Suppressing the various thoughts in his heart, Song Chi lifted his gaze once more and continued to press on:

"Grandpa, can all the Starry Sea Secret Realms carry out time acceleration? There must be special restrictions on this acceleration, right? Otherwise, wouldn't Torch Ship Captains be able to quickly enhance their Guidance Technique by using this feature? That would be too exaggerated."

Song Chi's thoughts were simple: time acceleration might sound impressive, but it most likely required exceedingly stringent conditions that were difficult to achieve.

Song Mingsong nodded softly and let out a sigh. However, the words that followed took Song Chi by surprise.

"That's correct, to carry out time acceleration, a secret realm needs the 'Void Crystal,' a very rare resource that supplies the energy necessary for time acceleration."

"As for cultivating the Guidance Technique within the secret realm, not to mention the synchronization of one's lifespan with the accelerated time, which in itself is consumed, just the fact that the laws in the secret realm are incomplete, making the bottleneck between each rank of the Guidance Technique several times more difficult than in the outside world, is enough to dissuade any Torch Ship Captain from entertaining such thoughts."

A wave of astonishment rose in Song Chi's heart. He had never imagined that the Void Crystal could be the resource needed for the secret realm's acceleration.

This was far too coincidental, as he could potentially leverage the Ruins Market Secret Realm to continuously obtain Void Crystals.

Nevertheless, Song Chi wasn't one to act carelessly. Hunting Void Demons in the Ruins Market was a matter that endangered his safety. Without thorough preparation, he wouldn't rashly take that step.

After the brief surge of excitement, a sense of disappointment settled at the bottom of Song Chi's heart because of the latter part of his grandfather's words. If he couldn't use the secret realm's acceleration to cultivate the Guidance Technique, it significantly reduced its appeal to him.

After all, compared to other things, evolving his own life level to achieve a longer lifespan was his ultimate pursuit.

Shaking his head, Song Chi was about to push aside the jumbled thoughts in his mind when a sudden flash of insight struck him.

"Wait, the Void Crystal!"

If the Void Crystal was indeed the source of energy for the secret realm's time acceleration, then when he held thousands of Void Crystals in his hands, he should not have been completely unaware.

As the master of the Ruins Market Secret Realm's laws, it could be said definitively that he would have detected any item beneficial or harmful to the Ruins Market itself. Yet, he had felt nothing at the time.

This indicated only one possibility: the Void Crystal didn't work on the Ruins Market Secret Realm.

But his grandfather wouldn't deceive him, so where exactly did the problem lie?

Beyond that, Song Chi recalled another matter. When John Tros had actively hunted him, wasn't it for the Void Crystal? If he was desperately in need of the Void Crystal, could it be that he, too, controlled a secret realm with his hands?

"Little Chi?"

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As his mind was deep in thought, a sudden greeting pulled him back to reality. Without waiting for Song Chi to respond, Song Mingsong spoke softly:

"Alright, you don't need to stay here any longer. With your grandpa and your uncle here, nothing will happen to your two mining carts. Take advantage of the remaining twenty-plus hours to scavenge the secret realm for resources you need. After surrendering them to the main family later, you'd have to spend Family Merit Points to enter this secret realm again."

Song Chi nodded and, without further courtesy with his grandfather and uncle, maneuvered the Cang Qiong to take off. He soon disappeared from their sight.

After Song Chi left, the old man and Song Shan exchanged glances, and then said:

"Big brother, what do you think of this kid?"

In response to Song Mingsong's sudden question, Song Shan was not surprised. After pondering for a moment, he replied:

"Little Chi, this child, has quite the fate. If I didn't see it wrong before, it was he who dealt the critical blow to the Blood Blade. Judging by the intensity of that attack, it was stronger than the Purple Main Cannon enhanced to level 39 on my ship.

Added to that, his ship's impressive Energy Shield and the 'Shadowcapture Antimatter Overstate Engine' you gave him before, this kid's flagship's combat power has likely already surpassed all of our imaginations."

Song Mingsong nodded slightly, his face unable to conceal a smile. Seeing that Song Shan had finished speaking, he immediately continued with another question. It was this very query that made Song Shan, the newly promoted Third Rank Torch Captain, instinctively twitch at the corner of his eye.

"Do you think he has the potential to challenge the family hierarchy?"

Hearing the word "hierarchy," the normally composed Song Shan suddenly felt a great stirring in his heart.

As Song Mingsong's eldest son, unlike his three brothers Song Hai, Song Chao, and Song Yang, he was already a Second Rank Torch Ship Captain before being exiled from the main family.

And a Second Rank Torch Ship Captain, in any force of significant magnitude, counted as a core, even a key member.

Because of this, compared to his three younger brothers, he knew much more about the Dinghai Song Family.

Even within the Chenxing Principality, the Dinghai Song Family counted as an Overlord Level force.

However, this also made it all the more difficult to challenge the family "hierarchy."

With a legacy nearly three thousand years old, the Dinghai Song Family already had countless descendants, numbering in the millions. One could imagine, with such vast numbers, how many geniuses were among them?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read