin glowed with blinding power. Song Chi actually had to squint against the glare.

Luckily, he’d already targeted all the modules in advance. No matter how chaotic it got, the Heavenly Ruin stayed on course for the attack.

In no time, the battleship finished charging—Song Chi gave the order to fire.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Colossal blood-red spears exploded forward. As they tore through the air, the formerly invisible Heavenly Ruin finally broke cover.

The sudden reveal threw the serpent demon squad into a frenzy, like they’d just stumbled on a priceless treasure.

Song Chi instantly understood—this was a bounty mission for everyone. Both the Divine Dynasty and the Beidou Main Hall, plus the Star Tower, had put up huge rewards, and the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons were doing the same on their end.

Within the serpent ranks, two Ninth-Tier monsters had promised massive prizes to any lower-ranked demon who killed one of the invading Torch Captains.