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First, the members of the Bai Family on this veteran cruiser have a Torch Seed that is at least Purple.

Second, this cruiser might also have other components enhanced to the Fourth Rank Level, and it is highly probable that it will be the key battle force against the Fourth Rank Golden Armored Giant Beast.

Furthermore, it is very likely that it is the decision-maker among the three cruisers of the Bai Family currently present.

This situation is clearly not only noticed by Song Chi alone; his grandfather and eldest uncle have also realized this, as they are currently discussing the matter through private communications on the Furious Lion and the Mountain.

"Dad, this is a subtle show of force. It seems that they might complicate matters regarding the distribution of the profits later on."

Compared to Song Shan’s diplomatic words, Song Mingsong is much more direct, only to hear him snort and say:

"That old fogey Bai Chongwen, who’s over five hundred years old and nearly in his grave, still likes to play these games!"

While the younger generation like Song Chi is unaware of the specifics regarding the other two cruisers, Song Mingsong is keenly informed.

Bai Chongwen, the current highest-ranking member of Bai Xiurong’s lineage, is now over 570 years old, and his days are numbered.

However, precisely because of this, his over five hundred years of experience as a Torch Ship Captain have made his flagship extremely powerful, and no one knows what kind of trump card he has.

What surprises Song Mingsong, though, is that in his memory, Bai Chongwen was still a Blue Torch Seed eighty years ago; it is unclear when he advanced to Purple Fire.

From this point, it leads him to think of many things, only to hear him say in a low voice:

"Big brother, if I’m not mistaken, this titanium crystal vein might be just a side issue. What the Bai Family really wants could be the corpse of that Golden Armored Giant Beast."

Upon hearing this, Song Shan is not lacking in insight and has already thought of the implication behind Song Mingsong’s words.

"Dad, are you talking about the Primordial Blood of a Fourth Rank lifeform?"

Song Mingsong nods.

"Exactly, Primordial Blood, which can only be refined by Fourth Rank and above lifeforms, not only improves the odds of a cruiser advancing to a Contending Warship but is also an effective aid for Torch Ship Captains in breaking through high-level Guidance Techniques. It is a rare resource coveted by Third Rank Torch Ship Captains at their peak and even Fourth Rank Ship Captains."

"Just not sure if he wants to use that drop of Primordial Blood on himself or on his flagship."

After Song Mingsong finished speaking, Song Shan, still with some doubts on his face, continued:

"Fourth Rank Primordial Blood, this stuff is not easy to extract. It requires a Torch Ship Captain of the same rank to take action, and it will take a significant amount of time. Are they planning to bring it back for the Fourth Rank Ancestor of the Bai Family to handle?

That’s a Fourth Rank Starry Sky Behemoth we’re talking about, and its body is naturally much larger than that of other lifeforms of the same rank..."

Song Mingsong is also puzzled by this.

"Who knows? Maybe they have special components for Proportional Scaling!"

"Besides, big brother, you’re not thinking it through. Even if they were to take the corpse of that Golden Armored Giant Beast back later, they most likely would not seek out those Fourth Rank Torch Ship Captains above in the Bai Clan. The internal factional strife within the Bai Clan of the Capital Star Domain is far more intense than you imagine."

Seeing Song Shan’s face filled with curiosity, Song Mingsong continued:

"If it weren’t for this, why would they bother coming to seek us out for a collaboration? Wouldn’t it be much simpler to call on their own people?"

"After all, the Bai Family has a history of more than three thousand years. If it were like our Song Family, unanimous in major matters under the personal decree of our ancestors, how would they have never had an absolute decision-maker of the Fifth Rank Level?"

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Advancement to Fifth Rank may be difficult, but that alone wouldn’t keep a family that has carried on for thousands of years, with several Fourth Rank Torch Ship Captains, permanently out in the cold unless they were severely hampering themselves internally."

Song Shan’s face tightened slightly—after all, he was not yet one hundred and fifty years old, and he hadn’t been at Third Rank for long. Some things were naturally not as clear to him as they were to Song Mingsong.

"Dad, do you mean to say, if other branches of the Bai Family knew about Aunt Xiurong’s operation, someone would deliberately cause trouble? Aren’t they all from the same family? Even with some disputes on regular days, it surely wouldn’t go this far, right?"

Hearing this, Song Mingsong chuckled and shook his head.

"Big brother, you’re still a bit naive. A family without an absolute authoritative controller will naturally evolve into this. Three thousand years is a long time, not just a figure of speech, and the factions that have arisen within are so complex they could make you question your life."

"You can look to the Eagle Family in the Golden Wind Star Domain for reference. Compared to them, the Bai Family is just child’s play. Over there, three Fifth Rank legitimate ship captains are vying for supremacy, and several Contending Warship Captains have died over the millennia from internal strife!"

After hearing this last sentence, Song Shan was thoroughly speechless. He had heard a bit about the infighting between the three branches of the Eagle Family, but he had never imagined that it involved the fall of Fourth Rank Torch Ship Captains. To be honest, this was no longer just shocking to him.

A Fourth-Rank Contending Warship Captain—what kind of existence was that? Even within the Dinghai Song Family, such a person would be an esteemed clan elder with an extraordinary family status—perhaps not the Dinghai Divine Needle of the family but certainly at least a pillar of combat power, indispensable and of critical importance.

Yet such powerful individuals were dying in the family’s internal strife, which was really quite unbelievable.

This illustrates just how intense the internal struggles of the Eagle Family must have been.

Song Shan even suspected that if it weren’t for the explicit rules of Torch Human Civilization that battleships and larger Torch warships were prohibited from personal involvement in internal struggles, those three Fifth Rank individuals of the Eagle Family would have come to blows.

That’s right, Fifth Rank Level Torch warships are battleships, and under the rules set jointly by the four great super empires of Torch Human Civilization, the internal struggles of Torchlight Humanity can only escalate to the level of Fourth Rank Contending Warships.

Of course, just because battleships cannot take action themselves, it doesn’t mean they lack deterrence. Quite the contrary, within the Chenxing Principality, only powers in possession of battleship-level strength are considered real top-tier forces.

For example, the Dinghai Song Family, the Eagle Family, or the royal Chenxing Clan of the principality itself.

And a family like the Bai Family would only be considered an upper-tier power within the principality, with a certain influence, but only within their own Star Domain, nowhere near the illustrious reputation of those few families across the entire principality. Even the royal Chenxing Clan has a significant reputation in the surrounding nations.

Rosetta Chenxing is revered by neighboring countries as the Grand Duke of Chenxing, or the Grand Duke Rosetta, representing almost half of the principality on his own.

Seeing Song Shan’s face looking unsettled, Song Mingsong interrupted him.

"All right, don’t think too much about it. You just need to know one thing—our Song Family’s traditions can be ranked among the top three in the entire principality, so you don’t have to worry about these things."

"And before we set off, I had already reported in advance to the family. Even if the other party really dares to have improper thoughts, the whole Bai Family will suffer the most severe retaliation from our family afterward. They don’t have the guts for more than perhaps trying to pressure us a bit in the subsequent profit distribution."

Hearing this, Song Shan wasn’t very convinced.

Reporting in advance must be true, but it was most likely proposed by Bai Xiuqin, not Song Mingsong. The character of the old man wouldn’t allow him to deal with these roundabout things; it was only Bai Xiuqin’s suggestions he would take seriously.

...

Song Chi, of course, had no idea about his grandfather and uncle’s conversation. He did not enter the Ruins Market nor call back the Cang Qiong, and he did not completely extinguish the thrusters of the Cang Qiong, but kept the Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator running continuously.

He constantly reminded himself that beneath the land where he stood lay a slumbering Fourth Rank Starry Sky Behemoth, and there was no room for carelessness.

Indeed, not just he, but all seven Torch Warships at the moment were acting this way. Both the Bai and Song families were large families in the Chenxing Principality; naturally, the education of their clan members need not be mentioned. No one would make the low-level mistake of relaxing before the battle.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read