Astral Pet Store (WN)

The nine contestants were divided into four groups, with one bye.

Then, the Ascendant State expert opened a space above his head and revealed a vast continent that would be the battlefield for the finals.

Dragon Shepard, from the Heavenly Dragon Star Zone, was in the first group to fight.

His opponent was Six Lives Buddha from the Light Dust Star Zone.

Six Lives Buddha was a bald monk. There were plenty of temples and Buddhists in the Light Dust Star Zone; religion didn't lose popularity even in the age of technology.

Both of them entered the battlefield; Su Ping and the others watched the battle from outside.

In the void—a lot of Ascendant State experts were also there to observe the battles of the top geniuses of the universe.

The contestants such as Su Ping and Diaz had shown enough strength to attract their attention.

The kids were still weak at the moment, but their names would soon resound in the universe.

"Are you going to continue fighting?" said Su Ping as he looked at the relatively close Su Jin'er while getting prepared.

It wasn't easy for her to resist the Star Lord general's attack, but she did manage; she had survived through it and passed the test.

She still looked pale; she shook her head with a bitter smile. "My opponent is Luo Ying, who's even more unbelievable than you. I would rather not embarrass myself by fighting him; I'm already in the top ten anyway, I'll be getting some prizes in the end."

Su Ping nodded; he had also been meaning to persuade her into giving up. After all, even though she had Ascendant State potential, she was obviously not as good as the other contestants.

Even Diaz was much stronger than her.

Indeed, there were also differences among would-be Ascendants.

Many warships were docked in the quiet void; majestic Ascendants were on board. The contest was being held in the Divine Sea Mysterious Realm, an SSS rated mysterious realm that very few people were qualified to access, except for those in the Ascendant State.

There were several excited men on one of the warships.

"I didn't expect him to come this far."

Ciro looked passionate. Su Ping had killed a lord-level void beast and passed the trial… He would still be among the top ten even if he were to forfeit right then and there!

Considering his previous performances, he had a fair shot to enter the top three!

"I heard that the Planet of Origin, where he grew up, somehow jumped into our galaxy. He's a true gift from the heavens." Hai Tuo had also made the trip. He got there as soon as he learned of Su Ping's second place in the first test.

After all, a genius from his own galaxy had reached such a height… How could he not cheer for him?

He had also investigated Su Ping's past, and was made aware that the Planet of Origin didn't belong to Silvy until recently. He had to thank the young man properly since the latter was fighting as a representative of Silvy and making himself be noticed by the real big shots.

"I didn't expect that he would admit Lord Supreme as his master."

Huan Lieshen was nearby, having shown up in a golden robe; he seemed to be having a mixture of regret and complicated feelings.

If he had been humbler and more generous with the prizes in the mysterious realm, would Su Ping have agreed to be his disciple?

If that were the case, even if Su Ping were to eventually learn after Lord Supreme, he would still be considered one of Su Ping's masters. He could have gotten closer to Shen Huang through that connection.

"Such talents cannot be limited by us," Hai Tuo immediately said after hearing the other man's remark.

Huan Lieshen came back to his senses and said angrily, "What are you thinking? He's now Lord Supreme's disciple, who would dare mess with him? Nobody would even try to assassinate him; Celestials would find the murderer no matter how careful they were, unless they weren't afraid of death…"

Once he said that, he paused and narrowed his eyes.

Hai Tuo also became vigilant.

He was quite satisfied with Su Ping's current achievements, and was more worried about his safety.

A genius was worthless until he grew up.

Su Ping's Celestial State master could intimate a lot of people, but he also had his share of enemies of Celestial level.

Those enemies would seldom act personally, but the forces behind them might take action.

"There isn't much we can offer him; we must try our best to protect him," whispered Ciro.

Hai Tuo nodded. "Let's wait and see whether he's going to train with Shen Huang or return with us. If he chooses the latter, I will personally protect him until he becomes a Star Lord. It would be worth it, even if I have to protect him for a thousand years."

Huan Lieshen was stunned by that statement. He glanced at the other man, obviously not expecting that he would be as decisive.

He was an Ascendant, and the lord of a galaxy, and still he was willing to protect a kid for a thousand years?

A few others were standing on another warship nearby.

One of them was a tall and charismatic man who seemed to be in his forties. Next to him was a petite girl who was about 1.6 meters tall.

The middle-aged man asked the girl, "Shen'er, is he the genius you know?"

The girl was none other than Xingyue Shen'er.

She wasn't qualified to enter this place, so she had to ask her father to let her take her there. She wanted to find out how far Su Ping could go, and cheer for him in person.

"Exactly!"

Xingyue Shen'er raised her chin and looked at her father proudly. "Dad, he's a member of my alliance. Didn't you say that my alliance was just a child's game? My Alliance of Stars is already famous in Silvy. Everybody knows that Su Ping is a member."

She felt really proud as she spoke.

What she said was a fact. Of course, it was partly because she had done her part in spreading the news.

As a matter of fact, countless media organizations had tried their best to find out information about Su Ping the moment he became the best in his galaxy.

Even the pacifier he had used as a kid could probably be sold for a high price.

The news that Xingyue Shen'er had released became an instant hit; everybody in the galaxy learned of the Alliance of Stars!

Too many people had applied to join the alliance in recent days; many of them were actually dominating Star Lords!

Those experts were currently at a higher level than Su Ping, but most of them had never gotten even close to his achievements!

After all, it required much more than a simple level to make one's name resound in the universe, unless the Ascendant State was reached.

Otherwise, real battle results would be necessary!

"You were just lucky." The middle-aged man rolled his eyes, but he couldn't deny the fact. He was delighted since his daughter had made friends with such a genius, which also made him feel more reassured. It seemed that her daughter wasn't just capable of causing trouble.

Such geniuses would become friends that she could count on.

"How are things between you two?" asked the middle-aged man.

Xingyue Shen'er said proudly, "He's my little brother, and I'm his leader; how close do you think we are?"

Ignoring her nonsense, the man continued, "What do you think about his personality?"

"Huh?"

She then realized that something was off, so she looked back at her father with suspicious eyes. "Old man, what are you thinking? Damn it, are you trying to marry me off? He's just one of the top ten of the finals. Are you going to sell your daughter to him?"

"You're a lady now, don't be such a child!" The middle-aged man was so angry that he wanted to puff his beard, but then he realized that he hadn't kept a beard for hundreds of years.

"You're an Ascendant expert anyway. Can't you be any less desperate?" said Xingyue Shen'er in disdain, "I admit that he's talented, handsome and reasonably decent. But marriage depends on love!"

"Then, do you love him?" the man immediately asked back.

She rolled her eyes and said, "No. I've hardly spent any time with him. How could I love him? Besides, I don't know what love is; I've never been in love with anyone before. Anyway, just drop it. I won't marry anyone until I reach the Ascendant State. I will make my name resound in the universe, all by myself!"

"You won't marry until you reach the Ascendant State?" The middle-aged man glared.?When did this girl conceive such a dangerous idea?

"When can you grow up?"

"I've already grown up!"

"Can't you be more mature? You spend all your time cultivating and watching cartoons. Not even ordinary adults watch them, and yet you haven grown out of them after decades?"

"What decades? I've been busy training every day; I haven't watched them for decades like you say. Besides, what else could I watch? Soap operas?"

"…Could you be more like your cousins, and spend your time traveling or arranging flowers?"

"Who says I can't arrange flowers? Last time someone gave me a rose, I went ahead and arranged it right into his nostril."

"…"

The middle-aged man was completely rendered speechless.

That little devil had been spoiled rotten; it was possible to teach her at this point.

He would soon be infuriated to death if he were to continue lecturing her!

…

At the same time, in the void battlefield—

The first battle began the moment when the countdown was over.

Dragon Shepard immediately summoned all his battle pets. A dozen dragon roars echoed in the deeper spaces; they were rather intimidating as their powers combined.

All the observers had goosebumps after hearing the roars.

Then, they saw all kinds of dragons with rare bloodlines; any of them would have caught a lot of attention in the outside world. Even the Star Lords would want to get them.

However, they were only supporting beasts in Dragon Shepard's hands.

Soon, the dragons were arranged in a formation he was controlling.

He merged with one of the dragons; horns, scales and wings grew on his body. His eyes changed to an amber color, which were filled with coldness.

On the other hand, the Six Lives Buddha placed his hands together and recited sutra.

"A full lineup of dragons!"

"All of them are rare; he even has a Black Star Dragon and a Purple Lightning Fiery Dragon!"

Outside—Dragon Emperor, who had already been eliminated, was shocked. He had been working on raising his own complete lineup of dragons, but the ones he had were weaker in every aspect!

The dragon formation soon took shape; a golden light of enhancement began to shine. All the dragons were significantly strengthened, and so was Dragon Shepard.

"You've missed your chance to attack."

Dragon Shepard stared down at Six Lives Buddha with indifference, then he waved his hand. All the dragons roared in a deafening manner.

An explosive outburst was swept out like a vortex.

The bald monk, however, remained calm and at peace. He whispered, "Buddha says that those which you can't see don't exist."

An odd thing happened next: the explosive attack vanished all of a sudden, as if it would have been swallowed by something.

Dragon Shepard narrowed his eyes.

Many of the onlookers changed their expressions.

Su Jin'er widened her eyes and exclaimed, "The Sakya Path! He has perceived the Sakya Path of Time and Space!"

"The Sakya Path?"

Su Ping was standing next to her; he was slightly puzzled.

"The Sakya Path is what many know as the Path of Time and Space. They call it the Sakya Path in the Light Dust Star Zone, because Sakya is the name of a legendary figure who is said to be watching over the past, the present and the future," Su Jin'er quickly explained to Su Ping.

The Fate State cultivators could understand many laws, but there were four supreme laws that were difficult to grasp, namely time, life, destruction and chaos.

The four supreme laws corresponded with four supreme paths. Whoever reached the Ascendant State with any of those laws would become invincible among their peers.

"If you can control time, I'll just destroy time and everything. My path destroys all the other paths!"

Dragon Shepard's eyes were cold. It was obvious that the previous attack had been relocated to another time and space. Normal attacks would be completely unable to hurt that bald guy. That being the case, he would launch the most explosive attack, one that couldn't be caged by time and space!

Roar!

All the dragons roared. This time, all of them turned their heads and looked at one of the dragons; it was a gigantic creature covered in gray scales.

The next moment, all the dragons flew towards it.

It suddenly expanded and became almost ten thousand meters tall; it looked like a high mountain!

Then, it swallowed all the other dragons.

That was an astounding sight. A ten-thousand-meter tall beast was rare even for Star Lords.

"What is he doing? Why eat his own pets?" someone asked in shock.