Chapter 706: The Battle for the Mythic Serpent Husk

Over a thousand years of civilizational war, the Song Family’s upper echelons had long lost count of how many times they’d swooped in to reap the spoils. And naturally, Song Chi wasn’t the only one who’d scored big.

Centuries ago, during one such loot run, his older brother Song Yan stumbled upon a Ninth-Tier Golden Apple on a Seventh‑Tier Floating-land. Since his Torch Seed had already evolved to its pitch-black form, and Clan Elder Song Wujian was adamant about not using the Golden Apple, Song Yan ended up evolving the Flame God’s Dominion Skull to black-tier instead.

He’d originally planned to use it to promote the Covenant of Flame, but after listening to suggestions from Song Chi and the others, he chose the Flame God’s Dominion Skull.

The Covenant of Flame was crucial—the family’s only genuinely high-tier confidential contract module, safeguarding countless family secrets.

But now, with war at its fiercest, safety took precedence. As a group-defense component, the Flame God’s Dominion Skull naturally became the top priority.

……

A spectral apparition of the Flame God hung over the Scorching Sea Blazer, soon colliding with the enormous phantom arm hanging high overhead.

Another violent explosion rattled the stars. Though reforged to the ninth tier, the Flame God’s Dominion Skull boasted only a portion of that power; Scorching Sea Blazer just wasn’t on a level to unleash its full might.

After all, Scorching Sea Blazer was just a Star-Annihilator-class Ship right now. It simply couldn’t support a full-power ninth-tier module.

As the shockwaves faded, the apparition of the Flame God was already gone, yet the giant phantom arm remained, a third of its shadow lingering.

Song Yan seemed prepared for this. The warship’s Star-Annihilator Cannon, already primed with energy, erupted at the prow, blasting the faded giant arm to pieces.

Then, Scorching Sea Blazer’s replica—still shrouded in a divine beast’s image—met the next descending phantom arm with unflinching resolve.

But the Ninth-Tier Serpent Demon, seeing its repeated attacks thwarted, changed tactics. No longer holding back, it now sent all four remaining arms crashing down together.

Four massive phantom arms tore down through the heavens, rending swathes of starlight as they fell. At this level, just a touch could shatter the fragile fabric of space.

Yet faced with this terrifying onslaught, the replica ship didn’t flinch. Like the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang before it, it charged upward with reckless courage toward the four crashing arms above.

But instead of detonating immediately, it triggered the “Black Hole Fission” trait of its Black Hole Armor just before impact.

This super-armor was every bit the equal of the Neutron-Star Core Armor fitted to the Heavenly Ruin. Once it turned into a miniature black hole, its defenses could rival, even surpass, those of a compact neutron star.

Which explained why Scorching Sea Blazer could face down a Ninth-Tier peak attack and still hold out for over ten seconds.

But the power gap was simply too vast. Even as a micro black hole, after those seconds, it couldn’t last any longer. Before it unraveled completely, the ship self-destructed.

Everything Scorching Sea Blazer did bought Song Chi precious time.

Deep inside the Serpent Mothership, the mirror warship—the Heavenly Ruin—suddenly vented a colossal cloud of burning steam.

In the next instant, the mirror warship suddenly transformed into a miniature neutron star, accompanied by searing heat hot enough to vaporize anything.

But Song Chi wasn’t just copying the Neutron-Star Core Armor here. Under his remote guidance, he used a temporary mythic evolution—courtesy of the Soul-Devourer Sacrificial Altar—to create the tricolored, mythic-grade Neutron-Star Core Armor.

At Level 90, the tricolored Neutron-Star Core Armor’s ‘Neutron-Star Fission’ could emit heat close to a hundred million degrees in one burst. Even the formidable Serpent Mothership’s hull melted where it touched the mirror ship—leaving a gaping rift that revealed the mothership’s interior.

“That tricolored radiance—I knew big brother was right…”

At that moment, Song Chi caught a fleeting flash of multicolored light.

This confirmed it; there really was a mythic tricolored oddity hidden inside the Serpent Mothership.

But at exactly that moment, the phantom of the eight-armed serpent overhead seemed to react. After countering the Scorching Sea Blazer’s self-destruction, its four faded giant arms sped up, lunging directly for the mirror warship.

Even so, Song Chi kept his composure, simply working even faster.

At the same time, he split his attention to remotely activate a special module on the real Heavenly Ruin.

Chaos Godhood – Divine Oracle: Chaos Aura (External), activate!

A streak of black light shot outward.

It vanished into the distance, striking the Eighth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominator locked in battle with the berserk Star Devourer Wolf.

Chaos Aura took hold fast. The Eighth-Tier serpent demon instantly lost all sense of friend or foe, lashing out blindly in the void. Seizing this opening, the berserk Star Devourer Wolf, following Song Chi’s command, hurled itself toward the four massive phantom arms.

In the Omniverse Market, Song Chi could only shake his head.

If he had a choice, he’d never throw away an enslaved creature this way. But desperate times called for desperate measures—anything to buy a little more time.

And this wolf only possessed Eighth-Tier power via the Enslave Seal: Berserk. Against four Ninth-Tier peak attacks, its real strength hardly mattered.

Song Chi knew this well. So, under his command, the Star Devourer Wolf did just one thing as it soared skyward.

It self-destructed.

Boom!

A third mushroom cloud blossomed amid the stars. The explosion clashed violently with the next crashing phantom arm.

Again, the mirror warship of Heavenly Ruin bought crucial seconds.

Now, the ultimate trait of the mythic-grade armor—Gamma Ray Burst—finally finished charging up.

A massive beam of energy pierced clean through the gap scorched open in the Serpent Mothership.

At last, the mirror warship had the chance to charge straight into the mothership’s heart.

But the Ninth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominator trailing behind had no intention of letting this happen. Whatever method it used, three-fifths of its phantom arm’s power teleported across thousands of miles, materializing right next to the mothership—ready to smash down on the mirror warship.

Song Chi didn’t react slowly, either. Sensing danger, he grit his teeth and triggered an emergency plan he’d been holding back.

Pusa Zen Seal – Zen Seal: Internal: Time Acceleration!

Celestial Authority Ring – Enslave Seal: Berserk!

In a flash, the “Enslave Seal: Berserk” trait, recently used on the real Heavenly Ruin, was reactivated. But this time the target wasn’t the Star Devourer Wolf or the Flamewrath Giant—it was the Ashura Emperor.

On the starfield battlefield, beside the mirror warship, the Ashura Emperor’s blood-red skin suddenly flushed even deeper. As energy surged through it, its power soared.

It had only half a foot in the Eighth-Tier peak before. Now, whipped into a frenzy, it smashed through that bottleneck to reach the absolute pinnacle. And it didn’t stop—the surge carried it to the very brink of the Ninth Tier.

Sadly, the Celestial Authority Ring was still only a gold module. Even at Level 89, it couldn’t push the Ashura Emperor fully into Ninth-Tier might.

But this was still a tremendous boost. Almost reaching Ninth Tier, the Ashura Emperor wielded its blood-red sabre, clad in the gold Fireglass Armor Song Chi had prepared for it, and conjured up the Ashura Chronosaber empowered by law-level Blood mastery—barely holding back three of the four descending phantom arms.

The last arm, though, shot straight through the gamma ray–blasted hole, reaching for the mirror warship already inside.

Inside the Serpent Mothership, the mirror warship’s neutron star mode had ended. Just then, the replicated Sky-Domain AI inside sounded an emergency alert.

True Spirit Guard of the Angel King tried to block the blow, but against Ninth-Tier peak force, this single shield was nowhere near enough.

The Neutron-Star Core Armor’s protection was still on cooldown. They’d burned through the Zen Seal’s time acceleration trying to blast open the mothership just moments ago—now all that was left was the fading Mythic Pulsar Energy Shield.

Under Song Chi’s remote piloting, the mirror warship still raced ever deeper into the mothership.

To be exact, it was heading toward the compartment that held the mythic oddity.

But they were inside a warship. No matter how hard he pushed the engines, speed inside these cramped quarters would never come close to open space.

In less than two breaths, a jarring shudder hit the stern. The pursuing phantom arm had caught up.

The Angel King’s Spirit Apparition lasted mere seconds. The Mythic Pulsar Energy Shield held out longer. With both, the mirror warship survived the first strike.

Even Song Chi was struggling to stay calm now—his heart pounding in his chest.

But all the effort paid off. A dozen seconds after entering, he finally laid eyes on the tricolored item at the heart of it all.

‘What is this…? This mythic oddity is actually a special serpent husk?’

Staring at the shimmering, tricolored husk laid out in the next chamber, Song Chi was genuinely surprised.

But that thought passed as quickly as it came. There was no time for questions now—securing the serpent husk had to come first.

Vrrrrm!

The engines roared as both thrusters went full throttle, and Song Chi even activated the Mirage Thrusters’ ‘Phantom Shift’ just to buy a little more time.

But the effect was limited.

Bang!

Another explosion rocked the stern. Emergency alarms blared—damage had begun to breach the warship’s hull.

The copied Mythic Pulsar Energy Shield completely overloaded, and the phantom arm’s attack hammered the hull itself.

With the armor at just the right level of damage, Song Chi triggered the Last Aegis.

But even so, things weren’t looking good. The Last Aegis, though gold grade, was only minimally effective against modules not just two grades, but a whole tier stronger like the mythic shield.

The Mythic Pulsar Energy Shield only recovered 30% power; it bought Song Chi a few more seconds—then burnt out again.

In the end, Song Chi could only pin his hopes on the Chaos Godhood module.

‘Just a little more…’

He growled inwardly, activating the replicated Chaos Godhood on the mirror warship.

Chaos Godhood – Divine Oracle: Chaos Aura (Internal), activate!

Immediately, swirling tides of chaotic energy shrouded the ship.

Right then, the phantom arm with just forty percent of its original power reached for them again. But to its surprise, the mirror warship suddenly slipped away like a greased eel—it should’ve been caught, but somehow, it dodged free.

That one improbable slip let the warship surge into the chamber holding the mythic serpent husk.

Song Chi didn’t hesitate for a second. As soon as he entered, the warship fired a powerful tractor beam into the room.

Somewhere in the Omniverse Market, Song Chi’s face fallen.

He’d assumed that, once inside, retrieving the item would be simple. But either due to the serpent husk’s nature or something else, even the warship’s highest level tractor beam could barely move it; the extraction speed was agonizingly slow.

The phantom arm behind couldn’t care less. When its first grab failed, it simply swung again.

Luckily, Level 90 recreated Chaos Godhood paid off—the chaos effect massively reduced the chance of being hit.

Sure enough, the phantom arm’s second strike missed completely.

But the Ninth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominator wasn’t dumb. After two strange misses, it realized something was off. Instead of chasing the warship, it lunged straight for the mythic serpent husk.

“Dream on!”

Song Chi snarled, immediately unleashing every delaying trick the warship had.

Pusa Zen Seal – Samsara Time Domain!

Frosted Void Prison – Frost Dragon Domain!

……

But the result was obvious. There was just no way a bunch of Eighth-Tier modules could truly deter attacks at Ninth-Tier peak.

The phantom arm’s approach slowed a little, but not much. It still kept closing in on the serpent husk.

In the critical moment, Song Chi triggered another module.

Mythic Pulsar Energy Shield!

Although the shield was already overloaded, it could still fire off a Mythic Pulse Wave.

That pulse lashed directly at the phantom arm.

Hit by the ultra–high-frequency blast, the already-faded phantom arm inexplicably froze in place.

Whatever the reason, Song Chi didn’t care. He pulled with all his might on the tractor beam.

As he did, he even nudged the warship’s position to block the husk from the phantom arm.

This tense stand-off lasted several seconds—then the phantom arm broke free again.

Luck wasn’t on his side this time. Chaos Aura was still active, but the next strike connected.

[Warning: External attack detected! Hull armor integrity down to 78%. Hull damage at 52%. Please repair as soon as possible!]

The automated alert couldn’t have come at a worse time. Both repair modules were on cooldown, and although the hull could self-repair, it was much slower. If the next attack landed, the mirror warship would be crippled.

And losing mobility meant the mission to snatch the mythic oddity would fail.

Even knowing the odds of evasion were good, could Song Chi really risk it?

Of course he couldn’t.

Back in the Omniverse Market, eyes shut tight, Song Chi muttered:

“Success or failure… it all comes down to this last moment…”

……

Starfield Battlefield, warship control room.

Truth be told, from the start, there’d been a Doomstar Race being standing silently in the ship’s control room.

The fifth-tier slave creature was little use in battle, but it clutched a golden token tight to its chest.

The Market Projection Token.

But even now, Song Chi never triggered the token himself.

That last risk he’d mentioned wasn’t about the token at all.

Unless he truly faced life and death, he’d never call down the Omniverse Market projection.

Not even when deep in the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization’s rear territory.

After all, if the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty’s high command could monitor the battle at Young Serpent Floating-Land and deduce the Heavenly Ruin’s capabilities from millions of light-years away, who was to say they couldn’t track what’s happening just ten million light-years behind the front lines?

So, until he was sure, he wouldn’t use the Market Projection Token. If that weren’t the case, he’d have summoned the market the moment the giant serpent’s phantom appeared.

No, Song Chi’s true ace was that black module that had saved him more than once before.

Black Hole Evolution Layer – Black Hole Domain, activate!

After so much brawling, the black hole energy had recovered considerably. Still, it wasn’t even close to full capacity. He wouldn’t have triggered the Black Hole Domain trait now, except he simply couldn’t drag things out any longer.

The more black hole energy spent, the longer the domain’s absolute invincibility would last.

Energy gushed forth, wrapping the entire mirror warship in that signature swirling field.

Boom!

The phantom arm tried to grab again, but the Black Hole Domain blocked it completely.

With the arm spent and the evolution layer at Level 90, the Black Hole Domain held firm for a full four seconds, even under Ninth-Tier assault.

That was all the time Song Chi needed.

Before the domain collapsed, the mythic serpent husk had at last been secured in the warship’s cargo hold.

There was just one last step: the waiting fifth-tier Doomstar Race being, carrying the serpent husk now shrunk to miniature size, hurried off to deliver it to the market.

The Doomstar moved fast—hustling the compacted serpent husk out of the warship in moments.

A heartbeat later, black hole energies finally gave out, and the furious giant phantom arm crashed down one last time.

But at that moment of utmost danger, the fifth-tier Doomstar returned to the ship.

Now it held not the serpent husk, but the Dimensional Spatial Stone.

At the same moment, the Ashura Emperor, still outside the Serpent Mothership, received a recall order from Song Chi.

Inside the warship, Song Chi activated the copied Tome of Divine Will, while outside, a vortex of energy swept up the Ashura Emperor.

Blade in hand, the emperor swung with all its strength, forcing back three of the phantom arms.

But by now, the furious Ninth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominator had reached its limits. The arms attacked, heedless of consequence.

Seeing this, the Ashura Emperor abandoned offense and focused everything on the recall.

Boom!

A beam of light shot across space as the Ashura Emperor vanished, enduring one last hit from the phantom arm on the way out.

The Fireglass Armor absorbed the impact, letting the Tome of Divine Will pull it away in time.

Inside the Serpent Mothership, the Ashura Emperor’s light beam entered the warship. The Doomstar Race being wasted no time, activating the Dimensional Spatial Stone and absorbing the exhausted emperor inside.

Right then, another quake rocked the ship. The warship collapsed into total immobility.

But the Doomstar acted even faster, using the Market Projection Token to vanish with the goods.

Only now, in the Omniverse Market, did everything come together perfectly.

A few seconds earlier, Song Shiyuan had already summoned back the Unmoving Vajra.

But Song Chi’s attention was now entirely on the mythic serpent husk.

Oddity: Husk of the Sky-Swallowing Serpent (Core Damaged)

Grade: Tricolored / Lower

Transmutable: None

Effects: {Mythic Husk}{Tricolor Spirit Seal}{Ancient Serpent Spirit}{Essence Devouring Evolution}{Sacred Blood Baptism}{Xumi Serpent Stomach}{Xumi Extraction}

Note: The shed skin of a legendary Seven-Colored Sky-Swallowing Serpent, transformed into a mythic oddity by otherworldly energies.

{Mythic Husk: Actively evolve a designated oddity up by one grade. The promoted oddity’s grade can never equal or exceed the Husk itself. Cooldown depends on the target’s grade—at least a thousand years, up to five thousand.}

{Tricolor Spirit Seal: Imprint the ‘Serpent Spirit Mark’ onto a being, linking them to the Husk. Current available marks: 1000/1000.}

{Ancient Serpent Spirit: Bearers of the Mark can communicate with the Husk and remotely summon a mythic serpent spirit to assist in battle.}

{Essence Devouring Evolution: The Husk inherits the serpent’s innate devouring ability and can absorb any energy to evolve itself. Current progress: 62%/100%.}

{Sacred Blood Baptism: Every hundred years, the Husk generates a batch of Serpent Sacred Blood to enhance genetic potential for living beings.}

{Xumi Serpent Stomach: The Husk holds a special spatial dimension for storing resources or other oddities.}

{Xumi Extraction: Bearers of the Serpent Spirit Mark can, every hundred years, extract up to five items from the stomach—across space. This benefit doesn’t stack and resets after a hundred years.}