https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-200-Plasma-Guardian-Song-Chi-s-Initiative/12833863/
Chapter 201: Fifth-Class Battleship · Fourth-Class Bio-Blood
Chapter 201: Fifth-Class Battleship · Fourth-Class Bio-Blood
Song Mingsong agreed, and naturally, the rest of the family had no objections. They recalled their flagship one after another.
Inside the Celestial Dome, the recently acquired Ember Fleet Crew Pass finally came into play. However, it was limited to only six people, and Grandfather and Uncle were not included in this number.
After all, they were heading into an unknown star domain, and it was essential to be prepared for any unexpected situations. The two third-class Ember Fleet captains in their family needed to maintain their combat readiness.
Moreover, Song Chi was not short on second-class Floating Land Essence.
As twenty strands of second-class Floating Land Essence were deducted, the people from the Bai family also boarded their warships. Just like the Song family, the Bai family left behind a frigate.
Clearly, they also wanted to maintain the combat readiness of their third-class Ember Fleet captains while not wasting second-class Floating Land Essence.
As the Celestial Dome approached the frigate on the opposite side, a beam of light shot out from the frigate's hull, quickly locking the two warships together.
At the same time, the other side immediately activated the interstellar domain projection charging for the warships.
Time passed, and the Celestial Dome had already consumed over a hundred strands of second-class Floating Land Essence. Although this was not a significant amount for Song Chi now, he still felt a bit regretful about the waste.
In fact, there was a way to avoid this unnecessary consumption. The coupling device could generate additional coupling beams to simultaneously connect multiple Ember Fleet warships.
However, this required a high-quality coupling device, which was already rare, and high-quality ones were even rarer. Acquiring one would be extremely difficult.
At least, among the twenty-plus Ember Fleet warships of the Bai family, there were none.
Song Chi understood this. He had been keeping an eye out for such components for a long time, but even the lowest blue-quality coupling device had eluded him, let alone purple or orange-quality ones.
As he pondered, a sudden sensation of weightlessness snapped him back to reality.
The projection was about to begin!
...
The beacon mark from the Bai family indicated a coordinate directly above a Star Sea Floating Land. As Song Chi recovered from the intense dizziness, he immediately noticed the Floating Land below, which was over three million kilometers long and wide.
Compared to the lush, life-filled Floating Lands, this third-class Star Sea Floating Land was much more monotonous, with a gray-brown hue covering everything.
Gray-brown mountains, gray-brown craters, gray-brown canyons...
The radar image generated by the Silver III Ultra-Wave Magic Energy Detector showed no signs of life energy, but there were some scattered activities of fragment belt creatures on the nearby small fragments.
Song Chi was not surprised by this.
This Floating Land was indeed the Copper Mountain Floating Land, and the Bai family had mentioned that a fourth-class Golden Armor Giant Beast was sleeping deep within a large copper mother mine, thousands or even tens of thousands of meters underground, far beyond the detection depth of the Silver III Ultra-Wave Magic Energy Detector.
As he thought, Song Chi opened the cabin door, and Grandfather and Uncle were the first to exit the Celestial Dome.
On the other side, three kilometer-long warships appeared almost simultaneously with the Roaring Lion and the Mountain Peak, which were the three cruisers from the Bai family.
The moment the five cruisers appeared, the surrounding starry sky felt heavier. The magnetic energy fields emitted by the kilometer-long hulls were far beyond what second-class Ember Fleet warships could match.
At the same time, a group chat via magnetic wave communication was established among the seven Ember Fleet warships. A special image was transmitted from one of the Bai family's cruisers.
It was a special ground-penetrating radar image, showing the massive outline of a creature deep within the copper mother mine, about ten thousand meters underground. The creature had four legs and resembled a rhinoceros from the previous Earth, currently curled up in the depths of the large copper mother mine.
"Alright, let's head down. Find a safe spot and wait for 24 hours. We'll use this time to formulate a more detailed battle plan. We'll take action after a day!"
In the magnetic wave communication group chat, Aunt Xiurong's voice was the first to be heard. Grandmother Bai Xiurong was not present, and as the link between the Bai and Song families, many decisions naturally fell to her.
The seven Ember Fleet warships began their descent toward the Floating Land below.
Of course, the direction they chose to land was far from the large copper mother mine where the golden giant beast was sleeping, separated by more than half of the copper mountain floating land.
Once they successfully established a temporary base, the remaining twenty or so family members from both clans stepped out of the two escort ships.
At the same time, several cruisers summoned dozens of soldier puppets.
These second-rank ember captains were considered the absolute core members of their respective clans. During the next 24-hour recovery period, it was crucial to ensure their safety.
In the control room of the Sky Vault, Song Chi's gaze sharpened as he focused on the 20 soldier puppets summoned by the senior cruiser of the Bai family.
"Fourth-rank soldier puppets?"
Indeed, the 20 centaur-shaped soldier puppets summoned by the Bai family's cruiser emitted a pseudo-fourth-rank aura, undoubtedly enhanced to level 40 or above.
From this, a lot of information could be inferred.
Firstly, the person in charge of this senior cruiser from the Bai family must have at least a purple ember seed.
Secondly, the cruiser might have other components enhanced to the fourth rank, which would likely be key in dealing with the fourth-rank golden giant beast.
Thirdly, this cruiser was probably the decision-maker among the three Bai family cruisers.
This situation was not lost on Song Chi alone; Grandfather and Uncle Song Ming also noticed it. In the private communications of the Roaring Lion and the Mountain Peak, the two were discussing the matter.
"Father, this is a subtle show of force. It seems they might try to play some games regarding the distribution of benefits."
Compared to Song Shan's tactful words, Song Ming was more direct, saying with a sneer:
"That old man Bai Chongwen, over 500 years old and almost in his grave, still likes to play these tricks!"
Song Chi and the younger generation were unaware of the specifics of the other two cruisers, but Song Ming knew them well.
Bai Chongwen, the current highest-ranking member of Bai Xiurong's lineage, was already over 570 years old, nearing his end.
However, his five-hundred-year career as an ember captain had made his flagship extremely powerful, and no one knew what cards he might have up his sleeve.
What surprised Song Ming was that Bai Chongwen still had a blue ember seed eighty years ago, and it was unclear when he had ascended to the purple fire rank.
From this, Song Ming drew many conclusions, saying in a low voice:
"Brother, if I'm not mistaken, the titanium crystal vein they mentioned is just a side dish. What the Bai family truly wants is the corpse of the golden giant beast."
Hearing this, Song Shan, who was not without foresight, understood the implications of Song Ming's words.
"Father, you mean the fourth-rank creature's source blood?"
Song Ming nodded.
"Exactly. As a resource that can only be extracted from fourth-rank or higher creatures, it can increase the success rate of cruiser advancement to a Pursuit Ship and also assist in the breakthrough of high-level guiding techniques for ember captains. It's a rare resource that even third-rank peak and fourth-rank ember captains crave."
"However, I wonder if he plans to use that drop of source blood on himself or on his flagship."
After Song Ming finished speaking, Song Shan, still a bit puzzled, continued:
"Fourth-rank creature source blood is not easy to extract. It requires a same-rank ember captain and a considerable amount of time. Do they plan to bring the corpse back and have the Bai family's fourth-rank elder extract it? This is a fourth-rank space giant, after all, much larger than other fourth-rank creatures..."
Song Ming also found this puzzling.
"Who knows? Perhaps they have a special component that can proportionally shrink it!"
"Moreover, your thinking is off. Even if they bring the golden giant beast's corpse back, they are unlikely to seek out the fourth-rank ember captains of the Bai family. The internal factional struggles within the Bai family are far more severe than you imagine."
Seeing the intense curiosity on Song Shan's face, Song Ming continued:
"If it weren't so, why would they go through all this trouble to work with us? Wouldn't it be easier to call in their own people?"
"The Bai family has a lineage of over three thousand years. If they were truly like our Song family, with the senior patriarchs making decisions on major matters and ensuring relative unity, they would have had a fifth-rank absolute leader by now. Advancing to the fifth rank is difficult, but it's not impossible for a family with a thousand-year history and multiple fourth-rank ember captains. Unless their internal conflicts are severe."
Song Shan's expression tightened. After all, he was only a little over a hundred and fifty years old, and his recent promotion to the third rank meant he still lacked the deep understanding that Song Ming Song possessed.
"Father, do you mean that if the other branches of the Bai family learn about Aunt Xiurong’s mission, they might deliberately try to sabotage it? We are all part of the same family, right? Even if there are some disputes, it shouldn’t come to this, right?"
Hearing this, Song Ming Song smiled and shook his head.
"Old One, you’re still a bit naive. When a family lacks an absolute authority figure, it naturally evolves into this kind of situation. Over the span of three thousand years, it’s not just a matter of words. The various factions that have emerged are so complex they can make you question reality."
"You can take the 'Eagle Family' in the Golden Wind Star Domain as a reference. Compared to them, the Bai family is just a minor issue. Over there, three fifth-rank direct lineage ship captains are vying for legitimacy, and over the millennia, several fourth-rank Skirmish Ship Captains have died in these internal struggles!"
After hearing this, Song Shan was speechless. He had heard about the Eagle Family's internal conflicts, but he never imagined that they involved the death of fourth-rank Flame Ship Captains. Honestly, this was more than just shocking.
A fourth-rank Skirmish Ship Captain—what a formidable existence! Even in the Dingsheng Song family, they held a revered status as clan elders. While they might not be the family's ultimate stabilizers, each one was a pillar of the family's combat strength, their importance undeniable.
Yet, such a level of combat power could be lost in internal family conflicts, which was truly hard to believe.
This gave a glimpse into just how intense the internal struggles of the Eagle Family were.
Song Shan even suspected that if not for the clear regulations of the Flame Human Civilization, which prohibited capital ships and above from directly participating in internal conflicts, the three fifth-rank Flame Ship Captains of the Eagle Family would have engaged in open combat.
Yes, fifth-rank Flame Ship Captains were capital ships, and under the rules jointly established by the four super-empires of the Flame Human Civilization, internal conflicts were limited to the fourth-rank Skirmish Ship level.
Of course, the prohibition on capital ships from taking direct action did not mean they lacked influence. On the contrary, in the Dawn Star Principality, only those with capital ships were considered the true top-tier forces.
For example, the Dingsheng Song family, the Eagle Family, and the princely house of the Dawn Star family.
Families like the Bai family were considered upper-tier forces within the principality, having some influence in their respective star domains, but they were far from the renown and prestige of these top families, some of which even had significant reputations in neighboring countries.
Rosetta of the Dawn Star family, for instance, was revered by the surrounding nations as the Grand Duke of Dawn Star, or simply Grand Duke Rosetta, representing a significant portion of the principality.
Seeing Song Shan’s uncertain expression, Song Ming Song interrupted him.
"Alright, don’t overthink it. Just remember one thing: our Song family’s reputation is among the top three in the entire principality. You don’t need to worry about these trivial matters."
"Moreover, before we set out, I already informed the family. Even if the other side dares to have any ulterior motives, the entire Bai family will face the harshest retaliation from our family. They don’t have the courage to do anything drastic, at most they might try to press us in the subsequent profit distribution."
Song Shan, however, found this hard to believe.
The pre-notification was likely true, but it was probably not initiated by Song Ming Song. Given the old man’s character, he wouldn’t bother with such intricate maneuvers. It was more likely that Bai Xiurong had made the suggestion, which he would have listened to.
...
Song Chi was unaware of the conversation between his grandfather and uncle. He did not enter the market, nor did he recall the Azure Sky, and he did not fully shut down its engines. Instead, he kept the [Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator] active.
He constantly reminded himself that the continent beneath his feet housed a fourth-rank cosmic behemoth in slumber, and he could not afford to be careless.
Of course, it wasn’t just him. The seven Flame Ships present were all on high alert. Whether from the Bai family or the Song family, these were prominent families of the Dawn Star Principality, and they had no tolerance for laxity or low-level mistakes before a battle.
(End of Chapter)
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