Astral Pet Store (WN)

"Go. Don't kill him," Su Ping said softly.

Whoosh!

The Little Skeleton received Su Ping's instruction the moment it appeared. The little fellow instantly charged at the young man in the battlefield.

"Huh?"

The young man was stunned, given that Su Ping had merely asked his pet to fight him. Then, his face and neck turned red as he trembled in fury. He was the genius of a galaxy; he may not be as talented as Su Ping, but how could he be defeated by a pet?

"You…"

The Little Skeleton reached him before he could say anything. Ignoring all the rules, it simply launched a sharp, dark saber aura able to cut time and space apart.

The young man's pupils constricted. He went and summoned his own pets right then. Six Star Lord pets appeared next to him; four of them were dragons, and the other two were also rare pets.

They felt pressure and became vigilant the moment they appeared. Two of the dragons released several defense skills in front of the young man. Two small worlds were established at the same time to hide the young man; no one would be able to find him unless his two pets were defeated.

"Don't think you're the only person who owns Star Lord pets. Those who solely rely on their pets are nothing!" roared the furious young man.

Su Ping remained casually seated on the high platform.

On the battlefield—the Little Skeleton's saber aura was blocked. The little one looked at the six Star Lord pets; their intimidating aura spurred its own battle status. It was enshrouded in black mist, and its white bones were barely visible, like a demon from the abyss.

Hiss! Hiss!

All of a sudden, the rays of light around its body were gone, as if swallowed by something. Then, a dark semicircle appeared, showing the contours of scary creatures that were letting out blood curdling roars.

"A small world?"

"That skeleton is only in the Star State, isn't it?"

The Ascendant experts on the high platform were shocked. It was understandable to find some human geniuses able to condense a small world in the Star State, but could pets do that too?

Mingling in the crowd, Six Lives Buddha and Lilian looked at each other with a mix of bewilderment and confusion. Su Ping's Star State skeleton condensed a small world… What the hell was that all about?

Roar!

Roars burst out of the small world. Following that, a thick shadow dashed out of the dark manifestation, gathering in the Little Skeleton's saber. The weapon immediately unleashed a dark aura that was cutting space apart, as well as all the approaching energy. It was the law of destruction!

Su Ping had taught that law to the Little Skeleton using the skill he had acquired from the system!

Its small world was actually tapping the limits of the first level!

Faith power also surged out of the dark small world. Countless ghosts seemed to be crawling out and devoting their lifelong faith to the Little Skeleton. Those ghosts had been conquered by the Little Skeleton in all the previous battles fought in the cultivation sites.

The dazzling saber aura glowed and illuminated the entire arena, to then abruptly fall from the sky!

"Well…"

In the arena—the young man was already shocked by the aura. His mind was too taken in by it to consider evading. Even the idea to dodge had been abolished; he simply stood there, stunned.

A dragon next to him charged forth with a sad roar, while covered with its small world.

Bang!

Blood burst out, and the cry of a dragon resounded.

The gigantic dragon corpse fell. It had been cut in the chest, and its small world was shattered. The body fell heavily in front of the young man; its blood gushed out like a waterfall and dyed the ground red. The head touched the ground, with the young man reflected in its big eyes.

Eventually, it slowly closed its eyes with affection and reluctance.

The scene was frozen still in the young man's eyes. Suddenly awakened, he had cold sweat all over his body; deep grief surged from his heart and soon transformed into fear. He raised his head, only to see the tiny black shadow that looked like the god of death waving its saber again!

"No, no…"

The young man felt so cold it was as if he had seen death itself. His eyes were bloodshot as he urged his other pets to attack, but all of them were intimidated by the Little Skeleton. They were Star Lords, but all of them had been overtaken by the fear of death caused by the Little Skeleton's small world.

They slowly moved back, going against the young man's commands; this was causing strong headaches due to their contracts, but still, none of them dared to step up.

After all, there was a difference between pain and death.

Suddenly, someone else flew into the battlefield and landed in front of the young man, before he cried out to Su Ping, "Have mercy!"

Su Ping lowered his head, and the Little Skeleton paused its actions. However, the black mist around its body was still surging aggressively.

"M-Mr. Su, he's just too ignorant; don't be angry with him. I apologize on his behalf…"

The middle-aged man had cold sweat running down his forehead. He found that he was under enormous pressure in front of the skeleton too, even though he had been a Star Lord for a long time.

"He hasn't surrendered yet. The battle isn't over," said Su Ping indifferently.

The middle-aged man quickly turned around and asked the young man to surrender.

The young man also realized what was going on, and was about to surrender. It was indeed humiliating, but he had gone there prepared to lose against the best genius of the universe. He simply didn't expect that the man could push him so far with nothing but a pet.

Right when he was about to open his mouth… a dark shadow moved. The Little Skeleton in the sky was suddenly gone, to swiftly reappear in front of the young man like a ghost.

"I…"

Pff!

Hardly had he said the word when he was interrupted by an excruciating pain. His arms fell in front of him, and the Little Skeleton stood at a half-meter distance in front of him, staring at him with red light in its eye sockets.

The young man held back his pain and roared, "I give up!"

The red light in the Little Skeleton's eyes faded away. The bony pet absorbed all the black mist around its body; then, it slowly drifted back to Su Ping and stepped into the gate of summoning, as if it had never been there.

However, there was nothing but silence in the field.

Everybody looked at the young man seated on the high platform with a weird expression.

"T-Thank you for sparing his life, Mr. Su." The middle-aged man's face was pale. He found that he had been completely unable to stop that attack from happening, nor even capture the skeleton's trail. He wouldn't have fared any better if the skeleton had attacked him. Is it really a Star State pet?

A monstrous pet for a monstrous master. Was that the top resource gifted to Lord Supreme's disciple?

Su Ping didn't say anything, simply looking away.

The young man whose arms had been lopped off was trying to stop his bleeding, only to find that he couldn't. He was starting to panic and feel dizzy since he was constantly losing blood. The lingering law of destruction on his wounds couldn't be erased.

Pff!

He controlled his energy and sliced to scrape his own wounds, which finally allowed him to stop the bleeding.

He looked at the man on the platform with hate and fear. They were both in the Star State, yet the latter had the power to kill him with ease. His six Star Lord pets weren't enough to keep himself safe. Was that the ability of the top genius of the universe?

He had never been in touch with such a renowned figure. He suddenly regretted doing such a stupid thing for some petty rewards.

The young man tried to hold back his grief as he looked at his severed arms and the dragon corpse. He had acquired the pet when he was in the Fate State, and wasn't expecting it to be killed that day.

Some Ascendants experts of the Loulan family immediately asked him and his companion to leave, once he admitted defeat. Su Ping's performance changed the impression many people had about him; they finally had a sampling of the strength and personality of the top genius of the universe.

Others went up to the stage and continued practicing after the young man retreated. The atmosphere became heated again.

However, the main topic of conversation was Su Ping's pet.

The little guy was merely in the Star State; many Star Lords and even Star State warriors had noticed this. Still, it had already condensed a small world, which was a rather horrifying fact. Only a few top geniuses of the human race could have achieved that, such as Six Lives Buddha.

It came as a shock that the pet had achieved the same.

Furthermore, they had never heard about any Ascendant State skeleton. It wasn't recorded in the Federation.

If it was an unseen rare pet, how rare could it be?

Besides, even pets with Ascendant bloodline weren't as monstrous while in the Star State.

"Lord Supreme's disciple is truly extraordinary. It must have been trained by a marvelous trainer that he invited, right?"

"Only a marvelous trainer could train such a talented pet. Not everybody has access to such resources!"

"Won't it be able to crush all the Star Lord beasts? He is already able to beat most Star Lords with his pet. If he also takes action, he can easily become the top rank holder of the Divine Lord Rank, right?"

Everybody attributed the strength of the skeleton to Su Ping's master. After all, that was the only plausible explanation.

Su Ping wasn't truly bothered by the comments. Although it was a great opportunity for him to advertise for his store, he didn't need to do any marketing, as he already had too many customers waiting outside the establishment.

"A skeleton…"

On the platform—Ye Ling, wearing clothes as white as snow, had cold glittering eyes. He didn't expect Su Ping to have such a great pet.

Back in the crowd, Dragon Shepard had a shocked expression; he felt that his world had been turned upside down.

Didn't everybody say that dragons were the strongest pets?

How could a skeleton mutant turn into something this horrifying?

"That skeleton is as strong as two or three of my dragons combined…" Dragon Shepard's feelings were a mess. He mostly relied on his pets; he felt uncomfortable after seeing their kind surpassed.

"Why do I feel that we've been dwarfed by his pet?" said the nearby Six Lives Buddha with raised cheeks. He looked at Su Ping who had remained cool throughout the fight on the high platform; he had the feeling that the guy was trying to show off!

"…"

Lilian was silent too.

They had been trying to catch up with Su Ping, yet they found that even his pet had almost caught up with them. That was truly a critical hit!

After that, more geniuses from the Loulan family and other star zones went to the stage and fought again. Soon, the bloody-robed young man—who had left to take care of his wounds earlier—jumped back into the stage.

Xuanyuan Long, a talent from the Sword Skull Star Zone, went to the stage without flinching.

A fierce battle soon took place. Everybody was fully invested in observing their fight, including the Ascendants on the platform. Those two were already considered the best warriors below the Ascendant State.

"It's true that those with higher ranking on the Divine Lord Rank are true geniuses. They have already reached the limits of the Star Lord State," remarked someone among the audience.

"I heard that you hit the ceiling when you fully master the four supreme laws. Only such geniuses have the talent to grasp all of them. My talent was lacking, so I only had potential to work on one of them. Luckily, I was able to see its origin and create my own path.

"If they devote themselves to one path, there's a good chance that they'll rise to the Ascendant State."

"Many people must have told them that. However, geniuses are geniuses because they're different from all the mediocre people."

"A very talented Star Lord once told me that it would be pointless to rise to the Ascendant State if you can't become the strongest person on that level… Talk about arrogant declarations. Only such gifted kids can be that confident. Unfortunately, that kid was killed before he reached the Ascendant State."

Su Ping listened to their discussions and watched the battle taking place in the arena. The two contenders had a similar amount of energy storage, and their small worlds were very solid. They had similarly mastered three supreme laws respectively; they were only slightly weaker than him at the moment.

My master taught me the basics to grasp the law of vitality; I still have to rely on my own abilities if I want to fully grasp it. Not even a Celestial can impart this to you directly. Su Ping observed in silence. It became increasingly clear to him that the Federation was weaker than the Archean Divinity, a place where experts were already forming multiple small worlds.

When those godly experts rose to the tier equivalent to the Ascendant State, they undoubtedly surpassed Ascendant State experts of the Federation and became as strong as Heavenly Lords.

I need to reach the limits as soon as possible and condense a second small world. I'll redefine the meaning of Heavenly Lord when I reach the Ascendant State someday! Su Ping thought with glittering eyes.