Astral Pet Store (WN)

Responsibilities were decided during the meeting

Once everything was assigned, Li Yuanfeng and Ye Wuxiu headed to the Tower to convince Gu Siping into working with Su Ping.

Li Yuanfeng wanted to go alone but Ye Wuxiu was worried that a single man at the Void State wouldn’t be seen as important by Gu Siping, thus he also decided to go.

Xiang Fengran, Qin Duhuang, Xue Yunzhen and the other legendary battle pet warriors were going to work with the three existing defense lines to construct the best defense project that they could devise and prepare. They discussed the locations and conceptualized the types of constructions, among other things.

Su Ping went back to his store while they were all getting busy. The artificial construction workers were rushing about in the store and around the store. Of course, they had been built by the system with energy. It would be strange to see that such a big store would completely change its appearance without anyone working on it.

Su Ping went to see Joanna who was sitting on the couch, sipping juice. The many functions of the store had been suspended, including the nursing pens in the pet room. Joanna was idling about in the meantime; she was reading some fashion magazines at the moment.

“I need your help,” Su Ping blurted out.

Joanna looked at him; her rosy cheeks were glowing. Calmly, she said, “Do you want me to help you solve the wild beast problem? It is truly a shame that I cannot leave your store. That is a rule set by you.”

Su Ping smiled bitterly.

Up until then, Joanna still had the firm conviction that he had set the rules, when it had all been established by the system. He was unable to make exceptions even if he wanted to.

“I want to learn about formations,” Su Ping said, “I want to learn something simple, something that can trap beast kings. I don’t intend to kill beast kings with the formations; I just hope the formations can buy me some time.”

Joanna raised her eyebrows. Why isn’t he giving up the rules he had set?

Joanna was quite eager to see the view outside the store and the world that Su Ping lived in.

She had noticed that the density of astral powers in the air was thin in that world. It seemed that it was a low-ranked and deserted planet. That being said, she was still curious about that world since she had never seen it with her own eyes. “New formations? Sure. I can teach you,” Joanna crossed her legs and said, “You want to distract beast kings. Since you don’t want to kill them, I have a basic trapping formation that you can learn. The formation can trap the average Ocean State beast kings with ease, unless the beast king’s spirit is particularly strong.”

“Great!”

“This is a two-star formation called Wandering Spirit Formation!” Joanna explained, “Once trapped in the formation, the creature’s spirit will fall into an illusion and it would require an extra strong will to break free from the illusion. The formation is not hard to learn. I’ve taught you many of the formations’ basics when you were learning the Heaven Lock. I don’t know if you still remember what I said. Later, you will only need to find the materials required to build the formation.”

Su Ping nodded. “Okay, I understand.” Joanna lifted her finger and gently touched Su Ping’s forehead. Her intoxicating scent snuck into his nose.

The next second, Su Ping felt that all the thoughts in his mind were gone. A massive surge of complex information rushed into his mind. Luckily, his spirit was strong; he could still handle it, even though he felt some discomfort.

Su Ping opened his eyes after a while, surprised and overjoyed.

“What was that about? I cannot believe you would simply pass on the knowledge to me like that,” Su Ping asked Joanna. His eyes belied another question, which was to know the reason why she had not used the same method when she was teaching him about the Heaven Lock.

Joanna was very familiar with that look in his eyes. “Don’t get greedy again. This method is only suitable for simpler knowledge. The more complicated the information, your mind can be pushed to the limit; it can even make your mind explode. The minor side effect would be memory disorder, while the more serious side effect would be mental retardation.”

“There’s also another factor; I only have strength to impart the simple stuff.” Su Ping curled his lips.

A formation able to trap beast kings is simple…

It seemed that he would have to find another time to further his study about the Heaven Lock.

But time was something he didn’t have. Otherwise, he would have strived to master the Heaven Lock completely, all to be capable of undoing the formation to unleash the locked lands. The Blue Planet would grow; that could be a good thing. At the very least… it would take the beast kings a longer time to arrive from the ocean.

“Thank you. I have to go,” Su Ping said.

“Hmm. I’m glad you still know how to say thanks.” Joanna sneered.

Su Ping left in a hurry. He went to the Qin family’s building and found and asked an elder to call Qin Duhuang.

Qin Duhuang soon answered the call. He had not left the base city yet.

Su Ping told Qin Duhuang about the materials needed for the formation. Qin Duhuang-who had lived above ground-was more resourceful and had more extensive connections. He didn’t call Xue Yunzhen or Jing Shen, or the others for that matter. While they were still at the Void State, they had remained in the Deep Caves for years. They might not know many people outside. “I will send you illustrations of those items later. Help me find them as soon as possible and use any method you can think of, be it your power or your violent tactics. I don’t care. This is important!” Su Ping stressed.

Qin Duhuang could only deal with such a matter in a serious and thorough manner.

Su Ping didn’t even bat an eye when he sold the forty Void State beast kings; on the other hand, he was attaching great importance to those items. Such a difference in attitude was a clear indicator of their importance.

Su Ping ended the call. The Qin family elder had already found a pen and a piece of paper for him.

“You have good senses,” Su Ping said to the elder, “Get me a ball-point pen or a pencil. I have to make sure the illustrations are realistic. Get me some A4 paper as well.”

“Yes, sir.” The elder was quite happy after receiving Su Ping’s praise. He quickly returned with a box of pencils.

Su Ping drew the illustration swiftly. He could draw anything he could think of, given the level of control he had over his body. His fingers were rock steady.

In an instant, many lifelike illustrations were vividly displayed on paper; he had drawn all the materials he needed for the Wandering Spirit Formation.

He decided not to use names since the items could go by different names in different places. But the illustrations were a sure-fire method to search for materials.

“Print them out and give them to Qin Duhuang. Tell him to find those things as soon as possible,” Su Ping said to the elder.

“Yes, Mr. Su.”

Su Ping left the Qin family’s building and went back to his store. Xue Yunzhen and Xiang Fengran were currently heading to the other two defense lines to discuss the unification proposal. Su Ping wasn’t at all worried that the two would be unable to finish their mission. He would merely wait there to hear back from them.

“Show me more about the Heaven Lock.”

While times were critical, Su Ping found himself free of chores, much to his surprise. He went to see Joanna right away.

It wasn’t realistic for him to go and help other continents during this spare time. It would take him a lot of time just to make the trip over and return from the other continents. The Dragon Swamp Continent had already been destroyed; there was nothing he could do there. As for combing through his continent for wild beasts… Well, they had already done that.

Some wild beasts could still be hiding somewhere, but they had to be very well concealed. He didn’t want to waste time on finding wild beasts.

The more important thing was to learn about the Heaven Lock before the wild beasts got there!

“You’re very close to mastering it,” Joanna said before she went into the details.

The Tower.

Legend the Drunken was drinking wine in a spatial dent he had created. He had a concerned look as he gazed at the snowflakes.

All of a sudden, two people arrived. It was Li Yuanfeng and Ye Wuxiu.

“Hey, it’s you!” Legend the Drunk’s first thought that some wild beasts were going to attack. He got in a good mood upon seeing Li Yuanfeng and Ye Wuxiu.

Li Yuanfeng saw the flask and scolded the tipsy fellow, “Three continents have been destroyed. Being a legendary warrior working for the Tower, I cannot believe you’re still in the mood for wine. The Tower doesn’t need to be protected. How can you be happy about guarding the door when you’re at the legendary rank?”

Legend the Drunk sniffed his red nose and answered with a bitter smile, “Mr. Li, the Tower Master would never allow me to leave my post. I can’t say no to him. I’ve already told him that I wanted to go and help, but…”

“Come on, let’s go and find him,” Ye Wuxiu cut the latter off. He was not in the mood to hear the latter’s nonsense.

Everything the Tower’s guardian said was just an excuse. What was the point of listening to that?

Legend the Drunk enjoyed the respect from the general public, but the fact was that he was merely snuggling there, with the excuse of keeping an eye on the door. He wouldn’t have given up and settled for such a life if he would have had a little bit of pride left in him.

Legend the Drunk didn’t look too well. He gazed at Li Yuanfeng and Ye Wuxiu as they stepped into the Mysterious Realm with a grave look on his face.

Inside the Mysterious Realm.

Li Yuanfeng and Ye Wuxiu flew around, searching the floating hills where Gu Siping’s dwelling was.

They soon found him on the largest floating hill.

Gu Siping looked pale. He was sitting by the stone table in front of his cottage and a battle pet was on the ground by his feet. There was a deep and long cut on the battle pet’s side; the battle pet’s belly had been cut open and its white fur was tainted red with blood. The wound had been healed but the scar was still appalling Li Yuanfeng and Ye Wuxiu looked at each other. They were less angry. It seemed that Gu Siping didn’t just sit around and while twiddling his thumbs. He had gone to the battles.

“Tower Master.”

“Tower Master.”

The two bowed to Gu Siping.

Gu Siping lifted his gaze and looked at the two. “Leyan told me that you weren’t happy about me and decided to side with the person named Su Ping… Indeed, I have failed my job considering the global situation…”

He seemed to be frustrated.

Ye Wuxiu frowned. He lowered his head and said, “Tower Master, we didn’t mean anything by that. We were just looking for some information.”

He didn’t say anything else to justify their behavior. After all, everyone was aware of the situation. They were just going through the motions to save some dignity for Gu Siping.

“The Dragon Swamp Continent was recently destroyed. Only two continents remain from the former five. I think we should save one continent at the very least. I suggest we send people to help residents from the Roaring Thunder Continent so they can relocate to this continent. We also think that the three defense lines should be merged into one!” Ye Wuxiu presented his idea in a sonorous and forceful tone.

He could not compare to the Tower Master given his rank, but he wasn’t afraid to voice his determination.

Gu Siping looked at him, then shifted his gaze to the teacup on the table after a while passed. “I’ve already sent people to the Roaring Thunder Continent, along with my Vulture pet. We also built a teleportation array there to help people relocate. But, the number of people able to get here…”

He heaved a sigh and started a new topic. “Based on the current situation, this continent should have a unified defense line. The beast strike is more serious than I had imagined. Anyway, we’re not going to lose. Trust me!”

Li Yuanfeng and Ye Wuxiu seemed to have detected a glint of excitement in the Tower Master’s confident look.

What…? The two were confused. They wondered if it had been a mere illusion. They felt the Tower Master was looking forward to something

“Sir… have you been dealing with the wild beasts yourself? How is your wound?” Li Yuanfeng asked an obvious question.

Frustration crept back onto Gu Siping’s face. “I went to help the Dragon Swamp Continent but… I encountered a Fate State beast king. I could not finish it fast enough and several more beast kings were alerted. I could only return defeated. But I did make some contributions. I killed a Fate State beast king!”

The Fate State…

Ye Wuxiu and Li Yuanfeng felt their minds grow heavy upon hearing those three words.

“I’m glad you’re okay, sir.” Li Yuanfeng sighed. Ye Wuxiu nodded. “Sir, the crisis is affecting the entire world. I think we should work toward the same goal. I heard that Su Ping and the Tower once had some disputes. I don’t know the details but he’s not a bad person, considering my interactions with him. He is a man of great values, I think we should work with him!”

Gu Siping curled his lips but he didn’t let the two see that. He nodded. “Sure thing. Getting rid of the wild beasts is our priority. Nothing can compare to the common hatred we have against the wild beasts. I don’t mind putting Su Ping’s matter to rest; everything stems from some misunderstanding. He’s young and impulsive, and he ended up killing two legendary battle pet warriors inside the Tower. He claimed that he would never join the Tower nor fulfil his duty in the Deep Caves… “But he is indeed a talent. I think he can reach the Fate State if we can survive this crisis; that is why I decided to let him go.”

Li Yuanfeng and Ye Wuxiu looked at each other. Su Ping killed two legendary battle pet warriors in the Tower? They had not heard about it; they only knew that Su Ping and the Tower weren’t on good terms. Wow, what a bold thing he did.

He dared to kill two legendary battle pet warriors here?

They thought about the large number of Void State beast kings he had sold. The two looked at each other with bitter smiles. That was not a person who could be judged with rational standards.

“Sir, I’m glad that you won’t pursue that matter further. All of us are currently staying in the Longjiang Base City, Su Ping’s hometown. I hope you can go there in person and lead all the legendary battle pet warriors to guard the last line of defense. Let us save the last piece of hope for humanity!” Ye Wuxiu said to Gu Siping.

Gu Siping nodded. “No problem. I’ll be there.”

“Sir, I admire your righteousness!”

Ye Wuxiu was happy after hearing Gu Siping’s answer.

Gu Siping waved his hand. “You’re serving at the Deep Caves for free; you don’t have to say such nice things to me. You’ve made greater contributions to humanity than I have.”

“Sir, you flatter us,” Ye Wuxiu answered.

Gu Siping suddenly started to cough. He placed his hands over his chest and took several deep breaths before he said, “Go back. Let me take a little bit of rest and I will gather everyone to leave for Longjiang Base City.”