Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 1230: Crack of the Universe

“Are you all right?”

You Long quickly dashed to where Su Ping was, mostly to keep some distance from Su Ping’s ominous pet. “You were too reckless, chasing him on your own. Even if you can defeat him, never underestimate the dying strike of a Heavenly Lord; some of them can even be troublesome for some Celestials.”

“Well…”

Su Ping looked at Ji Xueqing.

The latter had a strange expression. Her lips curved even more, until her cheek was all twisted.

Noticing her expression, You Long asked in astonishment, “What’s wrong with you?”

Ji Xueqing couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Su Ping, seeing his innocent looking face. She held back and said to You Long, “Have you cleared the battlefield? Was anyone hurt?”

“We’re fine.” You Long seemed puzzled.

A man suddenly dashed out of the void; he was none other than Song Yuan, who had moved to chase an enemy earlier on.

“Senior brother.”

They all flew to meet him.

Song Yuan looked around, noticing that Su Ping and the others were all safe and sound. He said with relief, “I’m glad that you’re fine.”

You Long saw blood on Song Yuan’s shoulder and asked with concern, “Were you wounded?”

“It’s not my blood.”

Song Yuan flipped his hand, making a head appear; it belonged to one of the Heavenly Lords that escaped. Strangely enough, it was still alive, giving everyone vicious glares. “Today’s not my lucky day. You…”

His mouth was gagged before he could finish.

Song Yuan stowed away the head and chuckled. “I’m sure we can negotiate with the Celestial of the Doom Star Zone and trade the head for some good stuff.”

“Might as well just kill him, so that he won’t cause trouble to us later,” said a young and cold-looking senior as he flew closer. It was Mo Ye, who ranked thirteenth among them.

“It’s better to sell him than to kill him. He’s terribly wounded anyway, and he won’t recover in thousands of years. We can sell him before the war so he can’t participate. This will also be a humiliation for the Doom Star Zone which will affect their morale,” said You Long.

Song Yuan smiled. “That’s right. He’s a Celestial’s disciple anyway. Still, we don’t know whether or not his master is willing to save him.”

Mo Ye raised his eyebrows but didn’t offer a reply.

Chunyu and Han Ye returned soon after, with mild wounds. The Heavenly Lord they had chased was as strong as them working together, as the former was almost at the top of the realm, on par with the Loulan ancestor.

The two of them failed to kill him, but they forced the man to enter the ninth space; the odds of him escaping alive were no more than one percent.

“Risking to enter the ninth space is suicide. So to speak, only one of them escaped. It’s not a bad result.” Song Yuan chuckled. Having dealt with that many Heavenly Lords from the Doom Star Zone was definitely great news.

Ji Xueqing glanced at Su Ping and said to Song Yuan, “Senior brother, you’re mistaken. The one our junior brother chased is already dead. All five Heavenly Lords of the Doom Star Zone would be gone if the one who fled into the ninth space doesn’t make it. The people of the Doom Star Zone will probably be ‘excited’ when they learn the news…”

Everybody felt dazed. They couldn’t help but look at Su Ping in shock.

You Long repeated what Ji Xueqing said, unable to process the information, “The Heavenly Lord our junior brother chased was killed by him?”

Lian Qi, Mo Ye and the others were wide eyed. Chunyu and Han Ye gazed at Su Ping; they knew that Su Ping was as strong as a Heavenly Lord, but defeating versus killing one were completely different things.

Su Ping is capable of killing a Heavenly Lord on his own?

Was it because the man had been too gravely wounded by the snake?

Even so, the news was still extremely shocking.

Seeing their expression, Su Ping explained rather modestly, while trying to sound natural, “He was just too careless. I was lucky.”

Song Yuan snapped out of his shock and took a deep breath. He patted Su Ping’s shoulder and said, “Junior brother, good job!”

“Junior brother…” You Long wore a complicated expression. The kid that used to need his protection not long before was already as strong, if not stronger than him. To think that he had cultivated for more than 100,000 years…

“This junior brother…”

Lian Qi was shocked and having trouble finding words. Ji Xueqing had no need to lie; so, the kid was definitely a monster!

“Come back.”

Su Ping waved a hand and retrieved the Purple Python.

The pet’s coiling body suddenly moved towards the summoning space and disappeared; its terrifying aura lingered for a bit and faded.

Everybody wore complicated expressions. Not only was Su Ping strong, he also had a powerful pet. It would be nigh impossible for an Ascendant to kill him.

To think a mere Star Lord was that strong, with many trump cards at hand. If he rose to higher levels…

Seeing their expressions, Ji Xueqing covered her mouth and giggled. “Like I said, never underestimate our junior brother, or he will slap you silly.”

Su Ping looked sheepishly at his senior. That’s not important. Does she have to say it over and over?

Song Yuan had a strange feeling too, but he didn’t overthink it. He was Shen Huang’s first disciple, and he had seen a lot of geniuses with a shocking potential; some reached the Ascendant State in a thousand years and became Heavenly Lords in ten thousand years. Still, those geniuses were beneath him at the moment. After all, it was the accumulation that mattered for Heavenly Lords.

Above was the Celestial State that all the Ascendant cultivators looked up to.

It won’t take long before my junior brother catches up to me, provided that he can break through his obstacles and successfully rise to the Ascendant State… Song Yuan thought.

He didn’t overthink. In any case, they were brothers under the same master.

“Let’s go.”

Song Yuan said to Lian Qi, “Why did the people of the Doom Star Zone chase you? Let’s talk while we go to the ancient corpse.”

“Okay.”

Lian Qi quickly nodded. While following Song Yuan in the channel he had just made, he said, “I met them as I came to pick you up; I don’t know if it was coincidence or an ambush. I couldn’t have survived without the treasure my master gave me.”

“An ambush…” Song Yuan’s eyes glittered. He shook his head and said, “These are unusual times. Let’s look for the traitor when we return. Good thing that nothing happened to you.”

Han Ye said, “Senior brother, do you think the teleportation points of other star zones are at the edge of the Mayhem Star Zone too? Should we just wait here and ambush our enemies from the Heavenly Devil Alliance?”

Song Yuan shook his head again. “Our main purpose is to get the ancient corpse. The balance of the universe will tilt if anyone gets the legacy. Master said that the ancient corpse used to be a universe dominator with a realm beyond the Celestial State. Whoever gets the legacy will surely conquer the universe!”

Everyone’s eyes glittered with passion.

Universe dominator!

The simple phrase stirred their emotions.

They traveled for a short while and reached the center of the Mayhem Star Zone.

The spatial resistance at the periphery was little, while the center was extremely chaotic. Even Heavenly Lords would tread lightly, not daring to teleport over long distances. It was very likely that they would accidentally go from the seventh space to the ninth space.

The nine layers of space were shattered in that region. They could be traveling in the third space one second and in the eighth space the next.

However, while long-distance teleportation was dangerous, short-distance flashes weren’t as risky.

Secondly, the Ascendants who had perfectly grasped the path of space were safer there. Their spatial awareness allowed them to predict danger.

“This is the City of Sins!”

Everybody emerged somewhere in space, right above a seemingly dilapidated city. There were countless lights that stretched to the distance and ragged buildings of different heights at ground level.

“The laws here…”

Su Ping instantly discovered that the place was really special: the laws were constantly crumbling!

The resulting substance contained a great amount of law-based power!

Su Ping turned his head and stared at the ragged buildings, which contained an assortment of laws, such as elasticity, solidity, hardness, protection, and others.

Those laws were combined and gave structure to the buildings.

However, those buildings were constantly worn out and couldn’t exist for a long time, given the crumbling laws in that area; they would collapse within a hundred year span.

“Those who can afford to have a house here are surely Ascendants or members of powerful families.” said Lian Qi, seeing Su Ping’s astonished eyes, and remembering that his junior was very young and had probably never gone there before. He introduced the general facts about the city as they flew.

“Many criminals wanted all over the universe are hiding here. However, the local environment is harsh and the laws are crumbling all the time. Everybody has to stay inside the buildings; only Ascendants can resist the effect of the crumbling laws. Normal Star Lords end up exhausted after spending a day or two outside. Star State warriors may even be killed upon arrival, unless they’re protected by ultimate treasures.

“Not even Ascendants can stay for too long outside, particularly during the universal tide which takes place once a week, when the crumbling effect is more extreme. Even Ascendants have to go full out to weather through it.”

Lian Qi pointed at the alleys and dirty gutters in the city. “Most escaping criminals hide over there. The satellites of the Federation outside the Mayhem Star Zone will detect them immediately if they go out; they can only wait there until they die, unless someone smuggles them out.”

Su Ping saw a few women in some alleys, wearing revealing clothes while doing business with some handicapped men in ragged armor.

Some of them were selling themselves, while others were exchanging items for resources.

I never thought that an Ascendant would do something like this…

Su Ping saw that an Ascendant State woman hooked up with a dirty middle-aged man and entered a ragged building. His eyes were keen enough for him to see through the building and witness what was going on inside.

Someone of that caliber had the power to command many solar systems, and yet she was demeaning herself.

Noticing Su Ping’s eyes, Lian Qi spoke calmly, “Those Ascendant cultivators have offended either the Celestials or the saints on the Planet of Origin; they can only hope to survive here. They can only rely on their bodies to make a living if they’re not strong enough to kill beasts in the wilderness for resources…”

You Long chuckled. “Junior brother, you probably would’ve caught a lot of attention if you hadn’t come with us. You’re a fat and delicious lamb in their eyes.”

Ji Xueqing glanced at Su Ping. “Our junior brother isn’t a fat lamb; he’s a little monster hiding under a lamb’s skin.”

Chunyu frowned as he looked at the void. “The laws are collapsing faster than thirty thousand years ago.”

“That’s right. They didn’t collapse as fast last time I came.” Song Yuan was also observing the area.

Lian Qi nodded. “Laws have been collapsing faster ever since the ancient corpse appeared; the crack deep inside the City of Sins has also grown wider.”

“Are they going to the ancient corpse too?” Han Ye pointed at a team of Ascendant travelers. They wore clean armor, which contrasted with the filthiness of the city; they were obviously outsiders.

“Probably. A lot of rogue cultivators have come recently. They want a share of the treasures,” said Lian Qi in disdain.

They quickly flew across the sky above the city.

A few men quickly dashed out and stood in their way, but quickly changed their tune when they recognized Lian Qi who was leading the group. “We didn’t recognize you. We’re terribly sorry for offending you.”

“Get lost!”

Lin snorted.

The four frustrated assailants quickly left.

“Blind idiots.” Lian Qi spat and led everybody onward.

Su Ping realized what the disordered place truly was as they traveled across the sky. Crime was rampant; rotten bodies and muddy bones could be seen in some of the dark alleys.

This is the home for all outlaws. Only strength matters here…

The city was extremely vast. Buildings were increasingly taller as they traveled forward, and the streets grew sloped too. The further they went, the higher the altitude.

Laws were collapsing at approximately 1.5 times faster compared to the periphery.

Several days later—

Everybody went to the city’s central area, which was much cleaner than in the outer districts. The number of Ascendants was more concentrated there too; practically everyone was an Ascendant.

People of such a realm lived long lives. Those who had committed crimes elsewhere would gather there and establish their own forces.

Some of the buildings had flags on top. According to Lian Qi, they belonged to the eight major forces.

Those forces were run by locals of the Mayhem Star Zone. They weren’t concerned about outsiders sent over. Since they were criminal factions, any Heavenly Lord sent to that place would have a hard time doing their job.

“Look, it’s over there.”

Lian Qi suddenly pointed ahead, and everybody looked in that direction. They saw a rising landscape beyond the endless buildings which seemed to have a massive volcano. The closer you got there, the taller it was. There was a dark cloud in the sky in the furthest point of the horizon, and right past the cloud was a terrifying vertical crack!