Chapter 685: The Exchange and the Hunt

Six for one—it might seem like a bad deal on the surface, but only Song Chi truly understood what he was gaining and losing.

He pretended to weigh the decision for a moment, then nodded without hesitation.

“Alright, it’s settled. But the Eighth-Tier Dominion Origin Blood and the two Sixth-Tier Timeworld Fruits will take some time. The Eighth-Tier Dominion Origin Blood will be delivered within ten years, but the Timeworld Fruit’s production is slow—that one might be delayed a bit.”

Haoyue seemed to expect this. After all, the Sixth-Tier Timeworld Fruit was his backup resource in case his future ascension failed, so he wouldn’t need it anytime soon.

“That’s fine. The Moon-Swallowing Viper’s Remains can be given to you right now in exchange for those three items in your hand. As for the other three, as long as they’re delivered within the next five hundred years, that works!”

Haoyue really meant business—no fuss, no stalling. After taking the three items from Song Chi, he strode straight to the Star Hall marketplace window, retrieved the Moon-Swallowing Viper’s Remains that had been posted there for thousands of years, and handed it to Song Chi.

Even at the end, when leaving the Star Hall, he never once mentioned signing any kind of transaction contract.

This left Song Chi a little impressed with Haoyue’s straightforward nature. Only afterwards did he realize the real reason was the Beidou Sevenstar Hall itself.

After all, when it comes to a legendary myth-grade Oddity, even the boldest folk should be extra cautious. Haoyue’s peace of mind came from the witness of the Beidou Sevenstar Hall beneath their feet.

In front of the mythic-level Beidou Sevenstar Hall, there was no need for any additional contract modules. Anything else would just be redundant.

Still, even after figuring this out, Song Chi didn’t have time to dwell on it. His focus was already on the mini serpent corpse in his hands, shimmering with tricolored radiance.

Its tiny blue-green scales were densely packed, a faint aura swirling around them. Even after a million years, the serpent’s body looked as lifelike as if it might spring back to life.

Song Chi could even sense faint traces of mythic power lingering within it.

At his current level, there was no way to tell exactly what kind of power this was. All he could be certain of was that the energy held an incomprehensible might—far beyond the ninth-tier strength he’d wielded at the Market. Besides gods at the tenth tier or higher, there wasn’t much else it could be.

He could feel that this mythic power was related to bloodline—most likely the legacy force of the Moon-Swallowing Viper.

Realizing this, Song Chi couldn’t contain his joy. Everything had gone smoothly, just as he’d planned. Next, it was all up to the Bloodline Sorcerers’ Alliance among the Witcher Civilization.

If the serpent-blood sorcerer families in that Alliance had enough ambition and the right tradable items, this would work out perfectly.

……

Not long after Haoyue left, Song Chi logged out of the Beidou Sevenstar Hall as well.

He still owed an Eighth-Tier Dominion Origin Blood, and the Heavenly Ruin needed one, too. He couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

Leaving the Beidou Sevenstar Hall, Song Chi didn’t linger on Dragon‑Spine Continent. Using the ultradimensional teleportation platform linked to Dragon Whale Ancestral Hall, he sent himself straight to the Hidden Vein sector in Dragon Abyss City on Red Star Continent.

Since the family had become an Immortal House, resources were slimmed down here— it was most obvious in the now thinly populated underground Dragon Abyss City.

A few hundred years ago, tens of millions of clansmen lived here. Now there were barely more than a hundred thousand.

No choice, really. After the Song Family took over the Chipan Galaxy, developing that new territory required plenty of people. The Hidden Vein branch was naturally tapped for the migration.

Thinking about Chipan Galaxy, Song Chi’s expression softened.

The great interstellar migration, fully backed by the family, had been carrying on for decades. With the help of multiple spatial wormholes, the number of Torch citizens settled in the Chipan Galaxy was considerable.

Internal Affairs Hall stats from recently suggested that in the last decades alone, over 100 million Song clansmen had been relocated to the Chipan Galaxy, and the number of Torch citizens from within Song Family’s original domain had topped a billion.

Those hundred million Song clansmen were all assigned to the core floating landmasses of the family-controlled Star Domains, while most regular Torch citizens settled on ordinary floating lands.

Even with such a vast territory—three hundred thousand light-years—their population was still limited. Song Family couldn’t realistically develop such a large Star Domain with only their own numbers. Most of the work fell to the Torch citizens.

Of course, Torch citizens shared in some of the gains, but the Song Family made sure they kept the lion’s share for themselves.

And this approach wasn’t unique to the Song Family—every major power did it this way. It was the most effective, rational way to develop new worlds.

Song Chi didn’t stay in Dragon Abyss City. He summoned the Heavenly Ruin and soon left the underground city behind.

With two top-tier jump modules, it didn’t take Song Chi long to reach the second stop on his Red Star Continent tour: Dragon Shark City.

As the family’s public trade hub on the continent, Dragon Shark City had always been famed for its order and discipline.

It was the Song Family’s front window here. Add in the unique local resource—fire carp—that could trigger automatic upgrades for colorless and white Torch Seeds, and it was no wonder the family managed the city with such care.

Even with the Starry Sky Dragon Shark reassigned to fight in the family fleet due to the ongoing civilization war, Song Chi still left a Market Projection Token here—just in case anything went wrong.

Mostly, it was because after the Market reached Seventh-Tier, the number of Market Projection Tokens available jumped to ten. Still, it went to show how much the Song Family valued Dragon Shark City.

After hundreds of years, Dragon Shark City was nothing like the early days.

When the Heavenly Ruin arrived above the city, hidden high in the void, Song Chi saw lines of alien species stretching out from each city gate—all patiently waiting to enter.

Inside, millions of non-humans were bustling through the streets, the liveliness palpable.

Overhead, thousands of Torch Battleships patrolled constantly. If any trouble broke out below, they’d descend in force to keep order.

Unlike the underfunded Dragon Abyss City, the Song Family had never skimped on Dragon Shark City—even during large-scale wars, they stationed over ten thousand Torch Battleships here for security.

At their head was the flagship: the Dreadnought Far East Voyager.

Three hundred years ago, this Dreadnought was transferred here. It had once been commanded by the Hidden Vein’s Yaozu, but after his promising years and a failed breakthrough—even a Fifth-Tier Timeworld Fruit couldn’t help him—he died of old age three hundred years back.

The Far East Voyager took over afterwards.

Song Chi had heard plenty about this ship. Its soul originated from Dongzu, who ranked alongside the Prime Ancestor and Ru Zu among the family’s first line. Its advancement to Dreadnought status was around the same era as Song Xingru. Dongzu had always been stationed at the family’s base on Evil Buddha Continent. If the Dragon Shark City post hadn’t gone vacant three centuries ago, he’d never have been reassigned here.

“Grandson Song Chi greets Dongzu!”

The moment the comms connected, Song Chi greeted first.

He might now be a Dreadnought Captain himself, one of the foremost in the clan, already on the path toward Star-Annihilator status, but by seniority he still had to address Dongzu as ‘Ancestor.’

You couldn’t forget what these elders had done—old folks who’d held up the family for thousands of years before its rise, working to win resources for every generation. Every one of them deserved the juniors’ respect.

No matter how high he climbed—even after becoming a Star-Annihilator Captain or a Star River-Captain—he would still call them Ancestor.

On the other end, Song Zhendong sounded truly delighted, his face beaming with a broad smile.

“Xiaochi, what brings you to Red Star Continent? Don’t tell me the civilization war is already over?”

“Not that soon. To end this war completely, it’ll probably take a few more thousand years. I came here this time…”

Song Chi briefly explained his goals and gave a rundown of the war’s situation over the past centuries. Song Zhendong listened with great interest.

Afterwards, Song Zhendong filled him in on things in Dragon Shark City.

“Xiaochi, things here have really picked up. In the last hundred years, we’ve been earning dozens of Eighth-Tier Floating-Land Origins every year, and sometimes even a few Eighth-Tier Dominion Souls—Seventh-tier ones are even more abundant.”

As he spoke, the Dreadnought Far East Voyager opened its hatch, sending out several storage capsules.

After the Heavenly Ruin drew the capsules into its hold, Song Chi glanced inside–the income Dragon Shark City had earned over the last centuries was impressive.

11 Eighth-Tier Dominion Souls

72 Seventh-Tier Dominion Souls

1 strand of Ninth-Tier Floating-Land Origin

4200 strands of Eighth-Tier Floating-Land Origin

Golden Particle Superluminal Detection Radar

Silver Holy Spirit Heavenly Fire

……

None of this shocked Song Chi, but for a clan so newly established among the Immortal Houses, the yield was outstanding.

Even for other established Immortal Houses, this sort of return over a few centuries would be considered excellent. Over millennia, the accumulated wealth would become astonishing.

After chatting a while longer and making sure Dragon Shark City was all clear, Song Chi piloted the Heavenly Ruin away once again.

Now it was time to hunt down an Eighth-Tier Dominion lifeform. This was something he couldn’t let have any trace back to Dragon Shark City.

Not that he could act with total impunity thanks to the Market Projection. Red Star Continent might not have any known ninth-tier or higher Dominion lifeforms, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other powerful threats lurking.

For instance, Song Chi remembered Saintlight City well—it was a neutral place established by an Eighth-Tier Angel King.

And what did it mean to be an angel?

They were one of the dominant civilizations across the Shattered Sea of Stars. That ruler in Saintlight City might be only an Eighth-Tier Angel King now, but if Song Chi dared to harm him, armies of archangels would certainly show up for vengeance.

In that case, it wouldn’t stop with an Eighth-Tier Angel King. Even Ninth-Tier Seraphim could arrive.

That’s why this hunt required careful planning—when to make a move, which alien to target, it all had to be mapped out. Without caution, even the Market’s blessing might not save him from provoking something he couldn’t handle.

Back in the ship’s control room, Song Chi’s eyes stayed glued to the thick intel register in his hands—compiled by the Hidden Vein over millennia. It held detailed records of the distribution and power of alien races all over Red Star Continent, complete with background info.

At the very top? Saintlight City.

Rumor was the city had been founded by a blood descendant of a Ninth-Tier Seraphim from the Angelic Civilization—its backing ran deep.

The Astrology Tower, home to a high-level civilization from the Sea of Stars, possibly included Eighth- and Ninth-Tier titled astrologers.

Giant Elephant City, ruled by an Eighth-Tier giant elephant being, apparently had no noteworthy background.

The Eighth-Tier Black Moon Demon Wolf—a variant of the Howling Moon Silver Wolf species, whose main line had a Ninth-Tier Silver Wolf Lord.

Star Core City, home base of the Star Spirit Tribe, led by a Seventh-Tier Star Spirit Dominator.

Every line in this register had been carefully vetted by the Hidden Vein. It might not be flawless, but for a strategic overview it was just about perfect.

For example, Song Chi had personally visited Star Core City—the intel there turned out to be dead-on.

After pondering for a while, Song Chi locked on to the first target.

Giant Elephant City!

Red Star Continent wasn’t especially small, nor was it impossibly big. Once he made his move, word would spread fast. To avoid raising anyone’s guard, he decided to focus exclusively on targeting Eighth-Tier lifeforms from the start.

Giant Elephant City had been founded tens of thousands of years ago, and back then its ruler had only just reached Eighth-Tier. Even after all these years, he likely hadn’t advanced much. With no backing, it was the perfect place to start.

Half a year slipped by. Now, light-years from Dragon Shark City, the Heavenly Ruin was hiding in the void.

Looking through the ship’s holoprojection toward the surface, Song Chi saw a towering city standing proud beside the ship’s flanks.

It wasn’t as magnificent as Saintlight City, but its rules were much stricter than Dragon Shark City’s. Add in its history and the incredible number of alien customers—over ten million packed its streets.

Song Chi couldn’t help feeling a bit envious; neither Dragon Shark City nor the Market had reached this scale yet.