Chapter 733: The Torch Family’s Legacy: Gains and Choices

At that remark, all eyes turned instantly to the comm projection of Song Chi and his companions.

Though some couldn’t help but gaze with a touch of scrutiny or envy, the room was filled with far more admiration and gratitude.

Everyone here held real authority—leaders or at least powerhouses of their factions. They’d seen firsthand how crucial the Song Family’s intervention had been. Without it, this war between civilizations would’ve grown several times bloodier, with skyrocketing casualties and losses.

Truth was, every faction now owed the Song Family a huge favor.

Song Chi and the other three said nothing, simply waiting for the Emperors to continue.

“The coordinates for that untouched cluster of galaxies where the Truth Mechanicus and Starsea Giant Ape civilizations reside? Song Family provided them. The spatial wormhole passage? Their handiwork, too. So, after deliberation among the four of us, we’ve decided to grant the Song Family these five additional rewards:”

First: Three spots to bathe in the origin energy tides of a Ninth-Tier Floating-Land after its ascension.

Second: One Mythic Soul.

Third: Two plots in the public zone on the Demon God Floating-Land.

Fourth: One mythic component of their choice.

Fifth: One more galactic territory.

“Whoa!”

As the five gifts were listed, a chorus of sharp intakes of breath echoed through the communications channel.

No wonder—every one of these rewards, as granted by Emperor Jiang, was priceless.

Take that first item: three spots in the origin energy tides of a newly advanced Ninth-Tier Floating-Land. That meant Song Family would receive three of these rare opportunities whenever an Eighth-Tier Floating-Land ascended under the Four Great Empires—no mere regular spots either.

The key here was the word ‘origin.’ When an Eighth-Tier land becomes a Ninth, the energy tide is wild enough to benefit millions at once, but most slots are ordinary—they mostly help facilitate a Fifth-tier’s rise to Sixth-tier, nothing more.

The special zones where these tides allow for sixth-to-seventh, seventh-to-eighth, or even eighth-to-ninth-tier breakthroughs? Those are few and far between. Across a whole floating-land, you might only find several dozen places like that.

These rare sites, given their unique geography, draw in purer, stronger energy tides, amplifying promotion for Torch warships or living beings. Captains have dubbed them the true origin tide bathing zones.

As for the three places pledged by the four Emperors—they weren’t the ultimate core zones, the deepest at the floating-land’s heart reserved for Star River-class Captains aiming for Superdimensional Motherships. But they were surely top-tier enough to empower Star-Annihilator-class ships to ascend to Star River-class.

Three such spots—their value was obvious.

Of course, every Captain here knew the main reason they were getting this: Song Family had just conquered the entire Eight-Armed Serpent Demon’s galaxy cluster.

While the Demon civilization had ruled for over a million years, their Ninth-Tier floating-lands were fewer than those in the Torch Human clusters. But the number of lands hovering at the peak of Eighth-Tier, even maximum Eighth-Tier, was considerable. With a little guided effort, many could soon evolve.

Second, a Mythic Soul—even seasoned Star River Captains at the Eighth-Tier coveted them. At its core, it’s much like a Dominion Soul, but those come from beasts of the seventh to ninth tier, while a Mythic Soul? It comes from mythic beings.

For Torch Captains, a Mythic Soul was a vital ingredient to upgrade a colored component to level 100. Of course, they’re not only found on mythic beings—special environments or creatures can sometimes produce them, too.

But that hardly makes them common. If it’s called mythic, how could it ever be ordinary?

Third, two plots on Demon God Floating-Land—no explanation needed. That land was primed to become the ultimate trade hub for all Torch humans. Those real estate plots, if Song Family managed them well, would turn into hefty cash cows, piling up wealth non-stop.

Fourth, their pick of a mythic component—enough said. Whether colored lower or upper tier, having a shot at even one or two upper tier options was already enticing.

But the real envy came with that last one: a whole galactic territory added to their name. This wasn’t some remote colonial outpost; it was core land under Torch Human Civilization itself—safe, stable, the type that could anchor a lineage for a hundred thousand or even a million years. Compared to various colonies out in the Outer Domain, its worth was exponentially higher.

Look at the records of the top ten hegemon-level civilizations in the Sea of Stars—take the Witcher Civilization as an example. All those powerhouses started with multiple galactic territories in the original Witcher Human cluster.

With such land feeding them, these giants amassed deep reserves, enabling them to expand and seize even greater prizes out in the endless Sea of Stars. Even if they suffered a major setback, they could always retreat to their ancestral territory, recover, and then rise again.

It wasn’t just the Witchers—all old, enduring star civilizations survived by this rule. The Torch Humans were no exception.

During this war alone, heavyweights like Beidou Sevenstar Hall, Immortal Qin Heavy Industries, Feiyau Pei Clan, and Tianying Tan Clan had fought tooth and nail for a second—or even third—galactic domain, beyond their original river.

None of the Captains here resented the Song Family. Their big reactions stemmed from one simple fact: the Song Family had only been around for five thousand years, and only achieved immortal status less than two thousand years ago. The leap was simply massive.

The four Emperors—and Song Chi’s group—were all well aware of what the others thought, but none of them seemed to mind.

What’s that old saying?

If you neither steal nor rob, your conscience is clear.

Everything they got here was earned with real, hard contribution—not some under-the-table favoritism.

“Aside from Chipan Galaxy, have you picked your second river system yet?”

“Your Majesty Jiang, this is a major decision. May we discuss it first?”

“Of course!”

……

Song Family’s Star-Annihilator-class Warship Group Chat:

Song Yan: “Should we just pick the neighboring Serpent’s Fang Galaxy? It’ll be much easier for us to manage later.”

Song Shiyuan: “It’s basically a bonus river, but it’s still crucial for the family’s future. Serpent’s Fang is only about 700,000 light-years across—convenient, sure, but its resources are less than half those of Tianpan Galaxy.”

Song Yan: “So what’s the Prime Ancestor’s call?”

Song Shiyuan: “How about Copper Serpent Galaxy? Its diameter is a whopping 1.6 million light-years, and we all know about the Mist Snakefolk resources on the Bronze Serpent Floating-Land. Picking that would be hitting two birds with one stone.”

……

Song Chi: “Copper Serpent is a great choice—plus it would irritate the Fusang Dynasty. But the catch is it’s tens of millions of light-years away from Chipan Galaxy. Isn’t that risky?”

Song Chi: “It’s fine under normal circumstances, but what if the Song Family loses power someday? Rival factions could easily sever our connections between the two. Even with spatial wormholes, given that the generator’s just a gold component, those passages can be broken.”

Song Chi’s meaning was simple: A far-flung realm would mean ever-mounting troubles as time passed. While strength held, it worked, but during declines, outside forces might cut spatial wormhole links—after all, the High-Dimensional Wormhole Generator was still just a gold-grade part, its portals weren’t unstoppable.

After a round of debate, they couldn’t reach a consensus. In the end, all eyes went to Elder Song Wujian.

Song Wujian pondered a while before speaking:

“Let’s go with the Dragon-Serpent Galaxy!”

The others raised their eyebrows in surprise.

Sweeping their gaze toward the starmap, they quickly located the Dragon-Serpent Galaxy.

Technically, it bordered Chipan Galaxy too, though not directly north like Serpent’s Fang. Instead, Dragon-Serpent sat northeast—further, but only by a bit, some 300,000 light-years away, much less than the tens of millions to Copper Serpent.

Crucially, Dragon-Serpent was huge, 1.26 million light-years across, with its capital—the Dragon-Serpent Floating-Land—being an Eighth-Level Living Floating-Land.

Plus, as Song Wujian had just shared, the Dragon-Serpent Floating-Land was home to a unique resource.

Dragonblood King Serpents!

These creatures carry a trace of black dragon blood. When they accept a Torch Captain as their master, they grant that Captain a special physique: the Dragon-Serpent King Body.

This trait boosts a Captain’s comprehension—making both law insights and esoteric arts easier to master.

The boost wasn’t enormous, otherwise knowledge of it would’ve spread long ago. On the whole, it was a bit less effective than the enhancements from Mist Snakefolk.

But as Song Wujian saw it, the family already controlled a good stake in the Mist Snakefolk. Instead of going from 20% to 100% on something familiar, why not claim a brand-new resource—especially if it meant sticking together with another neighboring territory?

“I think that’s wise!”

“Same here!”

“Alright, Dragon-Serpent Galaxy it is. But that zone’s held by the Ninth Advance Fleet, split up among various Immortal Houses since the war began. That won’t ruffle their feathers?”

“That’s their problem. If the four emperors have spoken, they’ll take care of any fallout. We will step on some toes, sure—but with these five rewards in hand, if the Song Family of Longji can’t rise into the top tier of Immortal Houses, we’ll at least be at the very peak. Why worry about someone’s glare?”

……

“Is Dragon-Serpent Galaxy your final answer? Once this is set, it can’t be changed later!”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Our family chooses Dragon-Serpent Galaxy!”

In the comms, when asked again by the Shensia Jiuli, Song Wujian answered with certainty.

Just like that, the Song Family’s holdings were confirmed: the thirty-thousand-light-year realm of Chipan Galaxy, plus the entire Dragon-Serpent Galaxy.

But that wasn’t all—one piece still remained: selecting their colored mythic component.

The four emperors didn’t rush this part. Once distribution was settled and the other Torch warships departed, leaving only five Superdimensional Motherships and the Heavenly Ruin in the silent void, they let Song Chi choose.

Since Song Chi had discovered the Truth Mechanicus domain, none of the other elders contested this mythic relic with him. Of the three origin energy tide slots, two also went straight to Song Chi, with only the last one kept for the larger family.

For distribution, one was naturally for the Heavenly Ruin; as for the others, Song Chi had different plans for them than giving them to Shen Youran or Song Hanyu.

Neither was more than a Dreadnought Captain for the moment. Now that the family had the gold-tier Origin Core Siphon and control of Dragon-Serpent, creating two or three Seventh-Tier floating-lands soon was easy enough—no need to waste these ultra-rare Ninth-Tier promotion spots.

His aim was to use them on the Clan Elder or the Prime Ancestor, boosting their odds of becoming Star River-class Captains someday.

A shimmer pulled Song Chi from his drifting thoughts.

He focused on the glowing projection ahead.

Displayed on the screen—beamed out by the Shensia Jiuli—were several colored mythic-grade components, each shown with detailed attributes.

Song Chi’s eyes went first to the ‘Three Realms Five Elements Medallion’—it was the sole colored-legend upper-tier item out of the seven.

Three Realms Five Elements Medallion lv0

Quality: Colored/Upper

Unique Effect: Outside the Three Realms, Not Within the Five Elements

Cost: 800 Eon Energy Points per second

Effect: When installed, the warship gains a triple-layered (Three Realms, Five Elements) aura. In the absence of attack or threat, it becomes absolutely hidden, benefitting from the highest-level stealth possible.

……

Note: This component takes up 20 module slots.

{Outside the Three Realms, Not Within the Five Elements: Consumes 2,000,000 Eon Energy Points to instantly push the ship into a void state, rendering it immune to all detection or attacks for 3 seconds. Cooldown is fixed at 1,000 years.}

……

Just seeing this one piece, Song Chi’s breath grew heavier. This ‘Three Realms Five Elements Medallion’ excelled as a permanent stealth module—surpassing both the Void Shroud and Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl. And its passive skill, ‘Outside the Three Realms, Not Within the Five Elements,’ was an utterly broken ability.

Even individually, either trait could stand at the top of the heap. Having both was just unfair.

At a glance, Song Chi knew this was his best pick. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder why the Emperors would offer up such a gem. Shouldn’t this be fitted onto one of the four Superdimensional Motherships for max effect?

But confusion aside, he wasn’t the type to complain about good fortune. If he’d seen it first, he was taking it.

Before speaking up, though, he took a sweep over the remaining six components.

Hey, with all these colored mythic relics on display, no harm in gawking for a bit.

Dark Energy Counteractive Berserker Shield

Titan Guardian Hull Armor

High-Energy Particle Star-Annihilator Cannon

Out of these six, half were basic modules—nothing that fired Song Chi up.

But the last three were special modules, and some effects were truly tempting.

Virtual Combat System lv0

Quality: Colored/Lower

Trait: True Virtual World

Trait 2: Double Clan Template Upload

Trait 3: Virtual/Real Time Ratio 10:1

Trait 4: Random Virtual Challenge Dungeons

Trait 5: All Virtual Dungeon Rewards Upgraded by One Tier

Trait 6: Virtual Link

Trait 7: Local Area Virtual Network

……

Gui Xu Forge lv0

Quality: Colored/Lower

Trait: Gui Xu Energy Pool

Trait 2: All Things to Gui Xu

……

Heaven’s Wing lv0

Quality: Colored/Lower

Trait: Soul Heaven

Trait 2: Pseudo-Soul Immortality

……

Of the three, Song Chi was most drawn to the Virtual Combat System. It let a captain load in all kinds of targets for virtual battle—so realistic, you’d think it was real, minus actual death. Plus, it generated new dungeon challenges over time, and beating them could net incredible prizes.

On top of that, it allowed for linking into the virtual world with other Torch Captains and warships for joint combat training. That meant massive boosts to crew proficiency, and the skewed virtual/real time ratio meant they could train for days in the virtual while only hours passed outside.

The Gui Xu Forge worked much like the Black Hole Evolution Layer, generating ‘gui xu’ energy that could then power up components in various unique ways.

As for Heaven’s Wing, Song Chi wasn’t quite sure how to feel. Its ‘Soul Heaven’ trait let it store the souls of fleshly beings that would otherwise be lost—if a better method turned up later, those souls could be revived, but the module itself wasn’t a true resurrection tool.

‘Pseudo-Soul Immortality’ only preserved souls for fifty thousand years. Fail to bring them back within that window, and they’d fade forever.

For Song Chi, it wasn’t especially rare or valuable, more like an emergency module. In special cases, sure, it helped, but typically, in the end, most souls faded after fifty thousand years.

Resurrection abilities were unbelievably rare. Even colored upper-tier time manipulation relics only gave nine shots at true revival, and those got used the moment danger struck. If you couldn’t revive someone immediately, waiting fifty thousand years did nothing.

Finally, Song Chi’s focus landed back on the Three Realms Five Elements Medallion and the Virtual Combat System. Out of seven total, those two outshone the rest.

After some hesitation, he still chose the Three Realms Five Elements Medallion.

Quality-wise, it had the edge, and in utility—both were terrific, but when picking the best of the best, that medallion stood alone.

Once he’d made up his mind, Song Chi still decided to ask a question:

“Your Majesties, will the Virtual Combat System be offered as a reward in the future?”

Laughter echoed from several Superdimensional Motherships.

“What, do you want that one too?”

Before Song Chi could answer, the projection from the Xuanhuang Chiyu spoke up:

“That module was a lucky find. If you’re that interested, you can earn a shot to claim it later—but don’t expect handouts. You’ll need to make contributions as outstanding as today’s!”

Delighted, Song Chi quickly responded:

“Thank you, Your Majesty! I’ll do my best!”

……

With the Three Realms Five Elements Medallion in hand, the Heavenly Ruin soon departed, leaving only five Superdimensional Motherships in the quiet void.

Once Song Chi was gone, the five Torch Human Superdimensional Captains resumed their discussion.

“Not bad, that kid. Claiming the Three Realms Five Elements Medallion should put him on the official ranking of Torch Star-Annihilators now!”

“You’re mistaken, Ji Heng. You missed the Battle of Demon Serpent Floating-Land. This kid’s vessel held an exceptional battleship replication module. From our analysis, that replicated chessboard module had to be at least colored upper tier!”

Hearing that, Ji Emperor’s projection dropped its smile, shifting to a serious look.

“A replication module that can mimic colored upper-tier components? Not only is that on par with strategic-tier modules, it marks him as a prime candidate for exploring the Chaotic Divine Land. No wonder you all were so generous—you even let the medallion go!”

As soon as Ji Heng finished, the other four nodded slightly.

Their meaning was clear: Ever since the Heavenly Ruin’s mirror warship activated and copied the Timepiece Chessboard, Song Chi was set as the Torch Civilization’s chosen one to walk the Chaotic Divine Land.

The Chaotic Divine Land was a unique floating-land surpassing even the Star Continent. Home to countless chaotic beasts and various apex lineages, some speculated it held the offspring of multiversal overlords after their worlds shattered, while others said these races were survivors from the ends of past epochs.

Whatever the truth, one thing was certain: The Chaotic Divine Land was intensely dangerous—even mythic beings risked death exploring it.

That made safety paramount during free exploration of the Land, a problem every civilization needed to solve.

Across eons, three main strategies emerged: replication, cloning, and remote control—each favored by major civilizations exploring the Land.

If you sent your real body and died, everything was gone, an incalculable loss for your entire people.

But with clones or replications, even if you perished, you could just summon a new one later to keep exploring, contesting rare treasures without losing your civilization’s foundation.

Of course, not all clones or replications were equal. The weakest were barely a threat—on the Chaotic Divine Land, where every prize attracted a horde of rivals, only mid-to-top tier clones had a shot.

Update delayed.

Update delayed.

As the note says, today’s chapter will be posted very late!