Chapter 628: Chapter 330: The Key to the Promotion of the Silver Apple Mother Tree – Part 4

Ten minutes later, the final result was out, and Song Chi had not become the lucky one to successfully exchange for that thread of Heartburning Flame. The Torch Ship Captain who did manage to nab it had put forth a main cannon of red quality, with an almost doubling of the price.

As for Song Chi, his reaction was minimal. He hadn’t held much hope from the start and was naturally able to accept the outcome now.

After the first auction item, the second one quickly appeared.

This time, it wasn’t a Starry Sea Oddity, but an extremely weak giant ape from the Starry Sea Alien Race.

“This is a Fourth-Rank Level Long-Arm Devil Ape; at its peak, it possessed Fourth-Rank Combat Power. Now, its injuries can ensure that a purple-level enslavement component can successfully enslave it. A Fourth-Rank Level enslaved creature can provide enough safety assurance for the upcoming grand colonization war, and you can also seize more resources through it. Alright, you can start bidding now!”

…

...

As for the Long-Arm Devil Ape, Song Chi didn’t have much interest.

It wasn’t that he looked down on a Fourth-Rank Level enslavement combat power; rather, he felt there was no need to waste the money on it.

The grand colonization war was coming, and his family had long prepared war supplies, and there would inevitability be arrangements for the safety of their tribesmen below.

For a family rank like his, once he returned to Dragon Spine Continent, it was highly likely he would be assigned a Fourth-Rank enslavement unit provided by the family at no cost.

But his lack of interest did not mean others felt the same.

Noticing the eager gaze from Wang Zhen beside him, Song Chi quickly thought of the plight of his own contracted servant, who had only one piece of orange warship armor on the entire Zhulu Warship.

Pondering for a moment, he asked softly,

“Do you want this Long-Arm Devil Ape?”

Seeing Wang Zhen nod shyly, he asked another question.

“What can you put up from your own possessions?”

After a bit of thought, Song Chi decided to help Wang Zhen acquire the Long-Arm Devil Ape. There were still many times he would need his service later on, and if he let him down too easily, it wouldn’t be too good.

With surprise on his face, Wang Zhen quickly said,

“5 threads of Fourth-Rank Floating Land Origin, 75 threads of Third-Rank…”

“Stop!”

Seeing him about to spill his entire net worth, Song Chi promptly interrupted him.

A few seconds later, he handed over two millennium Dragon Blood Fruits + 20 threads of Fourth-Rank Floating Land Origin to Wang Zhen.

“Try bidding with these yourself!”

He still had over twenty millennium Dragon Blood Fruits on hand, so parting with two would not be an issue; the Fourth-Rank Floating Land Origin could now also be synthesized by the “Spirit Mechanism Synthesis Platform,” so it wasn’t in short supply.

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

Wang Zhen accepted them excitedly, his gaze toward Song Chi becoming even more resolute.

Soon, Wang Zhen successfully won the Fourth-Rank Long-Arm Devil Ape, and he didn’t even have to use all the funds, only using one millennium Dragon Blood Fruit + 15 threads of Fourth-Rank Floating Land Origin.

The Torch Ship Captain who consigned the Long-Arm Devil Ape for auction was likely of advanced years, so he agreed immediately upon seeing the millennium Dragon Blood Fruit.

Wang Zhen later tried to return the remaining millennium Dragon Blood Fruit and 10 threads of Fourth-Rank Floating Land Origin but was refused by Song Chi with a wave of his hand.

“Keep it to exchange for other things you need; the equipment on your flagship is too low level, put more thought into it yourself!”

…

As time passed, the black market administrators brought out a substantial number of auction items.

These items all had decent value, the worst being components of purple quality; occasionally, a few orange quality components would also appear.

Wang Zhen was indeed lucky, leveraging the millennium Dragon Blood Fruit and 10 threads of Fourth-Rank Floating Land Origin, he acquired a Super Main Cannon of orange quality, somewhat compensating for the firepower deficiency on the “Howling Wolf Roaring Tiger.”

However, Song Chi’s spirit was far from being at ease. Beyond the initial strand of “Heartburning Flame”, no subsequent auction item had caught his interest, leaving him greatly disappointed.

Finally, after another purple top-rank component was auctioned off, the black market manager officially announced the last and climactic phase of the auction.

There were only three items in this finale.

The first was a low-level Earth Attribute Law Crystal.

For the Torch ship captains present who had comprehended the Law of Earth, this low-level Earth Attribute Law Crystal undoubtedly caused quite a stir.

It was eventually taken for 10 strands of Fifth-Rank Floating Land Origin.

Song Chi still did not bid, as the Earth Attribute Law Crystal was of no use to him, someone who followed the path of Space Law.

However, the penultimate auction item that followed gave him a huge surprise.

It was a half-step Fifth Rank Starry Sea plant heart.

“This is a heart of a half-step Fifth Rank Level ‘Desolate Ancient Tree’. As the core heart of a Starry Sea plant, it should have a potent life-extending effect, yet the barren power pervading the Desolate Ancient Tree itself has affected this, rendering the heart devoid of any life-extension properties.

Yet, being the core heart of a half-step Fifth Rank Starry Sea plant, its uses are still manifold. I won’t elaborate further. You may now place your bids!”

This heart initially captured the attention of many Torch ship captains, but when they learned it lacked life-extending effects, the majority quickly lost interest.

However, what surprised and puzzled Song Chi was that, as the “Desolate Ancient Tree Heart” appeared, a strange change suddenly emerged from the Ancestral Torch within his brow.

Originally, he had not been particularly interested in this “Desolate Ancient Tree Heart”, but this anomaly immediately made him much more solemn.

As he delved into the Ancestral Torch with his spirit, Song Chi quickly located the source of the anomaly.

Like when he had encountered the Neutron Star Remains, it was the miniaturized Cang Qiong that was trembling slightly.

This time, of course, it was not the ‘Neutron Star Core Armor’ component, but another component within the Cang Qiong.

‘Chicang’s No. 004 Breeding Secret Realm’?

Feeling the source of the slight tremor from within the Mini Firmament Ship, Song Chi was taken aback.

It was the last thing he expected to be that component. However, he soon realized that it wasn’t so much Chicang’s No. 004 Breeding Secret Realm itself that was trembling but rather the ‘Silver Apple Mother Tree’ within that component.

Realizing this, Song Chi’s mind raced with possibilities.

“Could it be that the ‘Silver Apple Mother Tree’ is responding to this ‘Desolate Ancient Tree Heart’? Is this heart the key for it to advance to Fifth Rank?”

The first thought that sprang to Song Chi’s mind was just that.

He had no choice; it had been a long time since the ‘Chicang’s No. 004 Breeding Secret Realm’ component was enhanced to Fifth Rank, but the ‘Silver Apple Mother Tree’ inside had shown no signs of advancing. Song Chi had been troubled by this for a long time and had considered various reasons but never found an answer.

Thus, the current anomaly from the ‘Silver Apple Mother Tree’ led him to associate it with advancement to Fifth Rank right away.

Suppressing the excitement and messy thoughts, Song Chi calmed down, and with a thought, began considering which items he could offer in exchange for this ‘Desolate Ancient Tree Heart’.

Since it might be the key for the ‘Silver Apple Mother Tree’ to advance, he was determined to secure the ‘Desolate Ancient Tree Heart’.

The value of the ‘Silver Apple Mother Tree’ was simply too great. If it could return to Fifth Rank, coupled with the “Secret Realm Accelerator” feature, it would be able to continuously produce Orange Oddities in the future. If it could return to Sixth Rank, it would be able to produce Red Curios indefinitely. Just the presence of this slight possibility meant he had to make a move.

With an answer in mind, Song Chi took out his bid device and quickly typed the following.

“Red Energy Shield ‘Red Dome Shield’ or three millennial Dragon Blood Fruits!”

After placing his bid, he began to wait quietly.

PS: Two-in-one chapter, there should be an additional one later.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read