Chapter 710: The Secret Harvest of Dragon-Spine: Resources, Rebellion, and the Long-Awaited Tide

According to Song Chi and the others’ plan, time wasn’t actually as tight as it might seem.

After all, the Scalesnake Floating-Land they’d chosen was way up in the northern reaches, tens of millions of light-years away from the only central newly-advanced ninth-tier floating-land in the region. Not to mention, they’d been controlling all communications from the floating-land, so even if news leaked out, the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon reinforcements wouldn’t be able to get there quickly.

Their sense of urgency wasn’t rooted in logistics, but because they never relied on that kind of insurance.

In their eyes, only the resources they sent into the Omniverse Market were truly theirs. Everything else was just too risky.

The Blackfang Clan had been around a million years—who knew what kind of trump cards they might be hiding? Besides, they also had to watch out for those monstrous Ninth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominators jumping in from across the stars. With that kind of threat looming, how could they not feel pressured?

……

Southern front, Central Star Domain of the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon galactic cluster.

Billions upon billions of Eight-Armed Serpent Demons and Sky Serpent warships were assembled here, facing off against the Joint Fleet of the Divine Xia Empire and Chiyu Divine Dynasty.

All along this massive front, fierce clashes broke out by the second.

In one sector, more than ten mighty beings of eighth-tier and above fought in the dark expanse of space.

On one side, there were five Star River-class Battleships and three eighth-tier enslaved creatures. Facing them, the Serpent Demon’s side had ten Eighth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominators.

Numbers clearly favored the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons. But even so, the balance didn’t really tip in their favor—not with two of those Star River-class Battleships fighting two-on-one and maintaining a total advantage.

Right now, the advantage the Serpent Demons did have was thanks to a special domain-type multicolored Oddity, paired with their 『Serpent Prison』 divine ability, tipping the scales in a few other skirmishes.

At this rate, this war—enough to devastate the surrounding starfield—could drag on for ages.

But things didn’t go as expected. An experienced Eighth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominator, empowered by the multicolored domain, drove back a Star River-class Battleship with his black axe—then, instead of pressing his advantage, his face twisted as he spun and bolted from the battlefield.

This shocked not just the Chiyu fleet’s Star River-class Captains, but the nine other Eighth-Tier Dominators too.

“Heiya Ridge, do you have any idea what you’re doing? Get back here!”

One Peak Eighth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominator used a pitch-black message Oddity to broadcast his words, sending his command straight to the fleeing Dominator’s ears.

But instead of stopping, Heiya Ridge acted like he’d never heard, only shouting as he soared away:

“The Blackfang Clan’s ancestral grounds are under attack by the Torch Fleet! The floating-land shield’s down—I have to go back and help!”

His shout came through the dark message Oddity, ringing clear in the Peak Dominator’s ears.

His crimson, vertical pupils narrowed, much of his anger snuffed out. Anyone would be rattled hearing their ancestral home was teetering on the edge.

So he replied quickly:

“Heiya Ridge, stabilizing this battle comes first. I’ll message Demon God Floating-Land right now—the Holy City Council will respond and rush to Scalesnake Floating-Land soon. If you leave now, you won’t even get back in time, and the Council will only blame you for abandoning your post!”

Under the Peak Dominator’s stern advice, Heiya Ridge finally slowed, then turned and rejoined the fight.

Similar incidents were playing out on all three major fronts—but not every battlefield had such a persuasive Dominator. In fact, out of the more than ten Eighth-Tier Dominators from the Blackfang Clan, nine outright abandoned their posts, while two more left indirectly.

Now, compared to the hundreds or even thousands of Eighth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominators in the entire civilization, ten-odd individuals didn’t seem like much. But spread across the massive war fronts, each sector only had a handful—losing just one made a huge difference.

In the end, the Blackfang Clan’s eleven Eighth-Tier Dominators defecting handed the Torch Civilization’s fleets a major opportunity—and hurt the Serpent Demons as much.

Of course, while the Blackfang Dominators made it to Demon God Floating-Land, instead of teleportation to Scalesnake Galaxy, the Holy City’s Grand Council had them arrested on the spot.

As for help for Scalesnake Floating-Land? All they did was send a token message to the northern central floating-land.

The skittish Serpent Demon high command there didn’t need any hint—eventually, they only dispatched a regular Sky Serpent fleet to Scalesnake Floating-Land, and even that took its sweet time, giving Song Chi’s group plenty of space to loot.

……

“Interesting. It’s been almost five years. For all their apathy up north, you’d think reinforcements would’ve shown by now. Yet we still haven’t seen a single support fleet…”

Above Warehouse No. 23 of the Blackfang Clan on Scalesnake Floating-Land, two Star-Annihilator-class Ship Replicas were using tractor beams to continually haul resources up from below.

Unlike before, they were now collecting ordinary resources—though their sheer amount was mindboggling.

After five years, they’d finished harvesting the floating-land’s origin core, and emptied these vaults and warehouses of the rarest treasures.

Now, the four Ship Replicas had split again, sweeping across Scalesnake Floating-Land to gather up an endless tide of basic resources.

Normal resources, sure—but the numbers were absurdly high.

Even after five years of hauling, they’d barely made a dent.

It couldn’t be helped—Scalesnake Floating-Land was a staggering 200,000 light-years wide, packed with mineral veins beyond counting. The entire Scalesnake Galaxy had been the Blackfangs’ base for a million years, funneling pretty much every resource up onto this very world.

Soon, the volume overwhelmed even the immense Omniverse Market, until Song Chi realized something was off and brought out several Market-Walking Tokens, letting other Song Family elders begin reverse transport.

So the four Ship Replicas kept scooping up resources from Scalesnake Floating-Land and delivered them into the market, while Song Xuancang and Song Shixing made sure they were ferried safely back to Dragon-Spine Continent.

They kept this up for five years. The crop of resources moved back to Dragon-Spine Continent was uncountable, and though most of it was basic minerals, in such jaw-dropping volume it amounted to an incredible hoard.

Just as Song Chi’s squad thought this would continue, Song Yan’s scanners spotted a fleet of 100,000 ships creeping toward Scalesnake Floating-Land.

That discovery derailed their plans, and the four gathered in their chat to discuss what to do.

Song Shiyuan said, “So what’s our move? According to Xiao Yan, that Sky Serpent fleet has only one Eighth-Tier Serpent Demon and three at seventh-tier. No sign of any ninth-tier big shots. Should we try to probe them, or just pull out?”

Song Yan replied, “Better to withdraw. Something feels off. We’ve already wiped out the three Eighth-Tier Serpent Demons guarding the place; sending just one more here can’t be anything but suicide, can it?”

……

As they discussed, Song Shiyuan and Song Yan’s gazes landed on Song Chi and Song Wujian.

All four were Ship Captains, but in practice, Song Chi and Song Wujian called most of the shots these days.

When the Clan Elder stayed quiet, Song Chi offered his thoughts first.

“I agree. We’ve already pocketed the highest-value resources from this place during these five years, so let’s just leave. Our Battleship Replicas aren’t really at risk, but the cooldown period after destruction is a pain—best avoid fighting if we can.”

With Song Chi’s words and Song Wujian’s lack of objection, the decision was made quickly.

They didn’t run immediately. Instead, they squeezed out a last batch of ores before the enemy arrived, then, once the fleet emerged outside the floating-land, all four Ship Replicas activated their 『Group Phantom River』 modules, except also using their built-in Void Shroud tech, and silently slipped away on the far side of the floating-land—vanishing into the dark reaches of space.

……

Deep within the core of Dragon-Spine Continent.

Song Chi, Song Wujian, Song Shiyuan, and others gathered, eyes locked on the floating-land origin core split into three.

You could see it clearly: inside each of the three pieces, intense reactions raged. The core, much smaller now than before, began swelling again—close to but not quite the size it was before splitting.

The reason was simple. Years ago, after they succeeded in extracting 80% of the Scalesnake Floating-Land’s core, Song Chi couldn’t wait—he sent it straight to Dragon-Spine Continent and merged it with its own core immediately.

Now, after several years, that integration was nearly complete.

“Almost done. Everyone, get ready!”

With that, Song Chi and the others left, so only Song Wujian and Song Yan remained in the core chamber.

They exchanged a glance, and with two resonant cries, their Six-Star Vermilion Divine Birds—Chongying and Chongguang—appeared at their side.

With a nod from their masters, Chongying and Chongguang spread their wings and flew up above the origin core.

Above ground, at the same time, hundreds of thousands of clansmen were spread out all across Dragon-Spine Continent. An expert would have instantly recognized every zone as a prime hub where energy would gather. Once the energy tide erupted, those spots would be overflowing with concentrated power.

After centuries, the Song Family once again gathered over a hundred thousand clansmen eligible for promotion—more than ever before.

The best spots, of course, belonged to Song Chi’s side: the Ashura Emperor and two peak sixth-tier Six-Star Ancient Beasts.

Also there was Song Tianshu, an Elder now nearing 4,000 years old—his last chance at advancement.

Still, with the help of the 『Blood Chalice』 and a fifth-tier 『Timeworld Fruit』, and powered by the eighth-tier energy tide, his ship’s odds of ascension were actually quite high this time.

Dragon-Spine Continent, on the Longji Plains.

High above, the Heavenly Ruin hovered in silence. Down below, the Ashura Emperor stood proud on the earth. This was the very spot Song Chi had chosen for him to soak in the coming flood of energy.

But while Song Chi kept his eyes on the Ashura Emperor, his thoughts drifted elsewhere.

At that moment, he wavered—should he let one of the two seventh-tier Star Devourer Wolves try breaking through during this tide? Especially the one that had just reached peak seventh-tier.

Yet he knew the wolf had only recently ascended and was still far from its limit. The odds weren’t good.

Besides, even though Dragon-Spine Continent dwarfed any sixth-tier floating-land, with a million clansmen, two Vermilion Divine Birds, two Six-Star Ancient Beasts aiming for seven, and the Ashura Emperor all together, this was about as much as the advancing continent could sustain.

Adding a wolf trying for eighth-tier, even if it was just an attempt, could seriously hamper the continent’s further growth.

Between those two factors, the choice was clear.

But the problem nagged at him—he’d need more than just the Ashura Emperor if he wanted to carry out his plans with the Father of Truth. Another eighth-tier enslaved creature would be far better insurance.

‘Shame that after all these years of posting buy orders for eighth-tier enslaved creatures in the Star Tower chatroom, there’s been nothing…’

‘But makes sense—now that civilization wars are heating up, no one even has enough high-level creatures for themselves, let alone spares to sell.’

……

Just then, Song Chi’s brow arched—an unexpected flicker of surprise in his eyes.

He’d just sensed a Market-Walking Token being activated.

But that wasn’t the real surprise—the real surprise was who owned the token.

‘Lü Xuewu? Why would he reactivate a Market-Walking Token now?’

Song Chi still remembered Lü Xuewu. After the Yaohan Kingdom expansion war, the Song Family used their resource advantage to turn Dragon Spine City—set up in the Calamity Star Floating-Land’s public area—into a thriving trade hub. Naturally, this drew the attention of jealous factions.

The Lü Family, led by Lü Xuewu, had been first to smear Dragon Spine City. In the aftermath, Song Chi personally wiped out the Lü Family outpost on Calamity Star Floating-Land and even enslaved Lü Xuewu with a Master-Servant Pact—saving more punishment for the future.

But thanks to the Song Family’s wild rise and a mountain of events, he lost interest. In all this time, Lü Xuewu only logged into the market to handle trivial matters, so Song Chi eventually re-set his Market-Walking Token to work just once.

There was no way Lü Xuewu would risk using the Projection Token unless it was something big.

With that, Song Chi stopped worrying about the Star Devourer Wolf and logged into the market instead.

Omniverse Market, third floor of the inn, inside a certain Traveler’s Inn room.

“Lü Xuewu, greeting my lord!”

As soon as he saw Song Chi, Lü Xuewu knelt on one knee in deep respect.

Unlike most market regulars who tiptoed around Song Chi, Lü Xuewu, bound by the Master-Servant Pact, genuinely revered him.

After all, he hadn’t logged in for a thousand years, and suddenly Song Chi radiated powerful seventh-tier pressure—his eyes now brimmed with near-fanatic devotion.

A thousand years gone, and though he’d become a battleship captain himself, Lü Xuewu was still a firefly compared to the Song lord’s bright moon.

Ignoring the worship in the man’s eyes, Song Chi spoke coolly:

“Speak. Why log in now?”

Some of the wildness faded from Lü Xuewu’s eyes as he replied quickly:

“My lord, on the colonial sixth-tier floating-land, the Lü Family has just reached seventh-tier status. Riding the energy tide, Lü Qifeng succeeded in advancing his warship to Star-Annihilator level, and is now secluded, pushing for seventh-tier Guiding Technique!”

Song Chi simply flickered his gaze, saying nothing.

He remembered Lü Qifeng clearly—the old dreadnought captain and Lü Family Patriarch. It was pure luck for him to get his ship to Star-Annihilator class, just one step away from full captain’s rank.

“That’s it?”

Song Chi was ready for just a nod, but Lü Xuewu surprised him again.

“Lü Qifeng’s been in seclusion for years. If you want to enslave him, now’s the ideal moment. Also… Likely because of the floating-land’s advance, the Lü Family spotted an eighth-tier starbeast moving fast toward the colony!”

“Eighth-tier starbeast?”

Song Chi’s eyes popped wide, not out of fear but sheer delight.

The elusive eighth-tier lifeform he’d searched for so long—about to fall right in his lap.

When the stars line up, all of creation lends a hand!

As soon as that thought passed, he pressed,

“Can you confirm what kind of starbeast it is?”

“From our intel, it’s very likely an eighth-tier Black Devourer King Beast!”

Instantly, Song Chi’s delight only grew.

The Black Devourer King Beast was one of the truly fearsome types, ranking near the top among all starbeasts. If he could enslave one, it’d majorly boost his odds in the coming plans.

He then grilled Lü Xuewu on exactly when the Black Devourer King Beast would arrive.

And also on Lü Qifeng’s whereabouts.

“Don’t worry, my lord. Lü Qifeng is holed up in the core of the Seventh‑Tier Floating-land, hoping to break through to seventh-tier Guiding Technique before the Black Devourer King Beast gets there. No need to fret about the Four Great Empires’ ban.”

With the Master-Servant Pact, Lü Xuewu put Song Chi’s interests first—his own and the Lü Family’s a distant second.

Finished with his questions, Song Chi gave a nod.

“Well done. You’ve earned a major reward, and you’ll be compensated later. For now, head back, steady things at the Lü Family’s end, while I make preparations!”

……

Shortly after Lü Xuewu’s departure, Dragon-Spine Continent began to expand sharply.

From barely more than 20,000 light-years across, it started to balloon at high speed.

30,000 light-years.

50,000 light-years.

……

In just months, its diameter shot up sixfold, and it was still growing, though slower now.

At that moment, the earlier-upgraded Red Serpent Floating-Land and other sevens began melding into Dragon-Spine, the steady addition of several seventh-tiers sending the continent’s expansion surging again.

150,000 light-years.

160,000 light-years.

170,000 light-years.

……

In the end, Dragon-Spine Continent stopped at 187,000 light-years wide—not quite the 200,000 they’d aimed for, but more than enough for everyone’s satisfaction.

Since they’d rushed the timeline to push Dragon-Spine to eighth-tier, even with the whole family going all out, moving the plan up by centuries meant missing the old perfect target was inevitable.

That they managed to shove the freshly advanced continent past 187,000 light-years was more than the elders dared hope. Honestly, their bottom line had dropped to 150,000.

Song Chi and the others understood why.

Had they stuck to their timetable, Dragon-Spine should’ve only made it to 150,000 or 160,000. That they soared nearly to 190,000 was due mostly to all those massive basic ores they’d stolen from Scalesnake Floating-Land.

Those resources were basically the essence of a floating-land—blending so much into Dragon-Spine naturally boosted its foundation hugely.

The family celebrated its new size for a while, but soon everyone’s focus returned to their own warships.

As soon as Dragon-Spine’s upgrade finished, the eighth-tier energy tide started rolling out, growing stronger by the heartbeat.

Across the Torch battleships, the odds for ship upgrades fluctuated wildly.

But what Song Chi really cared about was the Ashura Emperor.

From Lü Xuewu’s intel, the Black Devourer King Beast would arrive at that Seventh‑Tier Floating-land in less than two years. He had to take the Ashura Emperor over there before then—otherwise Lü Qifeng would miss his window.

In the Outer Domain, Song Chi could strike however he pleased. But once the enemy made it back to the Torch Human Galaxy Cluster, the ban on ‘battleships and above fighting amongst themselves’ meant his chances would vanish.