Chapter 712: Stealth Strike in the Void: The Subjugation of the Black Devourer King Beast

One thing was clear—the eighth-tier Black Devourer King Beast didn’t possess any advanced spatial oddities. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have left so much time for the Lü Family to prepare.

This only boosted Song Chi’s confidence. He’d already activated the Pusa Zen Seal and reset the Frosted Void Prison’s ‘Frosted Void Cage’ effect, specifically to temporarily restrain the eighth-tier Black Devourer King Beast later on.

If the King Beast had high-level teleportation or blink-type oddities at its disposal, there might’ve been room for the plan to fail. But for now, that possibility was off the table.

The gold-quality Frosted Void Prison created a locked-down space with multiple effects. Without a matching high-tier spatial component, escaping from inside was nearly impossible.

Compared to a starbeast’s natural velocity, the two Star-Annihilator-class ships had far superior jump modules—each jump covered more than ten thousand light years. Activating their unique features let them leap as far as a hundred thousand or even several hundred thousand light years in one go.

Of course, that’s for standard red and silver jump modules—the Scarlet Vault Jump Drive is on another level. Its ‘Scarlet Vault Jump’ trait let the Heavenly Ruin jump over six million light years at once, making it the top of the line among silver jump devices.

Thanks to this, it wasn’t long before Song Chi and company arrived near the Black Devourer King Beast racing through the void.

“Recall your warship first…”

He issued a command and didn’t bother with Lü Qifeng’s faint look of confusion. The hatch of the Heavenly Ruin slid open, initiating a fresh round of jump charging.

A moment later, Lü Qifeng, face respectfully serious, zipped out from the Immortal Ice Dragon. Once he’d stowed his ship in the Torch Ancestral Orifice, he wasted no time boarding the Heavenly Ruin.

Because of the Master‑Servant Pact, his earlier wariness was gone, replaced by genuine respect and trust for Song Chi.

Soon, intense spatial ripples cascaded across the endless dark sky. In front of the Heavenly Ruin, a massive jump channel unfurled.

Just minutes later, tens of thousands of light years away, the Heavenly Ruin ended its jump state using the Space Jumper and appeared under a whole new starfield.

“What the…”

Inside the ship’s control room, Lü Qifeng, standing behind Song Chi, stared at the radar screen in utter disbelief.

Something on that display—news he could barely process—caught his eye.

The Heavenly Ruin had exited its jump less than a hundred million kilometers from the Black Devourer King Beast.

Given how terrifyingly sharp an eighth-tier Sovereign’s senses were, forget a hundred million kilometers—that was a fraction of the distances they could perceive, measured in light years.

This distance, close to point-blank for an eighth-tier Sovereign, should have provoked an instant response. Yet, the Black Devourer King Beast didn’t so much as twitch—as if the Heavenly Ruin didn’t exist.

The odds of a monstrous starbeast making such a basic mistake were practically zero. The only explanation Lü Qifeng could think of was that the ship’s stealth outclassed the creature’s senses by an order of magnitude.

What did that mean?

In that moment, his respectful awe tipped towards outright fanaticism.

Song Chi ignored all that. Confirming that the Heavenly Ruin remained undetected in ‘Mirage’ mode, he immediately activated the now-reset Frosted Void Prison.

……

ROAR!

The moment the frosted barriers wrapped the void, the Black Devourer King Beast sensed the shift and let out a furious bellow. Its nearly two-million-kilometer black body shot skyward without hesitation.

Tangible Devouring Laws churned around it, then rapidly condensed inside its maw into a swirling ball of devouring energy.

The speed with which the inky orb formed was terrifying, as was the energy contained within.

But inside the Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi looked anything but afraid—in fact, a spark of delight glinted in his eyes.

‘An experienced eighth-tier Black Devourer King Beast? Excellent…’

He was secretly thrilled, but his hands didn’t slow the slightest as he fired off a flurry of commands.

Mythic Pulsar Energy Shield: “Mythic Pulse Wave”—activated!

This shield’s ‘Silence’ pulse rarely disappointed. Whether facing eighth or ninth-tier threats, it always managed to catch the enemy off guard and deliver stunning results.

Sure enough, the Black Devourer King Beast wasn’t immune either. Under that invisible wave, the devouring energy orb collapsed just before completion. While it reeled in confusion, the Ashura Emperor was deployed nearby.

As the emperor’s form ballooned, its blood-red sabre came crashing down, slicing a savage wound into the beast’s vulnerable neck scales.

And it didn’t end there. In the instant the Black Devourer King Beast reeled in pain, Song Chi unleashed the Omniverse Market Projection.

With one pointed gesture, violet mist flickered as the massive beast was sent flying. In just two rounds of attacks, this starbeast—ruler of the void for over a hundred thousand years—had already been heavily wounded.

Still, Song Chi’s expression remained calm, betraying not a flicker of surprise.

Truth be told, with the Ashura Emperor’s current strength, it could probably suppress the Black Devourer King Beast given enough time. Summoning the Market Projection wasn’t strictly necessary.

But Song Chi didn’t mind. Even a lion gives its all catching a rabbit. After a thousand years of war, he’d accumulated well over a hundred silver oddities in the Omniverse Market. Gone were the days he had to pinch every resource—instead, he was free to use them without worry.

What happened next came as no surprise. Crippled by repeated strikes from the Ashura Emperor and Market Projection, and assaulted over a hundred times with the black-quality Celestial Authority Ring’s subjugation marks, the Black Devourer King Beast was finally subjugated by Song Chi.

On the flip side, this little ‘show of strength’ left Lü Qifeng as fervently loyal as Lü Xuewu had become after being contracted for over a thousand years. Song Chi was now imprinted into his very soul—loyalty turning to fanatic devotion.

Before leaving, Song Chi didn’t take Lü Qifeng with him. He let him stay on the Floating-Land of Immortality; since Lü Qifeng’s Guiding Technique hadn’t fully broken through yet, he’d have to wait before truly becoming Song Chi’s Dreadnought Captain in name and fact.

Song Chi also issued two deliberate orders.

First, he had Lü Qifeng directly promote Lü Xuewu as the new patriarch of the Lü Family. That would let him maximize control over the whole clan.

This wasn’t just a command—it was a reward for Lü Xuewu. Being personally named patriarch by a Star-Annihilator-class Clan Elder would guarantee him more clan resources and greatly improve his shot at becoming Dreadnought Captain himself.

Second, Lü Qifeng was ordered to personally take Song Chi on a visit to the Lü Family’s treasure vault.

After all, for a noble house that survived seven thousand years, who knew what surprises might lie hidden within?

Unfortunately, the results were underwhelming. Though the Lü Family had a long history, their first Dreadnought Captain only emerged three thousand years ago. On top of that, much of their valuables had been sold off to help Lü Qifeng’s ship ascend. Anything truly valuable had been liquidated for rare resources needed for a Star-Annihilator-class warship breakthrough.

Now, besides a gold energy shield and a handful of silver components aboard the Immortal Ice Dragon, there really wasn’t much to be found.

In the end, Song Chi only took the Hearthstone Return Device from Lü Xuewu’s ship, giving him a trace of red advancement fire source in return.

With the Hearthstone Return Device in hand, Song Chi didn’t install it on the spot after returning to Dragon‑Spine Continent. Instead, he paid a visit to the Omniverse Market.

A dozen minutes later, he returned to Dragon‑Spine Continent. Now, the Hearthstone Return Device’s second trait, ‘Hearthstone Communication,’ had been swapped for ‘Teleport Range +110%’ using the Oddity Essence Refinement Platform.

He then mounted the device onto the Heavenly Ruin and upgraded it straight to level 70.

Hearthstone Return Device—Level 70

Quality: Silver

Trait: Teleport Hearthstone

Trait 2: Teleport Range +330%

Trait 3: Teleport Distance Doubled

Trait 4: +800 Space Resistance to Equipped Ship

Consumes: 30 Eon Energy Points per second

Effect: Any being holding a hearthstone can teleport back to the equipped warship as soon as the device is activated. The current maximum teleport distance is 30,100 light years (calculated as 3500×2×4.3).

……

{Teleport Hearthstone: Consumes 50,000 Eon Energy Points to form a hearthstone. Up to 8 hearthstones may exist at one time.}

What Song Chi valued most was the device’s free return feature. While the Heavenly Ruin already boasted a more powerful Tome of Divine Will, its recall cooldown was too long. The Hearthstone Return Device perfectly filled that gap.

……

Dragon Whale Hall—within dense chaotic mist, Song Chi, Song Wujian, Song Shiyuan, and Song Yan all sat upon their own Starry Thrones.

This was the Starry Throne system unique to the Dragon Whale Hall.

Fourth-tier was the Bronze Throne.

Fifth-tier meant the Silvery Throne.

Sixth-tier advanced to the Golden Throne.

Now that they were all Star-Annihilator-class Captains, they’d upgraded to Starry Thrones.

With future advancement to Star River-class or even Transdimensional Captains, new thrones like the Silvery Moon Throne and Sun Throne would become available.

These thrones didn’t just change color. Each higher grade gave its owner a huge boost in insight, projection range, and more.

At that moment, Song Wujian, seated at the central Starry Throne, spoke:

“Xiaochi, even though everything’s in place, we all think it’s best if we go together.”

“You’ve never told us who the real target is, but which ninth-tier Sovereign is ever overrated? Maybe we can’t do much, but having three Star-Annihilator-class replicas for cover is still better than nothing, right?”

Song Wujian’s comments drew nods from Song Shiyuan and Song Yan sitting nearby.

Song Chi still hadn’t shared the details of his plans, which kept the trio uneasy.

For them, as the heart of the clan, there was no way Song Chi was allowed to take risks—especially if any of them might be endangered.

Song Chi understood their concern, but it wasn’t about showing off. This time, the plan simply didn’t require any extra manpower.

Of course, Song Chi wasn’t stubborn—though he didn’t need their warship replicas, he wasn’t shy about asking for help in other areas.

“Elder, Big Brother, honestly, this trip isn’t suitable for a group operation unless you’re coming personally aboard the Heavenly Ruin… But there is something I’ll definitely need your help with…”

He suddenly shifted topics midway.

“Later, I’ll probably need to use the Heart-Linked Pendants, so I’d like to borrow your ships’ Flame God Annihilator Cannon, Black Hole Armor, Covenant of Flame, and Flame God’s Dominion Skull.”

The latter two—the Covenant of Flame and Flame God’s Dominion Skull—didn’t overlap with any modules already loaded on the Heavenly Ruin, so he could freely mount them this round.

The Flame God Annihilator Cannon was likewise destined for the Heavenly Ruin. With the Destiny Compass, he could swap equipment once for free, switching it in after using the Infinite Fallen Immortal Quantum Star-Annihilator Cannon’s skills.

As for the Black Hole Armor, Song Chi planned to temporarily mount it on the White Snow Qingyou, so he could use the Heart-Linked Pendants to access either ship’s special traits as needed.

Faced with Song Chi’s request, the trio readily agreed.

Yet after all the discussion, the mission was postponed for several more decades.

Fifty years later, on the Burningfall Plains of Dragon‑Spine Continent…

Inside a vast combined illusion space, as the Calm‑Sea Dragon‑Xiang fired a beam of golden light, violent spatial turbulence erupted. Rather than fading, the distortion grew even stronger.

Until finally, a giant artificial spatial wormhole coalesced above the illusion’s sky.

Compared to surrounding wormhole gateways, this new one was more stable and connected to far greater distances.

Ever since the Calm‑Sea Dragon‑Xiang had advanced to gold fireseed, its High-Dimensional Wormhole Generator’s maximum range had leaped from 120 billion to 1.2 trillion light years—a distance far greater than that spanning the Yuangu Family and the Torch Human Civilization. For the boundless Sea of Stars, that was a truly massive distance.

Granted, with just one gold oddity, such power would be impossible. But with the Oddity Essence Refinement Platform, Song Chi could freely swap traits and push the wormhole device’s range even further.

Seeing the spatial wormhole come together, everyone in the illusion space broke into smiles.

The coordinates Song Wujian set for the wormhole entry point were the very ones Song Chi acquired for the Truth Mechanicus Civilization.

Now that the wormhole had taken shape, the connection to the Truth Mechanicus Civilization’s star domain was established.

After a burst of excitement, the Song Family’s four Star-Annihilator-class Captains quickly refocused.

Vrrrm vrrrm vrrrm!

Amid a roar of engines, the Heavenly Ruin flashed forward and vanished into the still-forming spatial wormhole.

They’d linked up with the Truth Mechanicus Civilization’s location from tens of thousands of years ago, but had no clue what shape things were in at the far end, or whether their presence had already drawn attention.

For Dragon‑Spine’s safety, Song Chi had to check out the situation first.

That still wasn’t enough. As the Heavenly Ruin raced down the wormhole passage and reached the far-off unknown star domain, Song Wujian directly destroyed the wormhole behind them.

For the Song Family, leaving a potentially explosive backdoor leading to a civilization with likely ninth-tier war units was far too risky. Only total destruction could guarantee their safety.

As for Song Chi, with the Omniverse Market, he always had a way to retreat.

Before the spatial wormhole went down, he’d already confirmed that the Market could still be accessed…and could take him right back to Dragon‑Spine Continent.

Only after verifying this did Song Wujian pull the trigger for controlled self-destruction.

……

Bursting out of the wormhole, Song Chi carefully scanned the surroundings.

He ran Eyes of Heaven the whole time, monitoring every inch of space, while keeping his attention half on the Neutron‑Star Core Armor, Black Hole Evolution Layer, and Market Projection Token—vital tools he’d deploy at the first whiff of danger.

But the tension proved unnecessary—the wormhole exit was deep in an empty, silent starfield. Nothing but endless vacuum, no sign of even an asteroid belt, much less floating-lands.

‘How could this be an empty star region? If the Lord of Truth’s information was right, this should’ve been a central stronghold of the Truth Mechanicus Civilization…’

‘Did the Lord of Truth deliberately set the coordinates to a different sector, just so future arrivals wouldn’t walk straight into their deaths?’

Refocusing, Song Chi piloted the Heavenly Ruin in circles for tens of minutes. At last, a Star Map was generated, thanks to the ‘Jump Star Chart Collector’ trait and top-tier Eyes of Heaven radar.

This map, spanning over 200,000 light years, was small by Sea of Stars standards but gave Song Chi a clear sense of the surrounding domains.

A map that wide brought a flood of information—soon, Song Chi had a detailed picture of the region.

He confirmed they were right on target; the Heavenly Ruin had arrived in a sizable section of the Starsea Void Belt. Most likely the Lord of Truth had done this deliberately, creating a way for travelers to enter the Truth Mechanicus Civilization’s territory undetected.

Beyond this emptiness began the true jurisdiction of the civilization itself—Song Chi saw countless floating-lands scattered throughout the adjacent domains.

So far, though, he hadn’t found any level-seven or higher floating-lands—meaning the real heart of the civilization was still some distance away.

With that resolved, Song Chi quickly mapped out his next steps.

Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl: Activate ‘Mirage’!

Cloaked by Mirage, Song Chi kicked off another jump.

With the Space Jumper and Scarlet Vault Jump Drive in play, he could leap over a hundred thousand light years while Mirage lasted.

……

Dozens of minutes later, deep inside a level-four floating-land…

The Heavenly Ruin hovered in cloaked silence at the edge of the sky, utterly invisible to the countless mechanical beings below.

In secret, Song Chi managed to collect a great deal of intel using specialized means.

That info confirmed this was, indeed, the domain of the Truth Mechanicus Civilization. And just as Song Chi guessed, over tens of millennia the civilization had grown into one of the most elite and advanced.

The Father of Truth had broken through to ninth-tier more than 200,000 years ago, and during their massive expansion, he’d created three ninth-tier Truth Mechanica Behemoths—霸天, 蚩虎, and 灭世.

With three behemoths pushing their frontlines, the civilization swelled explosively in a matter of millennia, from two galaxies to almost forty. But right at their peak, they ran into rivals just as fierce: the Starsea Giant Ape Civilization.

Both races lived in the same cluster, and as their territories expanded, direct conflict became inevitable.

What followed was a grinding war of attrition that dragged on for over 100,000 years.

Against the Truth Mechanicus, the Starsea Giant Ape Civilization was even mightier—controlling over a hundred galaxies, with no less than five ninth-tier apes. Throughout the ages, the Truth Mechanicus had been on the defensive.

Three thousand years ago, the behemoth known as ‘灭世’ was destroyed by two ninth-tier giant apes. The civilizational gap only widened from there; nowadays, the Truth Mechanicus could barely hold its own under the continued assault.

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