Global Era of Star trekking

Following the planned route, the semi-automatic intelligence onboard swiftly processed the biological energy signals that continuously emerged on the radar screen.

When Song Chi decided to come to the Northern Region yesterday, he had already pre-entered all the data regarding Deep Water Clam Pearls and deep-sea clams into the Cang Qiong’s database, so the onboard intelligence could make accurate and rapid identifications.

Indeed, it wasn’t long before the ship conveyed a prompt.

[At 5,200 meters on the lower left, detected biological energy fluctuations resembling those of a deep-sea clam, with a 99% probability, preliminarily estimated to be under 200 years old.]

At the beginning of the announcement, Song Chi was quite excited, but as the last mention of "under 200 years" echoed, his excitement instantly dissipated, replaced by a thick cloud of disappointment.

Even though Deep Water Clam Pearls could enhance the effectiveness of the Torch Ship Captain’s Guidance Technique practice, it had to be at least 300 years old. To have an effect on him, now with his Guidance Technique at level 18, it required pearls over 700 years old.

Could a clam, itself not even 200 years old, possibly birth pearls exceeding its own age?

The answer was quite obvious.

Ignoring this message, the Cang Qiong continued forward, while Song Chi, after some thought, added a command. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Ignore any detection reports of deep-sea clams under 350 years old!"

A deep-sea clam of 350 years had a considerable chance of producing a 300-year-old Clam Pearl. Although such a pearl was of no use to Song Chi himself, it still fetched a good price and was worth the time to collect.

A swampland with a diameter of two thousand miles, in front of the [Silver III Generation Super-wave Magic Energy Detection Radar], with a reliable detection radius of a hundred thousand meters, was merely a matter of a few back-and-forth scans.

Merely a few hours later, the Cang Qiong had completed its scanning of the entire swamp. The bad news was they hadn’t even found a single eligible Deep Water Clam Pearl (300 years or older).

Several deep-sea clams over 350 years old were discovered, but none had nurtured any pearls within them.

An inauspicious start cast a faint gloom over Song Chi’s heart.

And what followed proved that not only a woman’s sixth sense could be accurate; men could be just as intuitive.

In the subsequent half-month, Song Chi switched through over thirty medium and small swamps. From start to finish, he only managed to harvest one 300-year-old Deep Water Clam Pearl; his luck could not simply be described as poor.

The Central Great Swamp of the Northern Region, the largest of its kind in the region, spanned more than three hundred thousand kilometers in diameter, fostering countless creatures, including the unimaginable Blackwater Xuan Snakes lurking within.

That day, in another small swamp separated from the southern side of the Central Great Swamp, the calm surface of the water suddenly exploded. Accompanied by violent ripples sweeping around, a Torch Warship of 120 meters in length burst from below the surface.

Taking advantage of the absence of Second and Third Rank creatures nearby, the Cang Qiong swiftly moved from the small swamp into the expansive Central Great Swamp ahead.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye, and soon the turbulent water surfaces returned to calm.

At the bottom of the swamp, seeing that no accidents followed, Song Chi breathed a sigh of relief.

He had actually entered the Central Great Swamp long ago. Unable to find Deep Water Clam Pearls of sufficient age in the smaller swamps, the huge swath of three hundred thousand kilometers naturally became his last hope.

However, he had not found an appropriate opportunity to enter during the previous few days. Either there were Third Rank Blackwater Xuan Snakes roaming nearby, or Clan Warships occasionally swept across the Vault of Heaven. Only just now had he seized the chance.

After a brief moment of tension, what surged in his heart was a faint excitement. A water region spanning three hundred thousand kilometers could not be simply described as a swamp; it was larger than the Pacific Ocean of his former world by numerous times.

In such a vast expanse, he refused to believe there were no deep-sea clams aged thousands or even tens of thousands of years. As long as they existed, they could not escape the detection of the Cang Qiong.

It was based on this that Song Chi felt such excitement.

Ten minutes later, after arranging all subsequent scanning plans, the Cang Qiong, like a hundred-meter-long behemoth beneath the waves, began to wander through the vast Central Great Swamp.

However, in less than an hour, the excitement in Song Chi’s heart suddenly sank, and his expression turned grim.

Originally, according to the previously planned detection route, it would have taken about a month to thoroughly explore the Central Great Swamp, but when he actually began the operation, he realized he had oversimplified the situation.

Not to mention anything else, just in the past hour, he had already spotted two Third Rank Blackwater Xuan Snakes blocking the Cang Qiong’s detection route not far ahead through the "Silver III Generation Ultra-Wave Magic Energy Detection Radar."

He chose to bypass one of them and to wait for the other to slowly drift away on its own. As a result, less than half of the hour was spent on actual detection.

With this, how could Song Chi not feel a headache?

"Forget it, let’s take it slow. I hope the decisive battle in the Central Region starts later, and the two Clan Elders beyond the Vault of Heaven delay their arrival!"

With a sigh, Song Chi could only pray helplessly in his heart.

Besides that, there was no other good solution. Although the exterior of the Cang Qiong was concealed by the Void Membrane, as long as it got close, the disturbance in the water flow around the warship was something that couldn’t be avoided.

As for the solutions available, aside from the two methods previously mentioned, the only one left was to force through.

But if he really resorted to that, Song Chi believed it wouldn’t be long before all the Third Rank Blackwater Xuan Snakes in the entire Central Great Swamp would be thrown into turmoil, making the Cang Qiong’s detection mission even more challenging.

As expected, with such a disturbance, the Cang Qiong’s subsequent detection progress had decreased significantly, and after yet another month, only about one-third of the Central Great Swamp’s waters had been explored.

As the saying goes, fortune and misfortune are unpredictable. While there were setbacks in the efficiency of detection, Song Chi’s gains over the past month had been unexpectedly good.

Currently, he had fifteen 300-year-old Deep Water Clam Pearls, four 500-year-old ones, one 700-year-old one, and additionally, one 900-year-old pearl.

The only regret was that he hadn’t found any Deep Water Clam Pearls older than a thousand years. Such high-level Deep Water Clam Pearls, when ground into powder and used in conjunction with a Top-Tier Body Forging Potion, had a significant effect even for Torch Ship Captains above level 20 of the Guidance Technique.

In addition, during this past month, Song Chi also found time to conduct a transaction at the Ruins Market, still without any unexpected joy; however, the market had successfully advanced from level 24 to level 25, and the "All-Attributes Cultivation Room" had done the same.

Given the current enhancement provided by the All-Attributes Cultivation Room to Spectral Energy cultivation, and with the two 700-year-old and the 900-year-old Deep Water Clam Pearls to be used later, he was confident that after the conclusion of this Swamp exploration, he could reach the threshold for challenging Second Rank within two months, which is to say the peak of level 19.

As he pondered this, the Seed of Torch in the Ancestral Aperture between Song Chi’s eyebrows suddenly trembled slightly. When he connected to the Torch network, he found that Song You had sent him a message.

"Fourth brother, the family has issued an order. In half a month, we’ll launch an all-out attack on the defense line of the Soul Spirit Clan across the mountain range of Hun Go. The goal is to kill as many Second and Third Rank Alien Species as possible. Do you want to come back and join in?"

Reading the message, Song Chi frowned, and his thoughts spun rapidly. He easily guessed the reasons behind this.

Looking up slightly, his eyes followed the projection screen to gaze at the Vault of Heaven above the swathe of water.

"Are the two Clan Elders preparing to enter the fray..."

If he wasn’t mistaken, it was likely because after a long time of relentless hunting, the native creatures of the Soul Spirit Floating Land had been killed or injured in droves, which greatly weakened the core of the Floating Land. Just one more great battle, and it would no longer have the strength to restrain the descent of the two Fourth Rank Clan Elders from The First Direct Lineage.

With that in mind, a hint of urgency appeared in Song Chi’s eyes.

In that case, there wasn’t much time left for him.

"I won’t come back, tell Grandfather for me!"

After sending this brief reply, Song Chi quickly disconnected from the Torch network link, and the speed of the Cang Qiong beneath him suddenly increased as he charged forward.

ps: Another chapter coming later!