Chapter 721: Rivals, Rewards, and the Core of the Machine

After finishing, Song Wujian glanced over the two men in front of him, immediately noticing the telling look in the eyes of the Star River-class Captains—one they made no effort to hide.

Still, given his position, he didn’t rush to ask about it.

From the expressions on Destruction Hallmaster and Zhang Tai, it was obvious they were especially interested in the Truth Mechanicus Civilization and the Starsea Giant Ape Civilization. Yet, even with their immense strength, there’s no way those giants could take on a peak ninth-tier civilization head-on.

Even if they joined forces, it wouldn’t make a difference.

Given that, Song Wujian figured the two Star River Captains probably weren’t eyeing the value-rich Outer Domain. Either way, the passage connecting to that side was firmly in the Song Family’s hands. No matter what happened next, there was no way they’d be left out of the loop.

Soon after, Destruction Hallmaster and Zhang Tai seemed to come to a silent understanding. Both stood up—they clearly had no intention of lingering.

Yet before leaving, Destruction Hallmaster’s voice sounded in Song Wujian’s ear.

“This is a weighty matter. We’ll be returning to our respective headquarters to convene a top-level meeting for thorough discussion. Odds are the whole thing will be reported to the Divine Dynasty and even the Supreme Council of the Four Great Empires. Still, you needn’t worry. If this works out, Beidou Sevenstar Hall will be sure to fight for the greatest benefit for your Song Family. Also, here’s a ninth-tier Golden Apple—consider it an advance reward from Beidou Sevenstar Hall!”

“Understood. Thank you, sir!”

……

Whooooooooo!

Two piercing howls split the air as the Star River-class Battleships shot skyward, vanishing quickly into the silent starry sky.

Watching the ships depart, the two standing in the spaceport turned back toward Dragon-Spine Continent.

Inside Dragon Whale Hall, blanketed in thick Chaotic Mist, Song Wujian, Song Yan, and the projection of Song Shiyuan—whose true body still commanded the family’s core fleet in the heart of the Serpent Demon galaxy cluster—were exchanging information quickly.

Song Yan was the first to speak, unable to shake his lingering confusion.

“Elder—what did those two really mean?”

Ever since Zhang Tai, the first to offer two ninth-tier Golden Apples, fell silent after Destruction Hallmaster arrived, it all became confusing. Sure, Destruction Hallmaster left one ninth-tier Golden Apple, but didn’t even take the Master of Machines with him. Song Yan felt utterly stumped.

Before Song Wujian could answer, Song Shiyuan—having just finished hearing what happened and now seated atop the Starry Throne—spoke up:

“Honestly, I feel like both Beidou Sevenstar Hall and Xian Qin Heavy Industries are more interested in the Truth Mechanicus and the Starsea Giant Ape Civilizations.”

Song Shiyuan had barely finished when Song Wujian nodded in agreement.

“Exactly. Once I finished telling them about what lay behind the Master of Machines, both Star River Captains’ reactions changed. Like Shiyuan said, the Master of Machines might have become a side note now.”

“But we’re neck deep in an all-out war with the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization right now. Even fending off the Corpse Sovereign Clan’s raids stretches us thin—how could we possibly spare the manpower to cross over ten trillion light-years to meddle in the Mechanicus and Giant Ape civil wars…”

Song Yan trailed off as a thought struck him.

“Unless…”

He didn’t say it aloud, instead glancing at Song Wujian and the other elder in the hall. Seeing the same glimmer in their eyes, he understood instantly.

At that, Song Wujian spoke again:

“But that’s just our guess. If we’re not the ones taking action, it can only be them… but pulling something like that off won’t be easy at all. Whether it works out or not depends on the major players up top!”

“Either way, our job for now is simple: mobilize every member of the clan and fully exploit the resources on the Truth Floating-land. No matter what happens after, such a massive ninth-tier territory will never stay in our hands for long. We have to seize every bit of profit while we can!”

In the days that followed, the Song Family machine kicked into high gear. After more than a thousand years of galactic migration, Song Family’s entire dominion—with scores of branches—was fully mobilized.

With over a billion Song Family clansmen and nearly ten billion Torch citizens connected to them, the result was a tidal wave—over ten billion Torch Kingdom workers flocking to the Truth Floating-land. Driven by these staggering numbers, the resources there were rapidly stripped away.

As the undisputed rulers of the Chipan Galaxy, the Song Family’s actions soon drew all other forces in the region into their orbit.

……

Within the core of Dragon-Spine Continent, far from the turbulence outside, Song Chi was enjoying a rare moment of peace.

Now that he’d claimed the ninth-tier Golden Apple, the Blood Chalice component had finally evolved to black-grade.

But for the Miracle Clone Pod to update its template, there was a hiccup.

To have the Miracle Clone Pod perfectly replicate a new Blood Chalice, he’d have to purge the old golden-template—likely wiping out all the seventh- and eighth-tier sacred blood he’d collected through the years.

He hesitated, knowing a single piece of ninth-tier sacred blood was far more valuable than the lot. Finally, he force-activated the Destiny Compass.

To his surprise, the Compass’s “Return to Origin” trait kicked in—working on the cloned Blood Chalice the same as before. As the cloned chalice reverted back to its initial level 0 state within the Miracle Clone Pod, all the fortune-infused sacred blood it’d absorbed was separately isolated.

However, those fortune bloods couldn’t last long outside the chalice. Once Song Chi upgraded the Clone Pod and created the black-tier Blood Chalice template again, he swiftly reabsorbed all that fortune blood.

Inside the main control room of the Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi’s eyes snapped open.

At that second, the long-evolving Sky-Domain AI had finally completed its transformation, the former golden glow shifting to a deep black.

At the black tier, upgrades now demanded intermediate and advanced AIs.

Fortunately, his recent trip to the Mechanicus yielded more than enough AI units, and he still had plenty of other resources on hand. In one go, he advanced the AI to level 90.

Sky-Domain AI, lv90

Grade: Black

Trait 1: Computing Efficiency +440%

Trait 2: Database Capacity +440%

Trait 3: Full Auto Sub-AI Machinery

Trait 4: Heavensfall Sky-Domain Autonomous System

Trait 5: Truth—AI Rebellion

Trait 6: Truth Mechanica Behemoth’s Calamity

Consumption: 3000/s (Eon Energy Points)

Effect: Greatly boosts the operational efficiency of equipped battleships.

……

{Full Auto Sub-AI Machinery: Consumes 500,000 eon energy to split into 1,000,000 sub-AIs. When merged with mechanical units, they become special mechanized divisions fully controlled by the Sky-Domain AI but granted independent action and combat abilities. Duration: 240 minutes. Cooldown: 1 year.}

{Heavensfall Sky-Domain Autonomous System: Consumes 300,000 eon energy. Sky-Domain AI enters ultra-overdrive, taking full control of the entire battleship’s systems, using its enormous processing power to deal with emergencies by the fastest, most efficient means—maximizing ship and Captain safety. Duration: 60 minutes. Cooldown: 1 year.}

{Truth—AI Rebellion: When facing mechanical enemies, actively use 1,000,000 eon energy to unleash a Truth Data Stream. If it connects, an AI strength check is performed. If successful, the target mechanical unit is temporarily controlled and enters a rebellion state—duration depends on the opponent’s tech tier. If failed, this effect cannot trigger and goes on cooldown immediately. Cooldown: 240 hours.}

{Truth Mechanica Behemoth’s Calamity: Consumes 10,000,000 eon energy + 1,000 tons Truth III Alloy + 5,000 tons Truth II Alloy + various raw metals. Temporarily forges five eighth-tier (downgraded by one tier) Truth Mechanica Behemoths for support. They last 40 minutes, then disassemble and materials can be reclaimed. Cooldown: 5 years.}

Once the Sky-Domain AI reached black-grade, its stats spiked across the board. That ‘Mechanica Behemoth’s Calamity’ in particular—so long as he had enough resources on hand, Song Chi could summon five eighth-tier mechanized behemoths in times of danger. It was a formidable trump card.

And if he ever used the Soul-Devourer Sacrificial Altar on the Sky-Domain AI, he could eventually summon five ninth-tier Mechanica Behemoths whenever the Heavenly Ruin was upgraded to a Star River-class Battleship.

That sounded good, but it’d only be relevant if he became a Star River-class Captain—and colorful ascended fire sources were anything but easy to acquire. Song Chi quickly set aside the idea.

Compared to that, the Miracle Clone Pod and Mirror Image Split were still more cost-effective.

After looking over the AI’s new features, Song Chi began researching further details.

This evolution didn’t just lift the Sky-Domain AI’s grade. It also inherited the vast majority of data from the Truth AI’s millennia-old database—a veritable treasure trove.

For several days, Song Chi pored over the Sky-Domain AI’s database. After repeated searches, he estimated that over ninety percent of the Truth AI’s data was now at his fingertips.

Of highest value: blueprints for constructing ninth-tier mechanical units—including the final stages of forging the Truth Mechanica Battle Star.

He even got the full specs for a seventh-tier production line.

He sent these straight to the family’s tech division. The moment the core engineers there got their hands on these treasures, many were teary-eyed—their worth was beyond measure. If fully mastered, they’d spark a leap in the family’s technological prowess previously thought impossible.

Put aside the complete blueprint for a ninth-tier Mechanica Behemoth—just mastering the Dark Energy Reactor alone could vault the Song Family right into the top echelon of Torch Kingdom’s technology scene. Maybe not quite on par with Xian Qin Heavy Industries, but close enough to rival the Immortal Giants.

But that’s for the future. The core members of Song Family were well aware that, given their five thousand years as a house and less than two thousand as a Noble House, simply having the blueprints wasn’t enough—they’d still need time to truly understand and implement the knowledge.

It’s like handing a tribe of primitives the design for a steam engine—no matter how complete the plans, it’s still just an undecipherable tome. The gulf between civilizations can’t be bridged overnight.

There are no shortcuts here—the only answer is time and effort.

Knowing this, Song Chi and the other family leaders kept their cool. They posted a handful of new incentive policies for their engineers.

Whichever research group cracked the tech first would earn first dibs on contracts with the Mist Snakefolk—plus the right to future ascended fire sources for their descendants.

Maybe not the highest value reward, but for engineers who had never awakened a Torch Seed themselves, this was a huge draw.

The training boost provided by the Mist Snakefolk’s Guiding Technique meant even without a Dark Energy Training Platform, they could dramatically speed up their progress. If their contracted snakefolk reached a high enough tier, even breaking through to tier two or three was within reach.

Tier Two: three hundred years.

Tier Three: six hundred years.

For clansmen who’d never awakened, that kind of lifespan was beyond dreams. With it, they could watch their heirs grow up—something they’d always hoped for.

As for the ascended fire sources, these were the treasures sought after most by the next generation—guaranteeing greater talent and strength.

Thanks to these new incentive rules, every research department within the Song Family was practically bursting with excitement.

Song Chi and his kin believed this would shave plenty of time off the process of absorbing the Mechanicus tech.

Their only wish now was for that Truth Mechanica Battle Star—already hauled back to Dragon-Spine Continent—to be finished soon.

A ninth-tier mechanized Battle Star would be a signature defense of the Song Family, giving them the confidence to face off against any of the major players out there.

……

Truth Mechanicus Civilization, Ore Star Continent.

“Move it! Didn’t you hear the big shots from Sacred City have arrived? You bring in enough raw ores, and you can swap for all kinds of high-end parts—advanced AIs, the finest truth alloys, and sixth-tier dark energy reactors. Stuff like this is hard to come by—who knows when you’ll get another chance. Don’t slack off!”

A machine-like voice echoed from a transporter overhead as mining ships below picked up speed across the rutted landscape.

The ship pilots were all shoddy, near-scrap mechanicals—slaves owned by one of the giant garbage floating-lands. Their usual job: sifting through heaps of machine junk for scraps with a drop of value.

But in recent years, news had spread throughout all Mechanicus territory—Sacred City’s elites were out in force, offering top chips, AIs, cores, and more for every sort of ore, floating-land treasure, or even carbon-based slave. Instantly, a mining frenzy swept the Mechanicus’ backwater starfields. As for that slave master? Among billions of machines, he was a nobody.

Right now, the Ore Star Continent was packed with mechanicals just like that.

And that was only the Ore Star Continent—outside this eighth-level floating-land, even more machines were pouring in by the hour.

Some piloted one or several mechanical transporters; others converted old battleships for hauling. They all had one thing in common—their bellies crammed with metal ores, floating-land relics, and genetically promising carbon-based slaves.

The Mechanicus spanned dozens of galactic clusters, and their hoarded resources were staggering.

Right in the center of the Ore Star Continent, an enormous plain stretched out.

Parked here were the largest fleets of mining ships and mechanical transporters on the floating-land.

All those ships were clustered tight around ten colossal high platforms in the very center.

Those ten platforms? The final resource exchange points—and atop each, Song Family clansmen stood.

Some of the mechanicals, getting their first look at the Song Family, had their optics flare with crimson suspicion. Even the most isolated machines knew the Song elders were no Sacred City officials.

But even with that, every machine quietly chose to line up and trade.

No surprise—it helped that not far from the platforms stood a terrifying being radiating the oppressive aura of a peak eighth-tier existence.

With the Ashura Emperor’s presence looming, the Song Family’s plan was rolling out without a hitch.

It’s now been five years since the Song Family called up ten billion Torch citizens to mine the Truth Floating-land.

Song Wujian and the others realized early—the so-called ten billion strong army sounded impressive but was barely enough to mine the Truth Floating-land quickly.

After all, this was a ninth-tier land spanning over a million light-years—comprehensive strip-mining it on a time crunch took more resources than most realized.

In that situation, the Song Family obviously ran into shortages. The vast Mechanica Behemoth territory held a lot more than one floating-land, and until the Giant Ape civilization finished rolling through, they wouldn’t dare let those starfields go unclaimed.

So after plenty of discussion, this new plan was born.

As Song Shiyuan—the plan’s creator—pointed out, who could rival the machine civilization’s trillions-strong mechanical race in sheer numbers?

To mobilize them and have them cart resources from dozens of galactic clusters on their own, the Song Family put up all those measly but plentiful mechanized AIs, chips, and dark energy cores gathered across the floating-lands—the same stuff they found useless.

After years of this, the Song Family’s gamble paid off.

With masses of machines volunteering as carriers, they were gathering resources hundreds—thousands!—of times faster. What’s more, this was just one hub; across the continent, they’d set up over a hundred exchanges.

They’d even used the High-Dimensional Wormhole Generator to connect to another eighth-level floating-land on the other side of Mechanicus, setting up yet more exchange outposts.

“Ten thousand-year Volcanic Lava Iron Core, 556 pieces. Obsidian ore, 6,500 tons. Volcanic copper, 14,000 tons. That’s enough for one advanced AI, six intermediate AIs, and a sixth-tier dark energy reactor. Would you like to exchange as is, or…?”

Standing atop a high platform, Song Xingchen made the offer in a soft voice.

The second-tier mechanical in front of him replied immediately.

“Exchange—all of it!”

Seconds later, the transaction finished and the mechanical left in a battered mining ship at top speed.

Clearly pleased with the deal, it never realized that Song Xingchen—recently appointed fourth-tier elder—flashed a gleam of shrewdness once the machine was gone.

Ten-thousand-year Volcanic Lava Iron Core: a rare resource needed for Torch Battleships to upgrade from escort ship to cruiser.

Just a handful of AIs and a sixth-tier core and he’d acquired 556 more, along with a mountain of other ores. It was an incredible bargain.

But that wasn’t enough. After the initial excitement, Song Xingchen moved his lips ever so subtly—no one behind noticed a thing, it looked completely normal. The mechanical in line behind never noticed a thing.

Receiving his message, a Song Family Shadow Division member quietly dispatched several cruisers to shadow the mining ship.

The Volcanic Lava Iron Core was rare—if someone could turn up such a stash at once, it probably meant they’d found a stable source. If the area could be pinpointed, the family could tap it for years to come.

And this wasn’t the first time. Over the years, Song Family buyouts uncovered several windfalls—a titanic Titanite Crystal vein worth tens of millions, for example. It had no mineral core, but was still worth a fortune.

As for getting exposed—honestly, they’d only be sticking around the starfield for a few years. Who would care after they were gone?