Chapter 699: The Crown of the Cosmos

After asking the question, Song Shixing’s gaze locked completely onto Song Chi’s face, a hint of anticipation flickering in his eyes.

As the most talented prodigy in Song Family history—the one who became a Star-Annihilator-class Captain just past his first millennium—of course he hoped Song Chi would claim a title worthy of recognition.

After all, unless something unexpected happened, this honorific would soon spread across the entire Torch Human Civilization and beyond to the vast Sea of Stars. Without something unique, it simply wouldn’t do.

As for this ‘King’s Honorific,’ Song Chi had clearly given it a lot of thought. Before going into seclusion, he’d already discussed it carefully with Shen Youran. So he didn’t waste words, and simply said:

“King of the Cosmos—that’s the title I’ve chosen long ago. What do you think, Grand Elder?”

“Excellent!”

Song Shixing’s booming laughter echoed through Dragon Whale Hall. He quickly continued:

“King of the Cosmos—how fitting! The sovereign of the boundless heavens and endless stars. Not only is it distinctive, but it carries the bold spirit of the Torch men. I have no doubt this title will be remembered across the Sea of Stars, and our Dragonspine Song Family will become a legend alongside you, Xiaochi!”

…

Chipan Galaxy, Azure-Firmament Floating-land.

With the Floating-land now officially reaching level seven, waves of energy surged ceaselessly across its surface. Thanks to this tidal surge, tens of thousands of Torch Battleships stationed throughout the land all began their ascension.

Even with the support of this gentle seventh-tier energy and the high-quality resources Song Family had plundered from the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons, not all of those ascending warships succeeded—many ultimately failed.

Fortunately, those that failed were still the minority. Most succeeded in advancing; all that remained was to break through with their Guiding Technique and complete a major leap forward.

Advancing a Torch Battleship has never been easy. Only because Song Family’s foundation skyrocketed in recent years could they provide such a good environment. If it were any other force, success would be far less likely than failure.

What’s more, other groups didn’t have a meticulous warship offloading system like Song Family.

It wasn’t just the Tri-Eye Spirit-Lock Ring—after over seven centuries of war and Song Chi’s endless trades at the Omniverse Market, Song Family had amassed nearly a thousand unique offloading components. The Spirit-Lock Ring remained the finest, but they had enough to meet the whole clan’s temporary needs for mid- and lower-stage ascensions.

Because of this, Song Family’s mid- and lower-ranking members avoided the worst costs of failed advancement. It’s the main reason their power surged so dramatically in a short span.

Put simply, while Torch Captains elsewhere hesitated to risk advancing, Song Family’s peers could try twice or even three times over the same period. Many succeeded on the first try, most by the second, and only the truly unlucky or those with low base rates needed a third attempt.

No wonder Song Family’s advancement speed drew so much envy.

Even a rough tally by the Internal Affairs Hall showed that fifty years ago, the Family already had over a thousand members at fourth rank or higher, more than fifty thousand cruiser captains, and more than a million Second-Tier escort captains.

As for Dark Energy Shuttles and Airships, those numbers had long since surpassed a hundred million.

According to Shen Youran, even the illustrious Shen Family of the Northern Heavens—whose legacy spanned over ten thousand years—couldn’t surpass this strength by much. At best, just a bit stronger.

Thanks to Song Chi, the Family’s leaders, and the discipline of the rank and file, the Song Family’s four-thousand-year-old foundation had, within less than a millennium of war, shot straight up to rival the Immortal Houses.

By any measure, this was a miracle.

But this miracle was built on the plunder of other star civilizations—whether the Doomstar Race before, or the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons now.

And the Song Family felt no guilt over it. That’s the law of the Endless Shattered Sea—civilizations either conquer or perish. If you don’t strive to become strong, you’ll only end up oppressed, caged, or destroyed.

Of course, Song Chi and the family didn’t let it go to their heads. They weren’t the only ones growing during this civilization war—even if few out-paced the Song Family, others certainly hadn’t stood still.

Take the Shen Family of the Northern Heavens: what Shen Youran described referred to their strength before the war began. The Song Family had only just caught up with their pre-war foundation. As for the Shen Family’s current state, only they themselves knew.

Still, Song Chi was sure of one thing—the Shen Family was far stronger now than before.

Over the last two centuries, the Shen Family hadn’t rejoined front-line battles, staying quiet, but their haul during those early years of war was immense. That trove of resources could only have made their foundation all the deeper.

‘Sigh… There’s a long road ahead for the Song Family. We can’t afford to slack off yet…’

As Song Chi was musing, the tide of energy across the Floating-land began to subside. This meant the tens of thousands of family members on the Floating-land had almost all started their advances.

Under his guidance, the mighty Heavenly Ruin didn’t appear directly, but was swiftly summoned back. Then, Song Chi activated his internal Law of Space and headed on his own toward the underground passage deep beneath the Floating-land.

Piloting the Heavenly Ruin would’ve drawn too much attention. With its nearly twenty-thousand-kilometer hull, anyone on the Floating-land would instantly guess who it was if he showed up.

…

Far beneath the Azure-Firmament Floating-land, in the core where the Floating-land Origin resided.

Buzzzzzz!

A faint spatial ripple behind him made Song Yan whirl around at once.

But when he saw that it was Song Chi approaching, the wariness in his eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by obvious delight.

“Seventh Brother, you’ve come out of seclusion…”

Song Chi nodded, eyes already drawn to the tiny crimson warship hovering quietly above the Floating-land Origin Core.

“Congratulations, Big Brother. The Scorching Sea Blazer’s become a Star-Annihilator-class ship. As soon as you break through with your Guiding Technique, our Song Family will have three Star-Annihilator-class warships. Let the outside world covet us all they want—what need do we have to fear?”

Song Yan’s smile grew broader at the congratulations.

It was no wonder—now that Scorching Sea Blazer had advanced, his own promotion to Seventh-Tier Guiding Technique was within reach. The thought of those hundred-thousand-plus years of life for a seventh-tier captain—who wouldn’t be moved?

But Song Yan’s expression soon shifted to a wry smile. He sighed:

“Thanks, Seventh Brother… but luck really wasn’t on my side. Even with the Blood Chalice, tons of extra resources, and the floating-land energy tide, Scorching Sea Blazer’s chance to advance hit seventy-eight percent—yet it still failed on the first try, and only succeeded on the second try thanks to a sixth-tier Timeworld Fruit!”

Hearing this, Song Chi felt sorry for his big brother. Using the Timeworld Fruit ahead of time would make his next leap to the Star River-class even harder.

But nothing could be done—it was just bad luck. Some things can’t be forced.

After offering a few words of comfort, Song Chi changed the subject:

“By the way, Brother, what exactly is this Blood Chalice you mentioned?”

When he’d spoken with Song Shixing earlier, the topic had been focused on Song Chi’s kingly title, so the Blood Chalice hadn’t come up.

Once Song Yan explained, Song Chi’s eyes lit up.

The Blood Chalice could clearly help him advance to Star River-class in the future. While it could only absorb origin blood from tier-eight creatures at best, that ‘limit’ was essentially irrelevant—who could kill a ninth-tier Dominator that easily? If you could, chances are, you wouldn’t worry about advancing any further.

In truth, that restriction was little more than a formality.

Even so, if a wild chance ever arose, Song Chi could just track down a ninth-tier Golden Apple to evolve the Blood Chalice into a black-grade item, solving every issue with ease.

He didn’t dwell on the matter and, after chatting with Song Yan a bit longer, Song Chi took his leave.

With the Scorching Sea Blazer newly advanced, Song Yan needed to go into seclusion and attempt a breakthrough in his Guiding Technique.

After leaving the core, Song Chi didn’t rush off. Instead, he headed for another important place on the Azure-Firmament Floating-land.

…

Azure-Firmament Floating-land, Hidden Ao Ridge.

As the second-best spot on the land (after the core) for energy gather, Hidden Ao Ridge naturally drew many from the Song Family.

Most of the dozens gathered to advance here were either family prodigies or direct-line future leaders. It was like witnessing the very heart of the clan’s next ruling class.

“Congrats on advancing, Yu-ge!”

“Thank you, everyone. None of us failed this time—that’s worth celebrating!”

…

“The family’s done so much for us already. If we still… Hold on—someone unfamiliar is approaching!”

In the fleet group chat, the strongest among them—a warship just promoted to battleship—suddenly called out a warning.

No one doubted him for a second. Every warship’s dark energy field flared up as they braced for trouble.

The speaker was Song Yichuan. By far the eldest there, his ship was famously powerful. He’d been part of the direct-line legacy centuries ago, and with a monstrous Dreadnought Captain as an older brother, Yichuan had followed the main fleet into countless major battles. His sense for danger far outstripped the rest.

Sure enough, moments later a spatial ripple above Hidden Ao Ridge proved he’d been right.

But the second they saw who materialized, everyone relaxed.

“Yichuan greets Uncle Song Chi!”

“Greetings, Elder Chi!”

Song Chi was the idol of the new generation, his face well-known across the family. Since he hadn’t hidden his appearance, everyone recognized him right away.

Song Chi smiled and nodded.

“None of you failed to advance—very impressive. But don’t get complacent!”

After a few simple words, Song Chi’s eyes fell on one of the Zhulu-class cruisers below.

The ship belonged to none other than Song Hanyu. In the nearly two centuries since they’d last met, the boy who’d once been ten had now advanced his ship to a Zhulu-class—a cruiser captainship was just around the corner.

After that, Song Chi took Song Hanyu off for a private talk.

Song Chi’s main reason for coming to Azure-Firmament Floating-land wasn’t simply to see his big brother—it was to visit his own son.

Father and son hadn’t seen each other in years. At first, Han Yu was a little reserved, but with Song Chi’s gentle coaxing, their conversation soon turned warm and familiar.

“Father, Mother went to the front lines over a hundred years ago. Since then, we’ve only met at the Market a handful of times. Please, go bring her back soon—the front is too dangerous…”

“Han Yu, your mother is a member of the family now too. You shouldn’t think like that…”

…

After some heart-to-heart, Song Chi summoned a fourth-tier divine bird.

“This is a Vermilion Divine Bird, Han Yu. Your Law Comprehension is already quite advanced, but before you try to ascend, you should strengthen it even more.”

“Don’t resist. I’ll have this tier-four Vermilion Divine Bird forge a Vermilion Blood Pact with you. When it’s done, you’ll awaken the Dual Pupils—a top-tier innate talent.”

This bird was specially bred by the Song Family and the Qingqiu Trading Association. They didn’t have many yet, but getting one for his son was no problem.

Soon, Song Hanyu successfully signed a Vermilion Blood Pact. With the support of his new Dual Pupils, he had to race against time to deepen his Law Comprehension before attempting his fourth-tier Guiding Technique breakthrough—only that way could he reap the greatest benefits.

With these matters settled, Song Chi finally left the Dragon-Spine Continent.

By tapping the ‘reality-shifting’ power of the Void Sea Projection Emperor’s Tomb, he set a spatial anchor from afar right at the front lines and teleported over in the blink of an eye.

That combo—Void Sea Projection Emperor’s Tomb and the Omniverse Market—was just absurd. When Song Chi returned to Dragon-Spine Continent before, he’d already set an anchor in Elder’s flagship at the front. But if he traveled that way, his own dark energy would be sealed by the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang for twenty-four hours, which he didn’t want—so he went about it differently this time.

Song Chi’s timing was perfect—he arrived just as the 11th Fleet was taking a peak-level seventh-tier Floating-land. Still, the Song Family crew gave him the warmest welcome imaginable.