Chapter 1022: 535: Alien Territories

Chapter 1022: Chapter 535: Alien Territories

After a brief tremor, Song Wujiang’s gaze abruptly shifted.

Song Chi’s expression grew solemn as he noticed the seriousness and gravity in his grandfather’s eyes.

“Little Chi, promise me, never let anyone know that you possess the ability to modify the features of Gold Holy Realm-level components!”

Hearing such a request from his grandfather, Song Chi nodded resolutely.

“Grandson understands!”

…

It wasn’t over yet. To ensure the security of the matter, Song Wujiang activated a silver-quality contractual component on his flagship and signed a confidentiality agreement of Silver Quality.

“Let’s go to Zhuifire Plains!”

After signing the confidentiality agreement, seeing the eagerness in Song Chi’s eyes, the two immediately set off for Zhuifire Plains.

Inside a large combined illusion, the Dinghai Dragon Steed hung high above The Vault of Heaven. Below on the ground, Song Chi waited quietly.

While he appeared calm on the surface, his heart was extremely tense.

After all, if things didn’t work out this time, he could only wait until he advanced to the Sixth Rank and upgraded the Seed of Torch to Gold, or until his grandfather transformed the Seed of Torch into Gold.

However, neither of these options could be achieved in a short time—it would take at least a century, possibly even several centuries.

To delay for such a long time was naturally something Song Chi didn’t want to see.

At that moment, the Dinghai Dragon Steed slowly descended from the high sky.

“Grandfather, how is it?”

Song Chi’s gaze remained fixed on his grandfather until he finally saw the smile on his grandfather’s face, and his heart instantly relaxed.

Given how obviously his grandfather displayed his satisfaction, Song Chi naturally understood the final outcome, but he still asked one last question.

“Is that coordinate within the range of effect?”

“Yes!”

…

“Little Chi, aside from the coordinate you provided, I also tried Red Star Continent, but unfortunately, it still doesn’t work.”

Song Chi was slightly surprised. This suggested that the star domain where the Time Chessboard might be located could lie somewhere between Dragon Spine Continent and Red Star Continent.

However, he did not dwell too much on this matter and instead thought of another possibility.

At that moment, Song Wujiang’s voice sounded again.

“Little Chi, my suggestion is that we head to Red Star Continent to see if the coordinate can be linked from there. If possible, it would be better to open a space wormhole directly on Red Star Continent!”

Song Chi raised an eyebrow, realizing that he and his grandfather were thinking along the same lines.

Although the Space Wormhole Generator had already confirmed that it could connect to the coordinate, what lay on the other side of the coordinate remained unknown. There could be alien civilizations—possibly even advanced ones. Recklessly opening a wormhole from Dragon Spine Continent was far too risky.

On the other hand, if they opened the wormhole on Red Star Continent, any issues arising would leave them free to retreat without worry. After all, Red Star Continent already had plenty of alien races; one more wouldn’t make much difference.

The two agreed, and without any further delay in their actions, Song Chi directly used the Dimension Space Stone to take Song Wujiang to Red Star Continent.

Half an hour later, both returned with expressions of helplessness.

The star domain where Red Star Continent was located was excessively remote, and it could not be linked to the coordinates of the Time Chessboard’s star domain.

“If that’s the case, then let’s head to Robbing Wind Floating Land. Dragon Spine Continent is the foundation of the Song Family and cannot endure even the slightest risk.”

“Understood!”

At Robbing Wind Floating Land, within a mid-sized combined illusion, the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong and Dinghai Dragon Steed were positioned inside this secret realm.

Aside from Song Chi and Song Wujiang, there was one additional person—Song Shiyuan, who had been stationed at Robbing Wind Floating Land for more than 150 years.

The Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong and Immovable Ming King hovered in the low sky, tightly monitoring the Dinghai Dragon Steed, which was enveloped in golden light above them.

A space wormhole was about to take shape. If danger arose from the opposite side of the wormhole, they would assist the Dinghai Dragon Steed in forcefully closing it. If an unlikely event occurred where a civilization opposite the wormhole managed to forcibly stabilize it, Song Chi wouldn’t hesitate to use the Ruins Market Projection Rank and the Power Of Domination to destroy the wormhole outright.

Additionally, a Tri-Eyed Royal Dominator Flagship was suspended in the sky, ready at a moment’s notice.

Time passed, and fortunately, the worst-case scenario did not arise. After the wormhole was opened, no abnormalities came from the other side.

The three exchanged glances and ultimately decided to proceed with their plan.

The Tri-Eyed Royal Dominator Flagship took the lead, entering the wormhole passage first.

The Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong, Dinghai Dragon Steed, and Immovable Ming King followed closely behind.

Throughout their journey, nothing unexpected occurred, but the three Song Family members, experienced captains of older generations, did not let their guard down for a moment.

…

Alien Star Domain, a pitch-black starry sky.

A space vortex with a diameter exceeding tens of thousands of kilometers stretched across the Hollow Star Domain. Suddenly, a massive warship emerged from the vortex.

Trailing behind this steel behemoth, which spanned over ten thousand kilometers in length, were three smaller warships.

Magnetic wave communications group chat within the warships:

“Song Shiyuan: Luck’s not bad—it’s actually a Shattered Starry Sea Hollow Zone!”

“Song Wujiang: Little Chi, how’s it looking? Any reaction from that component of yours?”

In the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong main control room, Song Chi’s gaze was riveted on the Territory Star Map displayed by the Heavenly Destiny Compass·Disk. His eyes gleamed brightly. As the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong entered this star domain, located 95 billion light-years away from Dragon Spine Continent, three luminous points suddenly appeared on the star map.

Such a dense clustering of light!

Evidently, the divination performed earlier by the Seventh Rank Astrologer was no exaggeration. Even if this location wasn’t the site of the Time Chessboard’s main component, the distance to it was likely not far.

Of course, “not far” was relative to the vast Shattered Starry Sea. The actual distance was still measured in billions of light-years.

Excitement aside, Song Chi’s brows soon furrowed.

“No, these three lights are all silver in color. If my guess is correct, they probably represent pieces of Time Chess rather than the Time Chessboard itself.”

Realizing this, the joy in his eyes quickly faded.

His goal had always been the Time Chessboard, not merely the Time Chess. After all, there were more than a hundred pieces of Time Chess scattered about. Gathering them one by one could take an incalculable amount of time.

Moreover, even if he spent an eternity collecting every piece of Time Chess, the Time Chessboard would likely remain out of reach.

In contrast, if he could acquire the main body—the Time Chessboard—there was a high chance he could summon all the scattered pieces of Time Chess back.

The difference between the primary and the subordinate components had always been vast.

Considering this, Song Chi truthfully informed his grandfather and Prime Ancestor.

“Song Shiyuan: They’re all sub-components? That’s a bit problematic. It seems we’ll have to search the area thoroughly.”

After Song Shiyuan finished speaking, Song Wujiang asked:

“Little Chi, does your flagship have high-quality jump components?”

“Your Prime Ancestor and I must return to oversee the family grounds; we can’t accompany you in the search. Hopefully, we can assist indirectly.”

Hearing this question from his grandfather, Song Chi quickly shook his head.

He was well-prepared in this regard. His Silver Quality Red Vault Jump Device had already been enhanced to Level 70. Upon advancing to the Seventh Rank, the component’s attributes had received significant upgrades, including the staggering improvement of its Red Vault Jump feature’s maximum jump distance.

Red Vault Jump Device Level 70

Quality: Silver

Feature: Maximum jump distance doubled

Feature 2: Warship space resistance +6400

Feature 3: Jump count chargeable, up to two charges

Feature 4: Red Vault Jump

Consumption: 100,000/charge (Spectral Energy Points)

Available Jump Count: 2/2

Effect: After charging, the equipped warship jumps in the specified direction. Current maximum jump distance: 15,000 (7,500 x 2) light-years

…

{Red Vault Jump: Consumes 300,000 Spectral Energy Points for a single long-distance jump in the specified direction; maximum jump distance is 500 times the normal limit (6,500,000 light-years). Cooldown time is fixed at one year. (This jump entails significant unpredictability. Without detailed star charts, risks are high.)}

Under normal circumstances, it could already cover over ten thousand light-years in a single jump. If Red Vault Jump were activated, it could leap a staggering 6,500,000 light-years at once—a truly remarkable distance.

As for the device’s drawbacks and risks, Song Chi was well aware of them but not concerned.

One drawback was its one-year cooldown time, which could be compressed to less than a month and a half through the combined effects of the Purusa Zen Seal and Time Chess components, making it completely acceptable.

The risk lay in the uncertainty of the jump’s endpoint. If the warship ended up embedded in a floating landmass or asteroid, the entire ship would be crushed to shards.

Regarding this, Song Chi already had countermeasures.

His plan was to transform the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong into a miniature neutron star just before the jump. The terrifying density of this minuscule neutron star would allow the warship to withstand collisions with floating landmasses, asteroids, or even extreme celestial bodies like black holes.

This would grant him sufficient time to activate survival measures like the Blink Device, Angel Sovereign Wings, Ruins Market Projection Rank, or Black Hole Evolution Layer.

“Alright, since you’ve prepared well, we won’t delay you further. Be careful out there.”

With that, Song Wujiang and Song Shiyuan joined the Tri-Eyed Royal Dominator Flagship and disappeared back into the space wormhole.

Before leaving, Song Chi added one request: to have the two of them destroy the wormhole upon returning. Although the wormhole lay in a hollow zone, there was always a chance for the unexpected. Since he planned to leave soon, the most secure solution would be to eliminate the wormhole for the sake of protecting Robbing Wind Floating Land.

As for him, with Spatial Anchor Points, he could come and go freely.

Despite the immense distance of over 950 billion light-years from Dragon Spine Continent, Song Chi had successfully tested multiple times that he could use the Zhu Tian Ruins Market to travel back and forth.

After a while, under Song Chi’s watchful eye, the space wormhole in the hollow zone gradually collapsed and ultimately disappeared.

Once this was confirmed, Song Chi shifted his attention back to the Territory Star Map.

Looking at the three luminous points on the map, Song Chi shook his head.

“The Time Chess pieces aren’t worth it. These three components’ star domains are tens of millions of light-years apart from one another. Even if I use the Red Vault Jump, it would take several months to retrieve them all. Searching directly for the Time Chessboard is a better option.”

Muttering to himself, he still recorded the coordinates of the three components. In case he failed to locate the Time Chessboard, he would still collect these Time Chess pieces one by one later.

Having settled this point, Song Chi did not immediately activate the Red Vault Jump but instead began carefully planning his search route using the Territory Star Map. The location of the Time Chessboard was uncertain, prompting him to organize his search meticulously to avoid unnecessary repetition.

After all, his upcoming search wouldn’t cover just a small star domain but rather an enormous spatial region spanning a radius of two billion light-years centered around this hollow zone.

This was the limit of his current capabilities within which he could conduct his search. As for the three-hundred-billion-light-year hunt suggested by the Seventh Rank Astrologer, Song Chi couldn’t manage it for the time being—it would take far too long.

He had a simple plan: if nothing turned up within twenty billion light-years, he would wait for the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong to upgrade into a Fearless Ship and for the Seed of Torch to evolve into Gold before attempting a broader search.

At that point, with a Gold Jump Device, the Si Nan·Chasing Origin feature’s tracking radius would expand to twenty billion light-years, making the task significantly easier.

Before long, Song Chi completed his detailed search plan. Taking a deep breath, he activated the Red Vault Jump feature.

The warship began charging for its jump.