Astral Pet Store (WN)

"That was actually unnecessary."

Su Ping felt the power that covered him and stopped him from releasing divine power. With a mere thought, all his cells transformed from the inside out, turning from brilliant gold to silver. He changed from a pure god into an ancient deity that carried an elegant aura.

The ancient deity constitution had an aura concealing trait. Adding the path of illusion, it was almost impossible to detect Su Ping.

"Huh?"

The black bird was astonished by Su Ping's transformation.?The guy is a god. How did he turn into a different species??Also, Su Ping was releasing an ancient aura too. His new identity was as remarkable as that of gods.

"Which clan are you from exactly?" the black bird couldn't help but ask.

Su Ping chuckled and said, "I'm a human being."

"A human being?"

The black bird was dumbfounded. Still, the creature thought that Su Ping was only messing around, seeing how relaxed he was. Instead of asking further, it said, "It's unnecessary to seal you then."

It then casually lifted Su Ping's seal, only leaving a stream of gray undead power, so that Su Ping would melt with the ocean. He was hardly noticeable without careful observation.

"Let's go."

The black bird led the way, swimming towards the depths of the soul ocean.

Su Ping followed him.

He understood why gods were so attractive to undead creatures. He had cultivated the source of divine power, which was appealing to all species, including the undead kind.

Divine power carried the trait of endowment, able to transform stones into treasures and grass into precious herbs. If anyone grasped such a trait, they could use it to enhance themselves significantly.

When he absorbed divine power, his performance when using secret techniques was ten times more powerful than that of normal people!

"This is the edge of the Naihe Soul Ocean. I can only take you to the Reincarnation Path, which is already broken. I hear that many monsters have carved it up. I may cause conflicts which won't be in your favor if I trespass," said the black bird.

Su Ping nodded. "Let's go there first."

The black bird felt rather helpless, knowing that the human brat was a handful.

It led Su Ping all the way down. The seawater was like thin air; they saw a lot of undead creatures floating in the ocean as they made their way down. Some were like black jellyfish with a myriad tentacles, which turned out to be pale arms. Some were monsters with multiple heads…

I reckon business would be good if I open a museum in this place.?The idea popped in Su Ping's mind, but he really wouldn't do it; after all, he was a pet store owner. He should leave the museum business to someone else.

The monsters in the soul ocean were floating along with the currents; some were sound asleep until they were woken up by the black bird's aura. Still, they were torn apart before they could even resist.

They encountered even stronger monsters as they went down.

Su Ping soon encountered Ascendant monsters that were lords with dominions of their own. A lot of other monsters followed them, like fish surrounding a whale; they looked quite intimidating.

"We're almost there," the black bird said.

An hour passed. Su Ping saw a dark crack in the ocean which stretched to unknown places.

There was a force coming from the crack which was drawing the ocean water into it.

"This is where the Reincarnation Path used to be. It's been dangerous ever since it was cut apart; it leads to many forbidden places," the black bird explained while maneuvering with Su Ping to avoid it.

There were fewer monsters on their path, but the ones they found were terrifying. Most were in the Ascendant State; some were Star Lords.

The black bird concealed its aura too and kept a low profile.

Soon enough, they saw another black long path in a deeper place; it looked like a black dragon with a protruding spine at the bottom of the ocean.

However, upon closer look, they discovered it was a black soul path.

A lot of people were standing on the path and moving numbly.

While dazed for a moment, the black bird changed its expression and led Su Ping to another place as they kept diving.

"What was that?"

"That's a monster that has claimed a territory near the Reincarnation Path. It created a fake Reincarnation Path to allure the souls that died in other worlds. The final destination of such a path is actually its stomach," said the black bird solemnly.

Su Ping couldn't help but look back while feeling dazed. There were countless ghosts on the black long path; some were hateful ghosts, and some were simply numb. They were all moving instinctively.

"Those souls have been reborn countless times. They repeat this process every time they return. It's already ingrained in their instincts; they have yet to learn that the soul path has been cut apart."

The black bird continued, "None of them would notice the anomaly, unless they cultivated enough soul power before they died. They will only end up as nutrition for the greater monsters."

Su Ping was silent. That was the cruel fate experienced in the Chaotic Realm of the Undead.

They dived for a while longer, but then the black bird suddenly paused and looked ahead in shock.

A gargantuan shadow gradually appeared in the distance. It was so enormous that it looked like a scale in the deep sea, only thousands of times bigger. It was endless; it would look like a rising mountain when it surfaced.

"A soul beast!"

The black bird said telepathically with a solemn tone, "It's a soul beast that has lived billions of years. Don't move, or both of us will end up in its stomach!"

A soul beast that has existed billions of years??Su Ping stared at the mountain-like creature. He could no longer make heads or tails as it approached; it looked like a looming cloud.

The soul ocean became heavy too, and sent pushing waves.

The black bird didn't block them; instead, it moved along with the waves. One of the surging waves flung them away. The behemoth gradually went elsewhere; it seemed that they weren't discovered. The creature was soon gone; even its tail that disappeared in the end was as big as a dozen aircraft carriers. The feeling was blood curdling when it passed by.

The black bird was finally relieved when the soul beast left for good. Their dive continued.

The pair avoided the soul beasts they saw on the way, even those in the Ascendant State. The bird didn't want to alarm the local overlords.

Bang!

All of a sudden—a power appeared out of nowhere. The black bird reacted half a second earlier; it stopped diving and invoked a power that resisted the black, piercing force.

"Damn it!"

The black bird became grim. "We've got trouble."

A deep black sea beast appeared before them as the bird spoke. The thing gave the black bird and Su Ping a cold stare with its dirty black eyes. The two of them were as insignificant as sesame seeds in front of it.

"I don't think I can protect you any longer," said the black bird in a low voice.

Su Ping could also tell that the monster wasn't easy to deal with. It was very likely a Celestial creature.

Such powerful beasts were hard to come by in the universe outside, and yet it was easy to run into them in the top cultivation sites, especially dangerous places like that one.

Su Ping asked, "Is the Abyssal Hole down below?"

"Correct. It's in the deepest part, but it will be more dangerous there. There might even be king-level creatures…" said the black bird solemnly.

"All right. Help me stall this guy for ten minutes; I'll be on my way," said Su Ping.

"I'll try."

Su Ping didn't reply, simply swimming down to the deeper parts of the ocean.

The bird stopped hiding after Su Ping left, releasing black smoke and gradually expanding, revealing its original self. Its size was comparable to that of the monster.

The two behemoths confronted each other; neither made a move.

"Kid, I've done enough by bringing you here. Going to the Abyssal Hole is suicide; even I wouldn't dare go to that place. There's nothing I can do if you insist on getting yourself killed," whispered the black bird.

The tricky bird had actually noticed that monster earlier, and deliberately entered its territory.

It didn't want to keep diving and come across someone far stronger. It might die there.

It would surely be killed if it truly went all the way down with Su Ping.

That place was too dangerous, even for the king-level creatures!

…

Su Ping concealed his aura and kept diving after leaving the black bird.

The pressure of the soul ocean was getting stronger further down. It was as light as mist in the beginning, but it already felt like a real ocean at the moment; it was quite a restraining experience.

Such pressure slowed Su Ping's advance.

He transformed and neutralized the soul power around him with his own power to reduce the pressure.

"Who knows how many souls have been buried in this ocean. I feel sorry for them…" Su Ping mumbled. He was also fighting the seawater as he went down. He could vividly feel the changes of the ocean, including the differences in pressure and overall corruption.

Even if he didn't reach the Abyssal Hole, he had no doubt that he could cultivate undead power by soaking there for a hundred years.

Undead creatures are made of the undead power. Undead pets are the most wicked and least liked pets in the world; they're also the most brutal and bloody. The undead power source is probably related to corruption and decay. Maybe I should learn more about that…

Su Ping was trying to understand the power of the undead while on the move.

If he couldn't grasp it directly, he could still learn from it indirectly.

Roar!

Su Ping heard a roar while pondering. An enormous sea spider seemed to have detected him.

Su Ping snapped out of his focused state and frowned. He simply attacked after realizing that the spider was in the Ascendant State.

He had already done his best to hide from some careless Ascendant creatures on his own, now that he didn't have the black bird's cover.

The spider was clearly one of the perceptive ones. Being the case, he should simply kill it!

Su Ping hid divine power in his fist, and smashed with it when he approached the target. The divine power inflicted a special damage to undead creatures. Su Ping's punch had broken the spider's leg; the smoke of soul power was erased from the wound.

The spider was clearly shocked after receiving the heavy strike, not expecting Su Ping's outburst to be that powerful and filled with the power it liked and feared.

Hiss!

The spider bellowed and charged at Su Ping again, with an apparent mix of anger and excitement.

Su Ping didn't stop, either. He summoned the Little Skeleton and merged with it. He was further enhanced once covered in bones. He drew his bone saber and slashed, forcing the spider to retreat.

"Go to hell!!"

Su Ping slashed its head. His violent power pierced the spider's head.

The spider screamed, and the seawater was rippling. Su Ping instantly felt that other soul beasts were approaching; none of them was weak.

His expression changed somewhat. The black bird was at first reluctant to attack exactly because it didn't want to alarm other undead creatures.

He knew he could not dawdle. Once he dealt with the spider, he simply dived to the bottom of the ocean at full speed.

There was no time to hide. Five small worlds appeared on his back and spun like lotus flowers. When enhanced by the eighth Astral Painting, the power of the small worlds was combined, giving him another significant boost. He was launched to the depths of the ocean like a cannonball.

As for flash—

Su Ping had noticed that it was impossible to flash in the ocean; space seemed to be a vague concept there, if it existed at all.

The feeling was hard to describe. However, he had also noticed that the black bird didn't flash either when traveling together. So, it probably had nothing to do with his weakness; it was due to the special environment.

Roar!

A lot of shadows lunged at him, moving as ferociously as ravenous fish.

Su Ping cast secret techniques backwards while rushing down, while accelerating with the counterforce.

Roar!

There were beasts coming at him from down below too; Su Ping simply slashed at them. He concentrated his sword aura and imbued it on his weapon, which was sharp enough to cut the ocean itself. The sword aura was swept out, cutting an Ascendant State beast apart.

The two parts which made the beast were soon assembled as Su Ping swam by, and it continued chasing after him.

Bang!

A beast caught up from the rear, and attempted to bite Su Ping's foot.

Su Ping kicked it and turned its head into smoke.

His physical outburst was as powerful as that of an Ascendant State beast. Plus the divine power and the deity aura inside his body, he could defeat normal Ascendant creatures.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Su Ping slashed and charged, fighting his way out.

Many beasts healed after being blown up; it was hard to kill them.

Exactly at that moment—all the beasts crazily lunging at him stopped. Su Ping was puzzled by this, when he suddenly felt that he was enshrouded by a freezing cold.

A bloody mouth full of teeth was slowly opened in the bottom of the ocean ahead of him.

The mouth seemed big enough to swallow a mountain.

Su Ping was as insignificant as a grain of dust in front of that mouth.

A Celestial undead…?Su Ping slightly narrowed his eyes.