Astral Pet Store (WN)

“Let’s wait a moment.”

The Green Lady frowned worriedly.

Su Ping could tell she wasn’t fearing that the artifacts might fail, but that the Twilight Deity King’s body might be ruined by the Ascendant State intruders.

I have myself to blame for this. Su Ping smiled bitterly. Had he seen this coming, he wouldn’t have let her take him here; he would have opted to search for treasures in other places.

There were treasures everywhere in the divine residence. Su Ping wouldn’t regret it even if he couldn’t find the Deity King’s legacies. It was unrealistic to take some away right under the noses of three Ascendant State experts.

However, since Green Lady was determined to watch the battle and Su Ping couldn’t abandon her, he had to watch with her.

Soon, the situation of the battle changed. There was a flaw in the formation that the artifacts had established; the three Ascendants and their pets breached it. Very soon, a sword dimmed and was knocked tens of thousands of meters away.

The three experts seized the opportunity to press on; the other artifacts were instantly crushed and seriously damaged.

“Senior Green Lady, we should go. I’m afraid we won’t be able to escape if they notice us,” Su Ping hurriedly persuaded her.

Green Lady was also aware that her side was losing. She said sorrowfully, “I have a stealth technique that the Deity King taught me. Normal Golden Deities cannot notice me… Fine. I’ll go after I take a look at the Heavenly Pit.”

“Sure.”

Su Ping was relieved to see that she was finally convinced.

Green Lady released a mist of energy that shrouded Su Ping, before she turned around and flew away.

By then, the artifacts in the distance were gradually subdued by the Ascendant experts and stored in their small worlds.

Whoosh!

The scene before Su Ping’s eyes changed; he then found himself in an ancient battlefield instead of the misty palace.

Countless bodies were scattered in the void, as if frozen in time.

Many of the bodies were ancient warrior deities who fought under the Twilight Deity King’s command. There were also behemoths; some were enslaved spiritual beasts and some were invading monsters.

Su Ping even saw the bodies of the worms from the Deep Caves.

Those worms were as tall as two-floor buildings; their golden, hideous shells and their wings were broken.

In addition, a lot of shattered weapons could be seen. Some had broken blades, and some had lost their grip. It wasn’t hard to imagine how ferocious the battle must have been.

There was a man at the end of the battlefield.

Su Ping felt as if ten thousand years had passed when he saw the man.

It was a magnificent giant that looked like a tall mountain. His feet were firmly on the ground and his head was in the clouds. He was carrying the sky on his back!

His head was lowered and his hair was unkempt. There was endless damage in his broken armor.

Even though there was no sign of life on the giant, Su Ping felt as if he were alive, remaining immortal in the long river of time!

Lum-dum, lum-dum!

Su Ping’s heart was pounding beyond his control. He felt even more awed than when he saw the Golden Crow elder, because the latter had concealed his pressure when they met, while the giant’s body was still terrifying even though he was gone!

“Deity King…”

Green Lady started to shiver the moment she saw the man; tears flowed from her eyes.

She was pained to see the wounds on his body. She fought as part of the vanguard in that battle, but she was asked to fall back after she was wounded. The Deity King ordered her to wait for the outcome of the battle inside the Pill Palace.

She had waited for millions of years!

And yet, the result was that he was already gone.

“You told me to wait, and I did…” Green Lady bit her lips, with tears on her cheeks and infinite sorrow in her eyes.

“You promised that you would take me to other worlds so I could enjoy the candies there…” Green Lady held her chest; it hurt so much that she could hardly breathe.

She could almost feel how her heart was beating!

The nerves all over her body seemed to be taut. The pain was so severe that her limbs were cramping!

Green Lady bent her back and wept soundlessly.

Su Ping looked at the unworldly pill deity in a trance. He found it hard to imagine how deep a connection of millions of years could be, and how painful such a departure was!

He could sense that the pain was cutting deep into the bones and even her soul!

Su Ping was silent. He didn’t try to comfort her, because he knew that any verbal consolation at that point would be meaningless.

The magnificent giant was none other than the Twilight Deity King, the master of that divine residence; an ultimate expert in the Celestial State!

He remained daunting even though he had been dead for millions of years!

Very soon, Su Ping noticed a dark halo in the void behind the Deity King’s back. There seemed to be a huge hole over there.

Intrigued, Su Ping couldn’t help but ask, “Is that the Heavenly Pit?”

Green Lady was still too lost in her grief to hear what he said.

Seeing that, Su Ping didn’t try to disturb her again. He looked around and fixed his eyes on the worm bodies from the Deep Caves. He said, “I remember that your kind has a liking for cannibalism, right? Go eat them.”

The Void Bug was shocked by the Twilight Deity King’s magnificent body and didn’t take a breath of relief until after finding out that he was already dead. After hearing what Su Ping had said, it then noticed the bodies of its kin and instantly widened its eyes in disbelief.

Disbelief was quickly replaced by ecstasy. It lunged at the nearest Golden Beetle and bit it.

It started from the internal organs inside the broken body, but even they were extremely tensile too. The Void Bug had a hard time eating it, as if it were chewing uncooked beef.

However, it was smart enough to swallow them without much biting. After all, its gastric acid was much more vicious than its sharp teeth.

“Huh?”

Su Ping then detected an enormous force; he was so shocked that his hair was standing up. He turned around, but didn’t see anything.

“Senior, the three intruders must be approaching!”

He could tell who they were, although he didn’t see anyone. Who could be so unstoppable inside that divine residence except those three experts?

They were moving like stars, causing a huge gravity pull as they moved, and Su Ping was like a grain of dust.

Had it not been for Green Lady’s stealth technique, he had no doubt he would have been detected.

The Green Lady came back from her grief and changed her expression upon hearing his telepathic message. She made a quick decision and sensed the circumstances.

Whoosh!

The Void Bug was gone along with the body it was eating; both were absorbed into her small world, even faster than when Su Ping summoned it.

In the meantime, she disappeared from that spot with Su Ping in tow, reappearing inside the torn remains of a dragon.

A few men rushed over three seconds after they vanished; indeed, the three experts had arrived.

Their pets were following them, but those of the ancillary kind had been put away. Only the Ascendant State pets stayed by their side in case of ambushers.

“Huh?”

The one in the lead glanced across the battlefield which was littered with corpses. He frowned but his expression remained unchanged until he saw the magnificent giant at the end of the battlefield, one that looked like an ancient god. He became much more solemn, and secretly excited.

The other two Ascendant experts were the same; they looked at each other and saw wariness in the other’s eyes.

A mere quick glance was enough to realize that the magnificent man was probably a real supreme being with a cultivation beyond the Ascendant State!

The three experts looked at the Twilight Deity King’s body and made remarks with mixed feelings.

“That body surely belonged to the past master of the divine residence.”

“He has an intimidating aura even after being dead for such a long time. Truly an immortal!”

“That’s the Celestial State… It’s too far away for us to reach.”

Even a man as strong as him had died.

“Guys, this is a well-preserved body of a Celestial State warrior; there must be great secrets hidden in this body. Maybe we can figure out Celestial State mysteries through the structures inside his body. Why don’t we divide the body evenly into three parts, so that we won’t need to compete amongst ourselves?” said a smiling scholarly old man whose hair was entirely white.

Another red-haired young man raised his eyebrows and said casually, “It’s so well-preserved. Wouldn’t it be a shame to destroy it? We should explore it together first before we discuss how to split it up.”

“Sounds good.”

The last one—a woman with deep blue hair—agreed with the proposal. She had fair skin and a pretty face; there was iciness and pride in her eyes, which seemed to have gone through countless years.

Now that they had reached a consensus, they wasted no time and rushed to where the Twilight Deity King’s body was.

They didn’t keep their voice down during their conversation. Maybe their attention was too focused on the Celestial corpse that they didn’t check the environment. Su Ping had heard everything they said; they had spoken in the Common Tongue.

“!”

Su Ping had an indescribable feeling. The Twilight Deity King was surely a great hero when he was alive, yet his remains were going to be cut to pieces. How humiliating was that?

However, there was nothing he could say. After all, the three experts were there precisely to hunt for treasure.

“What did they say?” Green Lady turned around and looked at Su Ping.

She noticed Su Ping’s change of expression and figured that he understood what they had said.

“Well…” Su Ping didn’t know how to respond. Considering her feelings for her master, she would probably burst into a rage if she knew what they were up to.

Charging recklessly at them, would only get her and himself killed.

After all, the Ascendant experts had allowed the lesser cultivators to enter because they could merely scavenge. They would definitely search his body and kill him if they found out that he had managed to reach such a deep place!

“About that…”

While Su Ping considered how to phrase it, a shocking explosion burst out.

Su Ping and Green Lady looked at the source of the sound simultaneously, only to see that the Twilight Deity King’s chest was radiating. The ruined armor reached its limits at that moment and fell apart.

There was a boom, then a dragon roared and flew out of the Deity King’s broken chest, before it flew back in.

Su Ping was stunned.

Having seen the three experts’ quick consensus, he had thought that they would split the loot in peace, not expecting they would start fighting right after they entered the body.

It was true that no one could hold back when in front of ultimate treasures, no matter how strong they were.

Self-control and greed weren’t dependent on a person’s level.