National Star Sea Era...

Chapter 833 The Ceremony of Sending Off the Torch
Unlike orthodox superdimensional motherships, these five Explorer-class deep-space motherships were obtained from the Explorer civilization relics previously provided by Song Bei. In the subsequent analysis of the relevant Explorer civilization data, data streams related to the [Genesis Mechanical Civilization] were extracted several times.

To this end, the Song family's technology department repeatedly raised the priority of related analyses to the highest level, but the final result was unsatisfactory. The Explorer civilization did indeed have contact with the overlord civilization [Genesis Mechanical Civilization], but that was at the end of the civilization's collapse. Until the Explorer technological civilization was finally destroyed, the two sides never had a real exchange at the civilization level.

While the result is not entirely satisfactory, it is by no means a complete loss.

The five Explorer Deep Space Motherships before us, whose basic energy levels can all reach the eighth tier of the Senior level, are the biggest gain among them.

The five Explorer Deep Space Motherships represent far more than just five Tier 8 combatants. Their most crucial purpose is to work in conjunction with the hundreds of billions of ordinary members of the Song family who have been mobilized, along with the family's top-notch command and tactical system, to quickly transform into five freely movable, super-large starship combat groups when the subsequent war arrives.

Although the Song family and the Big Dipper Palace together possess two superdimensional motherships, neither Song Chi nor the Big Dipper Lord can be considered the ultimate force deterrent on their own routes. If their flagships were forced to play the role of motherships, their mobility would be the first thing to be sacrificed.

Unless any unforeseen circumstances occur during the subsequent advance, everything will proceed according to the pre-established operational plan.

However, this is obviously unrealistic. Even in battles between lower-level civilizations, the situation is constantly changing. No one can claim to be able to predict the entire course of the war, let alone the all-out war that is about to begin between a newly emerging star-sea overlord and a top-tier advanced star-sea civilization.

Therefore, under such circumstances, it would be extremely foolish to deliberately restrict the valuable maneuverability of one's own flagship.

These five Explorer-class deep-space motherships are undoubtedly the best alternative. They can form a mobile interstellar combat platform without requiring two superdimensional motherships, which are the ultimate deterrent force.

Next, the Song family, in cooperation with the Big Dipper Palace, began to familiarize their ordinary citizens with the operation of the Explorer Deep Space Mothership.

Ten years later, in the southern part of the Divine Xia Dynasty, in the Tiannan River System, the human river system of the Firewood Humans.

The Eye of the Stars is the largest super-distance stargate on the southernmost side of the Tiannan Galaxy.

This giant mechanical quantum opposition stargate, with a diameter of over ten light-years, is currently flashing with unprecedented energy fluctuations.

Millions of engineering ships surround it, maintaining the stable operation of this ancient stargate.

[The First Expeditionary Fleet of the Divine Xia Dynasty has been confirmed.]

As the cold, mechanical sound echoed through the public communication channel, the vortex at the center of the stargate suddenly expanded.

A super fleet, spearheaded by thousands of super star destroyers, slowly emerged from the middle. Each warship in this massive fleet bore the unique imperial emblem of the Divine Xia Dynasty.

On the bridge of the flagship [Shenxia Jiuli], a mythical immortal ship, Emperor Jiang Yuan of the Shenxia Dynasty stood with his hands behind his back.

He glanced at the various fleets that had already assembled in the distance and said calmly, "It seems we are not the last ones to arrive."

"Yes, Your Majesty. Apart from the Crimson Yu Dynasty fleet and the Immortal Qin Dynasty fleet that have already arrived, the Holy Temple Federation's forces have also arrived. Only the Dragon Spine Song Clan's forces have not yet arrived!"

Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, not caring about it. He could guess that Song Chi, who had previously taken the initiative to seek the authority to open up the Fifth Empire, would definitely take this opportunity to do something.

However, although he did not ask directly, the chief commander, who also belonged to the Shenxia Jiang clan, continued to speak proactively:
"According to intelligence, they should be forming a fifth combat group with the Big Dipper Palace, but..."

"But what?"

"But the General Operations Command did not reserve a central position for them."

"According to the layout of the traditional expedition ceremony, only the four great empires are qualified to occupy the core area directly in front of the star gate."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan simply nodded slightly, but did not issue any orders.

Although all four of them knew about Song Chi's thoughts, as the emperors of the four great empires of the Fire of the Sea, they tacitly refrained from revealing any of their own ideas.

Establishing a fifth empire is never an easy task, and these are things that Song Chi, along with the Dragon Spine Song Clan behind him, must face themselves.

The four of them won't personally participate, but whether they can truly achieve it depends on Song Chi himself.

With the Shenxia fleet having completed its deployment, the starry sky surrounding the Eye of the Stars has been occupied by the fleets of the four great empires.

The Divine Xia Dynasty fleet is located in the east, the Crimson Yu Dynasty guards the south, the Immortal Qin Dynasty occupies the west, and the Holy Temple Federation occupies the north.

The four super fleet groups each emitted powerful energy fluctuations, maintaining a delicate balance among themselves.

Just then, the Eye of the Stars suddenly began to shake violently, and abnormal ripples appeared on the surface of the originally stable star gate platform.

Under the watchful eyes of countless people, the vortex in the center of the star gate was suddenly forced open by some force.

A colossal, jet-black warship slowly emerged from its bow. Its sheer size was so imposing that it moved even the star destroyers and starships present.

Even among superdimensional motherships of the same rank, the length of most of their hulls is not comparable to that of this giant warship.

"The Hyperdimensional Mothership - [Sky Ruins]!"

"The Song family of Longji has finally arrived!"

"Dragon Spine, Song Chi, I heard that this is the one who wants to challenge for the position of the fifth human emperor of our Torch Civilization."

Amidst the chaotic chatter of various fleets, the massive fleet belonging to the Dragon Spine Song Clan began to pour out continuously from the stargate light screen.

"The number exceeds tens of billions... and it's not over yet!"

"The Seven Star Mark... that's the fleet under the command of the [Big Dipper Palace]?"

"So it seems the Song Clan of Dragon Spine has allied with the Big Dipper Palace?"

Before the second round of discussions had subsided, a new communication suddenly came through the public channel of the departure ceremony:

"This is the Dragon Spine Song Clan and the Big Dipper Seven Stars Joint Operations Group. I am Song Yiming from the Dragon Spine, and we are currently deploying our formation according to the pre-arranged plan."

As the words fell, ignoring the uproar on the public channel, the newly formed fleet began to rapidly form a three-dimensional spherical array around the Sky Ruins Azure Sky. By the time the last warship was deployed, the once empty central area of ​​the four imperial fleets was completely filled.

The combined fleet of the Dragon Spine Song Clan and the Big Dipper Palace thus provocatively inserted itself into the ranks of the four great empires' fleets.

Before the members of the four imperial fleets, who had remained silent, could speak, the first echelon of those four empires—the new immortal giants who had successively produced super-dimensional captains in the past few thousand years—couldn't help but send communication requests to the leaders of the Dragon Spine Song Clan and the Big Dipper Seven Star Palace.

Gazing at the Star Gate of the Eye of the Stars, whose aftershocks in the surrounding space had not yet subsided, Song Chi stood on the observation platform of the superdimensional mothership, a cold smile playing on his lips, the Ring of Heavenly Authority slowly rotating between his fingers.

Please note that seventy-six encrypted communication requests have been received.

As the notification sound from the Sky Brain rang, Song Chi glanced at it casually and quickly discovered that all these communications came from the immortal giant forces within the four great empires.

After nodding slightly, he waved his hand and tapped, and soon communications from the Shang Clan of Shangdang in Xianqin, the Chiyu Yanhuang Consortium, the Chunyu Tribe, and the Phoenix Family of the Holy Temple Federation were connected.

He doesn't have a chance with the others for the time being. The forces that were brought in first were basically the ones who opposed his bid for the Fifth Emperor the most. The others are actually not so bad.

A 3D projection unfolds inside the cabin, with multiple imposing figure projections appearing simultaneously.

Shang Tianque, the representative of the Shang clan of Shangdang, was clad in black armor, his brows furrowed with arrogance; Shangguan Mingjing of the Yanhuang Consortium was dressed in a suit and tie, his shrewd eyes hidden behind his gold-rimmed glasses; Chunyu Lie of the Chunyu tribe wore a crimson battle robe, his body surrounded by tangible fire elements...

"The Lord of the Greedy Wolf Palace has quite the grand entourage."

Shang Tianque spoke first, his voice carrying a chilling edge.

"How dare a mere emerging family presume to intrude into the exclusive territory of the four great empires?"

Shangguan Mingjing pushed up his glasses:
"Lord of the Greedy Wolf Palace, although your Dragon Spine Song Clan has developed rapidly over the past ten thousand years, it is probably wishful thinking to think that you can stand shoulder to shoulder with the four great empires. Or do you really believe that the Lord of the Palace has taken those rumors from the outside world seriously? Do you really think that you are qualified to be on equal footing with the other four emperors?"

Chunyu Lie went even further, slamming his palm on the projection table:
"The Song Clan of Dragon Spine, do you know how many ancient families in the Civilization of Fire have been passed down for more than 100,000 years? Do you think it's your turn to claim kingship and domination?"

Faced with the aggressive demands of the three giants, Song Chi calmly raised his left hand.

A holographic star map unfolded between the four, displaying the strategic situation between the human territory and the Corpse Emperor Clan's river system.

"Please look, everyone." Song Chi tapped his fingertip, and five arrows lit up on the star map:
“The four great empires will each be responsible for one direction of attack, while our Dragon Spine Song Clan will independently undertake the fifth front.”

His voice suddenly turned cold: "In other words, this fifth front was already tacitly approved by the four emperors. We are not asking for your approval, but stating the facts."

A cold light flashed in Shang Tianque's eyes.

"Arrogant! You think you can do what you're capable of with just one superdimensional mothership—"

“One?” Song Chi suddenly laughed. “Who told Ancestor Shang that we only have one superdimensional mothership?”

Before the words were even finished, the space outside the Sky Ruins suddenly distorted.

Under the astonished gazes of countless people around the stargate, another starlight mothership, slightly smaller but still far larger than most of the superdimensional motherships present, slowly appeared from the void.

Together with the Sky Ruins, the two motherships were lined up side by side and thus revealed themselves to all the captains of the Torch Ship.

"So what if there are two superdimensional motherships? Which of the other four offensive fronts doesn't have more than double-digit superdimensional motherships stationed on it?"

Shangguan Mingjing's gold-rimmed glasses slipped down to the bridge of his nose, and his voice was no longer as calm as before.

Song Chi ignored his change in expression and instead summoned another [Truth Mechanical Battle Star] of equally terrifying size, including a ninth-tier giant star shark, a ninth-tier Asura Emperor, and a ninth-tier starlight dragon from the Big Dipper Palace.

The continuous appearance of these ninth-tier combat units caused Shangguan Mingjing's rebuttals to grow increasingly quiet. He was well aware that although the strength displayed by the Dragon Spine Song Family and the Big Dipper Seven Star Palace was still far inferior to that of the other four battlefronts, it was undeniable that their strength had indeed qualified them to fight on their own.

Song Chi's gaze shifted to another projection on the communication screen: "The Phoenix Clan of the Holy Temple Federation... are you sure you also want to suppress my Song family?"

Upon hearing this, the red-haired woman, who was also a captain of a superdimensional ship, said with an icy gaze: "Dragon Spine Song Chi, don't be too smug. The fact that the four royal families have tacitly approved of your actions does not mean that we will accept them as well."

"Accept?" Song Chi suddenly stopped smiling.
“You all seem to have misunderstood something.” He snapped his fingers, pointing to the more than ten billion starships behind him. “We don’t need your acceptance.”

Chunyu Lie was so angry that he laughed instead.

"Good! Very good! Then let's see how long your nouveau riche fleet can hold out against the Corpse Emperor Clan!"

The communication was abruptly cut off, but Song Chi's smile deepened as he turned to Song Yiming:
"Notify all combat groups to proceed as planned. Once you have passed through the Quantum Convergence Super-Distance Stargate and arrived at the Corpse Emperor Galaxy, you must immediately conduct a live-fire exercise. Let these 'ancient families' see what modern warfare is all about."

As the order was given, the two superdimensional motherships started up simultaneously, and the suffocating energy fluctuations swept across the entire star field. Immediately afterwards, the same fluctuations appeared on the fleets of the four great empires. This was the way the royal families of the four great empires responded to the Dragon Spine Song Clan.

Although none of the four factions were willing to intervene, the all-out war against the Corpse Emperor Clan's river system was the priority, and not a moment could be wasted.

Following this, orders from the highest command center of the Divine Xia Dynasty were broadcast over the public communication channels:
"By order of the four emperors, the qualification of the Song family of Dragon Ridge to establish the Fifth Empire is officially recognized, and the expedition ceremony continues."

This order was like a resounding slap across the face of those immortal giants.

Song Chi nodded slightly and turned to walk towards the command platform. Behind him, the two superdimensional motherships began to charge synchronously, preparing for their final launch and jump.

"Remember this day, everyone." Song Chi's voice was soft, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.

Then, with a humming sound of spatial distortion, the five expeditionary fleets officially began their first leap to the Corpse Emperor Clan's river system.

Behind them, the representatives of the immortal giants exchanged glances, seemingly realizing a fact they didn't want to believe—the power held by Song Chi of Dragon Spine seemed to have truly exceeded their imagination.

However, they were not given much time to think. Following those five fleet groups, the fleets of all the immortal giant forces were about to be transported via the ultra-long-distance stargate.

(End of this chapter)