Chapter 672: Storm over the Floating Lands: Clash of Legends

The projection of the Big Dipper still hung high overhead. Boundless stellar power streamed down, pouring endlessly into the Star River-class Battleship.

Inside the command center, the steely man let out a low command. Suddenly, the Eon Energy within him, nearly depleted before, began surging back at astonishing speed.

Tiny vortexes of energy spun across his skin, each one hungrily devouring the ship’s thick Eon Energy and funneling it straight into his body.

By all rights, no Torch Captain should recover Eon Energy this fast. But coming from the lineage of Xian Qin’s Ying Clan, this man had a secret technique up his sleeve.

It was a devouring-type technique, passed down only within the royal bloodline of the Ying Clan.

The Devouring Spirit Physique.

This secret art came with severe limits. Even with his powerful Eighth-Tier lifeform body, he could only activate it for ten seconds at a stretch and would need several days to recover before using it again. Even so, that brief span was enough to restore about seventy percent of his Eon Energy.

Feeling his strength flooding back, the man scoffed, an icy edge to his breath.

Then, above the Star River-class Battleship, the phantom image of the Dragon Sparrow Blade began to form once more.

As one of the Ying Clan’s legendary treasures, the Dragon Sparrow Blade was nurtured deep beneath the Xian Qin Continent’s core, fused with an Origin Core from a nearly peak-grade Floating-land. There was no true restriction on summoning it—so long as you were a blood-bound Ying clansman outside the Floating-land and could withstand the backlash, you could call on its image again and again.

With most of his Eon Energy restored, the man summoned the Dragon Sparrow Blade’s power a second time without hesitation.

The rainbow-hued blade phantom grew nearly tangible, bringing the weight of myth back to the heart of the secret realm.

But this time, something unexpected happened. Off in the distance, the Eighth-Tier peak Eight-Armed Serpent Demon—knocked from the altar before—unleashed a shocking response. Dominion Power surged skyward, and a rainbow light gathered overhead as well.

After all, how could a pinnacle civilization like the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons lack a treasure to anchor its destiny?

For starters, buried beneath their feet, deep within Demon Serpent Floating-Land, was an upper-rank rainbow oddity. Yet the mythic projection summoned today by the peak serpent dominator wasn’t that one.

Not for lack of desire, but because they simply couldn’t.

Hovering in the void above the Superdimensional Mothership, Xian Qin Ancestral Dragon, another rainbow myth-grade oddity lay hidden—no mere projection, but an actual artifact.

It was tied to the Ancestral Dragon so deeply that just a single thought from Emperor Ying would unleash its full might instantly.

Right now, that artifact already had a lock on the upper-rank rainbow oddity below the Demon Serpent Floating-Land. Because of this, neither side dared to make the first move.

In terms of sheer energy reserves, the Ancestral Dragon could never match the mass of a full Floating-land at rank nine.

But when it came to the artifact’s quality, the supreme rainbow oddity on the Ancestral Dragon was a full level above the upper-rank one below.

That delicate balance was the only thing keeping both sides in check.

Some may wonder why, out of all the nine-rank floating lands in the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons’ cluster, the Demon Serpent Floating-Land only fused with an upper-rank rainbow oddity.

But this honestly wasn’t strange.

On the surface, the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty—just one household among Torch Human Civilization—possessed several rainbow mythic oddities, including more than one of supreme quality.

But that comparison wasn’t fair.

Don’t forget the backbone of Torch Human Civilization—the Torch Battleships—each with the ability for long-range deployment once a month, up to ten billion lightyears away.

In short, the core strength of Torch Human Civilization isn’t just their local galaxy cluster—it’s the combined trove of rare treasures gathered across a region spanning ten billion lightyears in all directions.

Measured against that, a simple cluster one billion lightyears across is nothing.

Even then, the ten billion lightyear deployment range only applied to Dreadnought-class and below. Any Star-Annihilator-class or larger Torch Battleship could go even further, boldly exploring the endless Shattered Sea.

By contrast, the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization had nothing that could match such heaven-defying means. If they wanted to explore the Sea of Stars, they needed to jump from point to point with their Sky Serpent Warships—slow and fraught with danger.

…

The mythic projection the serpent dominator summoned appeared—a unique bronze stele whose bronze surface shone with dazzling rainbow light. Clearly, it too was a supreme-grade rainbow oddity.

Inside the Star River-class command center, the man felt his reserves nearly drained again. He arched a brow and murmured,

“The Azure Nightmare Chaos Stele…”

As one of the Ying Clan’s top brass, his knowledge of the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization far surpassed most.

To his recollection, this bronze stele hailed from the heart of the Demon God Floating-Land in the serpent demons’ cluster—known as the Azure Nightmare Chaos Stele. Rumor had it, it was formed from the divine remains of a chaos demon god felled in the Bottomless Abyss.

Though that was just a legend. The truth of its origins was anyone’s guess.

As the seven-colored chaos stele solidified, a towering phantom of a nightmare god appeared above the serpent dominator.

Boom!

The Dragon Sparrow Blade clashed against the nightmare god phantom, and a mock-mythic energy storm erupted. Though both artifacts were supreme rainbow oddities, their wielders were only Eighth-Tier, making the projections insubstantial—far from true mythic power.

Still, the unleashed storm was terrifying. Even Song Chi, having sent the Heavenly Ruin far from the battlefield, could barely breathe under its pressure.

For a moment, the airtight defenses of the Torch Battleship seemed useless before this mythic onslaught.

Thankfully, the overwhelming force faded as quickly as it came.

When the chaos died down, the onlookers finally saw the state of the two Eighth-Tier titans at the center of it all.

The Dragon Sparrow Blade and Azure Nightmare Chaos Stele projections had faded long ago, leaving the two masters alone in the middle of the battlefield.

But one look showed clearly who’d come out ahead.

“Did we win?”

In the command center of the Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi stared in surprise.

Logically, not even with the Big Dipper’s full blessing should victory have come so swiftly—the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon was peak Eighth-Tier, after all.

But with the dual pupils analyzing the scene, there was no denying the serpent demon’s life force had plummeted.

“That’s right… Summoning these mythic projections drains the wielder’s own power. For Torch Captains, the ship’s state matters little…”

After a moment, Song Chi figured it out.

The wounds on the serpent dominator’s body hadn’t come from the Star River-class or the Dragon Sparrow Blade projection, but from the cost of summoning the bronze stele.

Song Chi knew this for a fact—he’d experienced it himself.

Back when the Dragon Whale Hall evolved into a rainbow mythic oddity, the clan forbade its use for a while. Still, core members secretly tested it, which was how Song Chi learned the summoning drained Eon Energy from the summoner, not the ship.

While his thoughts raced, the battle shifted once more.

“No way—the serpent dominator’s about to self-destruct?”

When his dual pupils caught the familiar energy surge within the enemy, Song Chi froze, unable to believe what he saw.

A serpent demon one step away from ninth rank—willing to blow itself up so decisively?

True, the situation now favored Torch Humanity, but it was far from one-sided. The serpent demons still had real chances left.

The serpent dominator’s resolve was beyond anything Song Chi imagined. He barely managed to activate the ‘Angel Wing Evasion’ from the Angel King’s Authority Wings in time.

The next instant, a blazing fireball rose like a meteor, triggering a cascade of devastating energy shockwaves.

The Eight-Armed Serpent Demon at peak eighth rank—a self-detonation!

The only silver lining: before the shockwave hit, the Heavenly Ruin had already blinked clear of ground zero.

But that was scant comfort, since Song Chi’s exit point wasn’t much farther from the old spot.

He barely had time to process this when a tsunami of force slammed into the battleship.

The whole world seemed to buzz and shake.

Song Chi tried to find words to describe the apocalypse raging outside, but nothing did it justice.

Protected by the Shield of Holy Light, Yin-Yang Counter-Phase Annihilation Shield, Black Hole Evolution Layer, and double Neutron-Star Core Armor, the Heavenly Ruin was forced to a standstill instantly. Only that stack of barriers bought him enough time to trigger the Neutron-Star Fission from the Neutron-Star Core Armor.

As the battleship morphed into a miniature neutron star, the worst of the external energy storm was finally held at bay.

That didn’t mean the onslaught had stopped, just that the Heavenly Ruin’s neutron star defenses were abnormally tough.

Finally, Song Chi had a moment to check the surrounding situation.

His pupils contracted sharply.

The storm had swept up far more than just the Heavenly Ruin. Plenty of Torch Battleships were caught in it, but almost none survived the way the Heavenly Ruin had. Just a quick scan revealed at least ten destroyed ships—most of them Dreadnoughts.

Even Star-Annihilator-class ships had been tossed around, though their hull strength made them less likely to be instantly destroyed.

Song Chi quickly pulled his gaze back—this wasn’t a situation a single Dreadnought could change.

Instead, his attention shifted to the colossal tree nearby.

Why hadn’t the ‘Angel Wing Evasion’ taken him farther away? The answer was right there: the Golden Apple Mother Tree.

After wave after wave of attacks and the aftershocks from earlier battles, this Eighth-Tier Golden Apple Mother Tree, rooted deep beneath the Floating-land, was shaking violently.

Down below, its roots could be seen splitting and being violently ripped out of the ground.

There was no helping it—the tree wasn’t far from the battlefield’s center and had endured too many aftershocks. It could no longer hold on.

Thanks to his dual pupils’ acute analysis and capture ability, Song Chi noticed all this in an instant. That’s why he chose this spot for his blink.

Black Hole Evolution Layer—activate ‘Black Hole Domain’!

With another module coming online, Song Chi instantly severed the connection between the Heavenly Ruin and the outside world. A powerful tractor beam shot from the ship, latching onto the tottering Golden Apple Mother Tree.

Under the ship’s full pull, the roots tore free even faster. But this was an Eighth-Tier starry plant—the volume alone was immense. Even a Dreadnought’s full power would struggle to claim it outright.

“The external storm has peaked—it’s only going to weaken from here…”

Eyes whirling, Song Chi kept a close watch on the situation. The disruption from the serpent dominator’s self-detonation had given him a sliver of opportunity with the Golden Apple Mother Tree. Without it, he never would have had a chance—just like the Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydra’s corpse, which no one dared to approach.

At that thought, his gaze sharpened with resolve.

In the next moment, he sent a mental order to the fiery red figure behind him.

Receiving his message, the fiery figure shot toward the ship’s hatch. Before it left, Song Chi tossed over a storage capsule.

Inside were only two items.

The first: Celestial Spirit Earth.

The second: Azure Spring Essence.

Both were crucial for boosting transplantation success. The Azure Spring Essence would help maintain biological vitality. Even the mighty Golden Apple Mother Tree, under such brutal assault, might not survive without their aid.