Chapter 668: The Golden Apple Mother Tree

On the lush green land below, a colossal tree soared millions of kilometers into the sky, its enormous trunk piercing through the clouds. Branches and leaves sprawled out in a dense canopy, anchoring itself atop the core floating continent of this secret realm, as if it alone held up the entire heavens.

Normally, a thick mist veiled the land and most of Song Chi’s attention stayed fixed on the battle above. He’d only spared a passing glance at this suspected floating-land spiritual root before and never thought twice about it since.

But just now, a surge of energy from the tier-five and tier-six battlefield below had blown that blanket of mist away for a fleeting moment, finally giving him a clear look at the ancient tree’s true form.

“Golden Apple Mother Tree…”

Even though the mist quickly rolled back to cover the tree again, that split-second glimpse was all Song Chi needed to recognize it instantly for what it was—a Golden Apple Mother Tree.

‘Millions of kilometers tall… that has to be an eighth-tier Golden Apple Mother Tree…’

No doubt about it, an eighth-tier Golden Apple Mother Tree was the lowest rank among its tier. Once a Golden Apple Mother Tree was fully mature, it’d reach this stage. Beyond it lay the ninth tier, and even mythic-grade Golden Apple Mother Trees.

Still, none of that took away from the value of this starlit plant. It could yield a constant supply of eighth-tier Golden Apples, each one a golden sanctum oddity. Just think—the Torch Captains could promote themselves with any golden oddity they chose. On that alone, its worth rivaled that of most regular black oddities.

Every Silver Apple Mother Tree was a veritable goldmine already—so how much rarer was a Gold Apple Mother Tree of higher rank?

The moment Song Chi spotted the eighth-tier Golden Apple Mother Tree, one thought flashed through his mind: find a way to transplant it into the Cultivation Sanctuary. Luckily, he’d long ago evolved Chicang’s No.004 Cultivation Secret Realm to gold-grade; boosting it to eighth tier should let the Golden Apple Mother Tree thrive there.

It was a tempting idea but he quickly shoved it aside.

Given the situation, how could a single Mirror Warship—just a mere dreadnought—spirit away such a priceless eighth-tier Golden Apple Mother Tree right under everyone’s noses?

Song Chi wasn’t reckless. He understood the reality staring him in the face. Knowing he didn’t have the ability, he forced himself to stop daydreaming. As the cannons of the Mirror Warship thundered, he threw himself back into the thick of battle.

……

“Dragon Sparrow Blade, strike for me!”

A deep roar echoed from the sky. Song Chi, in Dragon Whale Form, had just repelled several sixth-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demons. Catching movement out of the corner of his Voidform Avatar’s eye, he saw an immense, vividly colored blade suspended above the distant Ying Clan Star River-class Battleship.

That blade radiated brilliant, seven-colored light, dazzling as it pulsed in and out of view.

Song Chi’s gaze sharpened. By now, he was deeply familiar with these colored mythic components.

He knew that mythic oddities came in different ranks—lower, higher, supreme—and their colors reflected their class.

As far as he knew, his own lower-class colored oddity, the Dragon Whale Hall, gave off tricolor light. The Timepiece Chessboard shone with five colors. But seven-colored light? That marked it as a supreme-level legendary mythic oddity.

Before he could think any further, a new message flashed in the Beidou Sevenstar Hall group chat with a definite answer.

“Tianquan Star Tower · Battle Wolf: So this is the Dragon Sparrow Blade… No wonder it’s a cornerstone artifact of the Ying Clan’s royal line! A supreme-rank colored attack oddity—its power is terrifying!”

Song Chi wasn’t the only one who agreed. Many others in the group echoed the sentiment.

It wasn’t that anyone truly grasped the Dragon Sparrow Blade’s finer points, but they’d just watched the Ying Clan’s Star River-class Captain summon its apparition. With a single, casual swing, it had hacked off three arms from the eighth-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demon locked in battle with him.

Even though the serpent demon sensed mortal danger the instant the summoned Dragon Sparrow Blade appeared and scrambled for countermeasures, deploying several gold and black-grade oddities, it was all in vain.

Neither gold nor black defensive oddities amounted to anything before the Dragon Sparrow Blade. The demon’s vaunted body crumpled like paper, carved apart by the seven-colored radiance.

The sight was nothing short of shocking. Every soul who’d witnessed that strike could feel their heart pounding like a war drum.

And this was only the distant phantom of the Dragon Sparrow Blade—no matter how solid it looked, it still wasn’t the true artifact.

Imagine what its real body could do.

Maybe the burden was too much. Even a Star River-class Battleship couldn’t maintain it long. After one swing, the Dragon Sparrow Blade’s image faded away.

Song Chi frowned. If they’d held that perfect chance for just a second longer, the Dragon Sparrow Blade avatar would’ve finished off the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon in no time. Recalling it so soon was baffling.

But as his mind sped on, Song Chi’s brow slowly eased.

He pieced it together. The Dragon Sparrow Blade was a supreme-level artifact. Even a Superdimensional Mothership would struggle to sustain it for long—let alone a Star River-class ship one tier below.

There was another layer to it: the Ying Clan Star River-class Captain had summoned a nearly tangible Dragon Sparrow Blade projection, not the faint phantom the lower-tier captains could manage.

That would also explain why its power far surpassed any projection conjured by ordinary Ying Clan dreadnoughts or star-annihilator-class ships.

Still, that wasn’t the point. Even if the Dragon Sparrow Blade apparition vanished, the wounds left on the serpent demon were all too real. And unlike on the Demon Serpent Continent, there was no source-will to help it recover. That Ying Clan Star River-class Battleship quickly seized absolute advantage.

As time dragged on, the eighth-tier, Eight-Armed Serpent Demon’s wounds only worsened. If things kept going, it was certain to be slain soon.

“No. I can’t let this go on…”

The Eight-Armed Serpent Demon wasn’t stupid. Realizing the stalemate was fatal, it knew it had to find a way to break out.

Silver blood sprayed as its aura surged. Bathed in that thick torrent, the demon’s body flashed with silver, gold, and black lights—its various weaponized oddities coming to life.

In a swirl of radiance, a streak of golden light shot from its body, piercing the void in an instant.

At the same time, beyond the secret realm, high above the Demon Serpent Floating-Land…

One of the two ninth-tier Serpent Demons’ eyes flared. In the next moment, dominion power erupted within it as it readied itself to lunge downward.

“Something’s wrong with Cang Ke’s side. I have to go help. Cang Hai, the Floating-Land Shield is on you…”

But before it could finish, a Star River-class Battleship—its guns trained on both ninth-tier demons—was already making its move.

That Star River-class ship, also from a Xian Qin imperial branch, directly activated a special part. But the shimmering tricolor stone wasn’t its own; it was a projection component.

And the main body of the projection part? That rested on the super battleship orbiting outside the floating-land.

WUMMMM!

Violent energy rippled over the Star River hull as, in a few breaths, a gigantic battleship projection shimmered into existence overhead, woven from rainbow light.

If Song Chi and the others had been here, they’d immediately recognize that this warship avatar was the spitting image of the enormous Torch Super Battleship outside the floating realm.

“We welcome His Majesty’s descent!”

Inside the Star River-class ship’s command center, the captain—hailing from a Divine Dynasty branch—spoke respectfully, then stepped aside. His work was done.

Once the Superdimensional Mothership Projection solidified fully, it immediately intercepted the plunging ninth-tier Serpent Demon high above. As for the second ninth-tier demon, it focused all its strength on guarding the now-fading Floating-Land Shield while, outside that shield, Emperor Ying himself battered at a crack opening wider with every blow from his flagship.

In this way, Emperor Ying had—for now—pinned down both ninth-tier Serpent Demons.

But everyone knew this wouldn’t last. Even the mythic-grade projection parts could only maintain for so long. And the Demon Serpent Floating-Land’s Origin Core hadn’t failed yet. Under the crushing pressure of the floating-land’s will, the projection’s time would be even shorter.

Still, with the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty’s only Superdimensional Mothership at its command, there was no way it had only one projection part. Each could probably be deployed more than once. Either way, the clock was ticking.

So, both sides really only had one question left—

Time!

Would the Torch Captains manage to wipe out enough mid- to high-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demons in the secret realm, fatally weakening the source-will, so Emperor Ying could finally shatter the Floating-land and seize victory?

Or would the final batch of elite Torch Captains be wiped out by the ninth-tier Serpent Demons instead, letting the source-will recover and return stronger than ever—all hinging on ‘time’?

“Don’t waste a second. Go all in!”

Deep within the core battlefield of the secret realm—

The Ying Clan Star River-class Captain received a direct transmission from Emperor Ying. Moments later, Song Chi and all the Torch Battleship captains present got the same command.

“All captains! This is the decisive moment! Hit them with everything you’ve got!”

As the order went out, Torch Battleships across every corner of the battlefield erupted in fury.

Some unleashed group-linked attacks, others expanded their strengthening fields, still others primed their main cannons’ ultimate features…

At that moment, every ship pulled out all the stops, unleashing a storm of devastating firepower.

Take Song Chi for example. He activated the Ninefold Violet Heaven World-Ending Calamity Thunder, and on top of that, every weapon he could—Blood Spear’s God of the Hunt’s Weakpoint Mark, Blood Judgment, Celestial Godslayer Cannon’s Celestial Godslayer mode, every cannon trait that could hit got unleashed.

He even added the Black Hole Evolution Layer’s Black Hole Singular Burst to the mix.

In short, he brought out every damage-dealing attack at his disposal.

Well… except for the Hunyuan Copper Ramming Prow’s ‘Hunyuan Impact’.

That move needed the Heavenly Ruin to ram directly into a Serpent Demon, basically hurling his warship into the heart of the blast. Even though this was just a Mirror Warship, Song Chi had no desire for a suicide run.

With over a hundred Torch Battleships erupting in unison, the destruction was immense.

In just a few dozen seconds, more than five seventh-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demons fell. Dozens of sixth-tier Serpent Demons went down as well.

The tide of slaughter inside the secret realm quickly dimmed the floating-land shield beyond. The Eight-Armed Serpent Demons guarding the Floating-Land Sky Vault were rattled by the sudden shift.

Noticing this, the ninth-tier Serpent Demon locked in combat with the Superdimensional Mothership Projection hastily sent orders to the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons inside the secret realm.

Whatever the command was, it forced a sudden, decisive change overhead—the battered Serpent Demons no longer cared about fighting Torch Battleships. Instead, they broke tradition and descended en masse toward the land below.

Who knew what they were up to? Either way, stopping them was the only right move.

That’s exactly what the captains of several Star River-class ships ordered, one after another.

“Block their retreat!”

Battleships roared after the fleeing Serpent Demons. Torch ships were far faster, their engines thundering as they closed the gap and prepared to intercept.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a blazing fireball erupted below, forcing the Mirror Warship under Song Chi’s Voidform Avatar to brake mid-dive.

It wasn’t just Song Chi. When everyone chasing saw that fireball—like a burning star—every Torch Battleship instinctively slowed.

It wasn’t just any fireball. It was the self-destruction of a seventh-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demon on the verge of being caught.

That explosion’s devastating power swallowed an entire Star-Annihilator-class Ship in its wake. As the aftermath faded, that ship—and three dreadnoughts nearby—were reduced to wreckage plummeting to the ground.

And it wasn’t over. Any Torch Captain who wasn’t quick enough was forced into the same fate.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

One after another, explosions rang out. In less than two minutes, over twenty Torch Battleships had been sunk for good.

At this point, any Torch Battleship left standing had survived countless brutal onslaughts. Every one of them was a top contender in its class.

So to lose more than twenty ships in a blink—that was a devastating loss by any measure.

Yet watching the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons slip away, the Torch Captains still felt a bitter unwillingness. After all, the outer floating-land shield wasn’t broken yet.