Chapter 674: Chasing Domination: Song Chi’s Leap Toward Evolution

The Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang went down the same way: both were lost to the self-destruction of that peak Tier 8 Serpent Demon not long ago.

The “Mirror Image Split” is supposed to create a full-power battleship replica that can exist permanently unless dispelled. But since its components are only Tier 8 and it’s hosted by a Star-Annihilator-class ship, there’s just no way it can fight at full strength.

In practice, the battleship replica could only maintain around ninety percent of the original’s power at best. Plus, Song Wujian always strived to earn Song Chi as many battle credits as possible, charging right to the front. By the end of each battle, the replica hull had already taken a pounding. That’s why it finally fell in the wake of that last energy explosion.

With no need to worry about the other four from his clan, Song Chi breathed easier. After a series of jumps, the battleship quickly left the core of the secret realm behind.

Vrrrm! Vrrrm! Vrrrm!

After another jump, the Heavenly Ruin emerged from the transit corridor.

In the battleship’s control room, Song Chi just started to let out a sigh of relief.

With the help of the Scarlet Vault Jump Drive and the newly installed Level 80 Space Jumper, their current position was over fifty thousand light-years from the core floating landmass of the secret realm.

Even though the core continent was massive enough to be visible in the distance, the gap between them was very real.

But in that very moment, Song Chi’s pupils shrank suddenly.

At the edge of his rear view, up above the core floating landmass, a blinding white light split the pitch-black sky. Song Chi was just trying to figure out the source when two colossal handprints thrust out from the white, reaching across the endless void, slamming straight for the vortex at the heart of the battlefield below.

Only at this point did Song Chi finally see the truth of those white beams.

They weren’t some source of light, but rifts torn open in the very barriers of the secret realm, with the dazzling radiance shining in from outside—the Demon Serpent Floating-Land. As for those titanic handprints, their owners were none other than the two ninth-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demons he’d glimpsed from afar before.

In a blink, the energy handprints cast by the Tier 9 Serpent Demons spanned the immense secret realm, with space collapsing along their trajectory all the way down to the surface of the core floating landmass.

Boom!

There was no time for anyone still trapped in the vortex to react. The central Floating-land of this cosmic secret realm shattered with an earth-shaking roar.

The shock was written all over Song Chi’s wide eyes.

In his view, the core of the secret realm—a continent over ten thousand light-years across—was just split clean in two by those two ninth-tier handprints.

Granted, it wasn’t that the continent was perfectly halved, but rather like the way that Immortal Continent fragment in the Dusk Star Domain of the Morningstar Duchy had been sliced before: just a small corner cleaved off. Even so, it made clear just how terrifying a ninth-tier being truly was.

After all, this was a secret realm in the middle of the cosmos.

Key thing was, that little corner that got sliced off happened to include the very battlefield at the heart of the core area.

Song Chi’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t dare imagine what kind of casualties that strike just caused. All he could feel was relief.

Still uneasy, after a moment’s thought, he recalled the Heavenly Ruin and disappeared himself from this unknown starry realm.

“Yep, nothing beats being on your own turf…”

The moment he appeared in the Omniverse Market, Song Chi relaxed completely.

Compared to that unfamiliar secret realm, the Omniverse Market was his true home. Here, he could let down his guard. Just being surrounded by the mighty presence of so many ninth-tier powers put him at ease.

As for the Demon Serpent Floating-Land and the situation back in the secret realm, those weren’t really his concern anymore. He figured the Divine Dynasty fleet outside would still need plenty of time to take control. Unless absolutely necessary, he had no plans to return there anytime soon.

…

Unknown secret realm, at the site of the recent battlefield vortex.

Amid an energy storm that could obliterate everything, a small pocket of calm somehow survived.

It was the projection field cast by the Ying Clan’s Star River-class Battleship—the same ship that survived the self-destruction of the peak Tier 8 Eight-Armed Serpent Demon. Even under the overwhelming shockwaves of the ninth-tier, the field held fast.

Right now, inside that projection field, it wasn’t just the Ying Clan’s Star River Battleship—there were several other Star River-class and Star-Annihilator-class ships as well.

Inside the leading warship of Greedwolf Hall, Beidou Sevenstar Hall.

Staring up at that giant defensive projection above, the Greedwolf Hall Master murmured to himself:

“The Immortal Qin’s Guardian Sacred Beast—the Tier Nine Galactic Azure Dragon!”

As one of the hall masters of Beidou Sevenstar Hall, a major powerhouse, he knew far more about the four Torch Empires than most—especially about the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty under his direct jurisdiction.

While Xian Qin wasn’t the oldest or the strongest among the four, there was more to them than just Emperor Ying at the ninth tier.

For instance, this Tier Nine “Galactic Azure Dragon” was one of the Divine Dynasty’s hidden trump cards.

Not just Xian Qin—all of the torch empires had their own concealed ninth-tier powers. But compared to the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization, the Torch Human Civilization is stretched far thinner. Thinking the only enemies they faced were the Serpent Demons would be a terrible mistake.

Set aside even the Corpse Sovereign Clan civilization across from the Serpent Demon galaxy cluster—just the Bottomless Abyss front, the Starsea Insect front, the Emperor City front… every one of those required actual ninth-tier power to hold.

Otherwise, a single slip and the entire line could be lost.

Every one of these fronts was built over more than two hundred thousand years by the blood and sacrifice of countless Torch Captains. If any one of them truly fell, it would be a loss no empire could afford.

Take the projection of the “Galactic Azure Dragon” right now. The real body was stationed on the Starsea Insect front, so it could only help here as a projection.

As outcomes go, this was about as good as it got—the Azure Dragon’s projection was able to save all those Torch battleships from the Tier 9 Serpent Demons’ grasp.

Don’t let appearances fool you—less than twenty Torch ships survived, but they were all Star-Annihilator-class and Star River-class. Even for the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty, every single one was elite. Each loss stung deeply.

After their strike, the two massive Serpent Demon hands from beyond didn’t linger. Swirling with ninth-tier energy, they swept up the remaining Eight-Armed Serpent Demons in the area and pulled them out of the secret realm.

Among those pulled away was the recently slain Tier 8 Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydra. Apparently, some captains also saw other creatures get carried off from elsewhere—their ranks included Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydras of all manner of tiers.

The secret realm here was aptly named the Serpent Demon Secret Realm, and its unique treasure was the legendary Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydra.

But now, with the Tier 9 Serpent Demons making a full sweep before leaving, all the Hydras in the secret realm had been taken. Who knows how this place will recover?

All the captains could do was watch it happen. Even the Galactic Azure Dragon was powerless.

After all, it was just a projection. Even if its true body had come, it couldn’t match the Tier 9 Serpent Demons empowered by the will of the Demon Serpent Floating-Land. Just saving the captains was already a stroke of luck.

The only reason those ninth-tier Serpent Demons held back at all was their concern for the Xian Qin Ancestral Dragon that had barged in. All they wanted was to get out fast. Otherwise, with one more round, the Azure Dragon’s projection would’ve been wiped out.

Only when the two ninth-tier Serpent Demons, their elites, and every single Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydra were gone did the surviving Torch Captains finally feel safe.

…

While the outside world’s war raged on, Song Chi was anything but idle in the Omniverse Market.

In the Free Stall Area, the Heavenly Ruin quietly docked.

Inside the control room, eyes closed, Song Chi was marshalling the power of purest law within himself.

Not just one type, either—it was a weave of space and light laws, crossing over within him.

Once he was sure both laws were fully gathered, Song Chi’s eyes snapped open. The power swirling around his form poured into the hull of the Heavenly Ruin below.

But this wasn’t any old fusion—instead, it was a complete melding of both laws of space and light with the golden Torch hull of the Heavenly Ruin.

As the process went on, the display panel for the “Battleship Evolution Quest” showed the success probability steadily rise.

When the fusion finally finished, odds of success shot up to 25.001%.

But things weren’t done yet. Song Chi brought out a trove of treasures. Just like the law powers, one after the other they were absorbed into the Heavenly Ruin’s hull.

Several dozen seconds later, when he glanced at the mission panel again, the success rate had leaped upward.

[Battleship Evolution Quest (Heavenly Ruin)]

[Current advancement chance: 76.001% (Base 0.001%+Bathe in Tier 8 Abyssal Hydra Blood 15%+Tier 7 Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Blood 3%+Ninefold Spirit Fruit 10%+Top-tier Energy Crystal 10%+Tier 7 Dominion Origin Blood 12%+Tier 8 Ordinary Sovereign Blood 1%+Special Resource Recipe 10%+Sky Serpent Blood Crystal 8%+Light Law Comprehension 5%+Space Law Comprehension 2%)]

[Special Advancement Recipe (3/3): Spatial Fragment x1, Singular Stone x1, Silver Star Bangle-Core x1]

[Additional Advancement Resources: Tier 7 Dominion Origin Blood, Tier 8 Ordinary Sovereign Blood, Ninefold Spirit Fruit, Sky Serpent Blood Crystal]

[Bathe in Alien Blood: Tier 8 Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydra (15%), Tier 7 Eight-Armed Serpent Demon (3%)]

Glancing at the 76.001% on the quest panel, Song Chi eyed the drop of Tier 7 Evil God Blood still in his hand. If he added that to the mix, he could boost the rate again—to 84.001%.

But eventually, he decided not to use it.

It wasn’t that 76% was good enough. It’s just that this Evil God Blood was only Tier 7—there was still room to improve.

The battleship evolution quest lasts a decade, and he’d just recently gotten a drop of the Eight-Armed Demon God’s blood. Song Chi figured he’d try trading for Tier 8 Evil God Blood from the Crescent Moon Matriarch next.

Tier 8 Evil God Blood.

Tier 7 Evil God Blood.

The difference sounds small, just a rank, but the impact on his advancement odds was much bigger.

From what Song Chi had heard, standard Tier 8 Evil God Blood adds 13% to advancement chances—so that’s a 5% jump. That’s no small gap.

Figure in an extra 5%, and his odds with the Heavenly Ruin would be a hair’s breadth from 90%. Song Chi wasn’t about to settle early.

Sure, high tier Evil God Blood always overrides the lower ones. He could merge this now, but if he managed to score Tier 8 blood later, the effect of today’s Tier 7 would be wasted. Song Chi wasn’t rich enough to throw away a drop of Evil God Blood for nothing.

After merging every resource he had ready, Song Chi retrieved the Heavenly Ruin.

Eyes flickering with calculation, he was still pondering how to raise those odds.

The next Omniverse Market trade cooldown wasn’t up yet—so that could wait.

Even if he managed get Tier 8 Evil God Blood next time, his odds would only hit 89.001%. Still not quite there.

Which meant, the question now was how to push that advancement chance even higher.

Light gleamed in his eyes as he made up his mind.

There were really only two ways to improve his odds.

First: keep collecting better advancement resources.

Second: hunt down more high-tier aliens.

He’d keep his eyes out for extra resources. Luckily, he’d accumulated quite a few battle credits from the Demon Serpent Floating-Land operation—maybe he could trade for other advancement treasures.

The hunting option, though, was trickier.

Strength wasn’t the issue. Battle after battle had proven the Heavenly Ruin could take on Tier 7 foes head-on now. The problem was, his quest only lasted ten years, and Tier 7 Eight-Armed Serpent Demons weren’t exactly a dime a dozen. With the Demon Serpent Continent fallen, mass-killing sovereign-tier Serpent Demons would be a real challenge.

But he had plans for that, too. Wars between civilizations were hard to exploit, but maybe he could shift his target.

The Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization was top notch. Whenever his Mirror Warship was on cooldown, Song Chi didn’t dare rampage around in the Heavenly Ruin’s real body hunting Tier 7 Serpent Demons—running into a hidden Tier 9 would be fatal.

By contrast, the Red Star Continent his family had run for thousands of years was a much better hunting ground.

According to all the records from the family’s hidden archives, there had never been a single ninth-tier being on the Red Star Continent—not even as a rumor.

So, thanks to his Market Projection Token letting him summon a semi-ninth-tier projection, Song Chi could theoretically walk all over the Red Star Continent. More importantly, there was always a good supply of Tier 7 and 8 beasts there.

Leave of Absence

Leave of Absence

Whole family’s here elbowing me for a mahjong table, can’t slip away. Guilty as charged, sob!