Chapter 14: Success

The space above the Floating Land Origin Core, radiating terrifying thermal energy, the shuttle bay of the Cang Qiong warship slowly opened. In addition, a traction beam also shot out from within the shuttle, aiming straight at the fusion body of the Origin Core.

The moment the traction beam acted on the fusion body of the Origin Core, Song Chi felt a significant repulsion, an innate resistance from the fusion body against this unfamiliar constraining force.

This very repulsion made the traction progress of Cang Qiong exceedingly slow.

Seeing this, Song Chi, who had been closely monitoring the Spectral Shield component, turned extremely unsightly. Just a second ago, the shield value of the Spectral Shield had already plunged below 200, leaving only a little over 100 points remaining, and it was still dropping rapidly at nearly 10 points per second.

However, Song Chi had no solution to this. Essentially, Cang Qiong was just a Zero Rank Spectral Shuttle, pulling an object equivalent to a Peak First Rank one—it was a case of a cart being drawn by a tiny horse. Neither the Spectral Shield nor the Fire Peony Soldier Effigy Tree had any direct connection to the traction beam.

If he hadn't been certain it was only an incompletely formed Floating Land Origin Core, still lacking a complete instinct, coupled with the Torch Warship's feature that any Starry Sea oddity, no matter the level, could be transformed into harmless Torch components once brought aboard, why would Song Chi rashly venture into danger?

Another ten seconds or so passed, and under the persistent effort of the traction beam, the fusion body of the Floating Land Origin Core was now not far from the Cang Qiong's shuttle bay, with success seemingly within reach.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

However, at this moment, several whooshing sounds abruptly came from behind, as more than a dozen heavily stepping members of the First Rank White Winged Tribe were once again in pursuit.

This time they were wiser, knowing that their attacks could hardly damage Cang Qiong within a short time; they shifted their target, aiming to interrupt Cang Qiong's traction process.

Song Chi's eyes flashed coldly. Having just seen hope in capturing the fusion body of the Floating Land Origin Core, how could he allow such a situation to occur?

"Block those attacks!"

Upon receiving Song Chi's command, ten fiery red figures surged out from the Cang Qiong's shuttle bay simultaneously. With Tungsten Gold War Shields in their left hands and Tungsten Gold Lances in their right, they charged directly at the dozens of incoming attacks, executing Song Chi's orders to perfection.

Clang, clang, clang...

There was a constant succession of metallic clashes, as the ten Fire Peony Soldier Figurines didn't let a single attack pierce their defensive line.

"Phew!"

Song Chi took a deep breath, his heart, which had been in his throat, settling back down before he again issued the "free attack" command.

Instantly, the Fire Peony Soldier Figurines wielding combat shields and lances stepped forward in unison. The strands of fiery red light they emitted created a scene that was rather pleasing to the eye.

But Song Chi understood this was just a facade. Relying on their puppet bodies, the pressure and high temperatures from the fusion body of the Floating Land Origin Core would not greatly affect them over a short duration. However, once they engaged in direct combat with the White Winged Tribe—nearly double their number— the Fire Peony Soldier Figurines would quickly be at a disadvantage.

After all, every one of the ten Fire Peony Soldier Figurines was just at Level 10, barely possessing the strength of early First Rank, and the Tungsten Gold Shields and Spears they were equipped with had good hardness but quite ordinary attack power.

Yet that didn't matter anymore. As long as the Fire Peony Soldier Figurines could hold out for more than five seconds, that would be enough. He had never counted on defeating or even killing any of the White Winged Tribe.

Time passed, and what used to be a brief second now felt exceptionally long to Song Chi.

56/990

47/990

37/990

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Just as the Shield Value of the Spectral Shield was about to drop to zero, the Level One Floating Land Origin Core Fusion Body was finally completely drawn into the engine room of the Cang Qiong.

[Close shuttle bay doors]

[Turn the shuttle around]

[Spectral Engine overload operation]

There was no time to check the attributes of the Floating Land Origin Core Fusion Body which had now transformed into an integrated ship component; almost simultaneously with the successful traction, Song Chi's spirit operated at full speed.

In a state of highly focused mind, he even faintly broke through his own limits and managed to achieve Threefold Mind Utilization.

"Humming..."

Amid the roaring noise of the engine, Cang Qiong turned into a residual image, charging straight towards the rift above.

To speak nothing of checking the attributes of the componentized "Floating Land Origin Core Fusion Body," at this moment, Song Chi couldn't even spare a thought for the Fire Peony Soldier Figurines, his mind solely focused on escaping the rift space as quickly as possible.

Without the strong energy fluctuations emitted by the Floating Land Origin Core Fusion Body, the several hundred members of the White Winged Tribe nearby were no longer restrained, and with the Spectral Shield nearing collapse, this was when the defenses of the Cang Qiong were at their weakest. It wasn't just the First Rank White Winged Tribe to be wary of; even several hits from the Zero Rank members could potentially lead to the destruction of the ship and death.

Luckily, the ten Fire Peony Soldier Figurines were holding back most of the First Rank White Winged Tribe, or else Song Chi might even have considered fleeing into the Zhu Tian Ruins Market.

Of course, he would only take that step as a last resort.

While taking refuge in the Ruins Market would ensure safety, who could say whether it would also trigger the return function of the Torch Warship? What if it didn't? Wouldn't that mean he would be stranded in this unknown Star Domain forever?

According to the results of multiple tests over the past several hours, at present, entering and exiting the Zhu Tian Ruins Market was based on his own location.

What did that mean, in simple terms? It meant that wherever he entered the Zhu Tian Ruins Market from, he could only exit at the same location.

Because of this feature, if he missed the Torch Warship's automatic return, he would only be able to shuttle between this Star Domain and the Zhu Tian Ruins Market in the future, making it nearly impossible to return to the realms where Torch Human Civilization resided.

Just thinking about that possibility made Song Chi utterly reluctant.

Even with the Zhu Tian Ruins Market available, where he could engage in market trades once a month to ensure subsequent resource acquisition, it wouldn't affect his continual enhancements and advancements.

But the problem lay in the absence of the backing of a powerful civilization. No matter how strong an individual's combat power was, in the brutal Shattered Starry Sea, it was still extremely dangerous, because one could never imagine the horrifying depth of heritage a middle to high-level civilization with over a hundred thousand years of legacy could possess.

Cang Qiong was racing through space, and although Song Chi had already pushed the speed to its limit, many attacks from the White Winged Tribe still landed on the hull of the shuttle.

Boom, boom, boom!

At the same time, the main cannon and secondary cannons on the Cang Qiong continued to fire towards the rear, either directly attacking the pursuing White Winged Tribe or blasting the rock walls on both sides at the rear to obstruct the following alien horde with countless shattered rocks.

However, there were too many members of the White Winged Tribe, and this was merely a drop in the bucket. Soon, the Spectral Shield, already on the verge of collapse, shattered completely, and attacks began to land on the hull of the Cang Qiong.

The only thing Song Chi could be grateful for was that when he was enhancing the ship yesterday, he upgraded not only the Spectral Shield component but also the Warship Armor to lv7. Although the defensive power of this level of Warship Armor was far inferior to a First Rank Spectral Shield, as long as it wasn't attacked by a First Rank White Winged Tribe member, it could hold out for a while.

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