Astral Pet Store (WN)

Where could she have gone after this?

Su Ping wondered. Hiss!

Right then, dark and bloody mist formed demons and ghosts moved toward Su Ping.

He thought of an idea.

Su Lingyue’s disappearance could at least have something to do with that place. If he wanted to ask about her, those ghosts and demons would be the perfect witnesses.

“Perfect timing. It just so happens that there’s a spot for a pet. Let’s see what we can find,” Su Ping said to himself.

He didn’t have too many contracts. He had room for another pet. Those demons and ghosts were unworthy of being his pets, but he could simply cancel that contract after he was done searching its memory. Of course, he would have to go back to his store. After all, he would have to endure a weak period after canceling the contract. He could be in danger during that period.

Su Ping grabbed a two-headed creature without hesitation. That creature was covered in a highly corrosive blood mist. It wanted to get free but Su Ping grabbed one of the heads right after. He didn’t mask his killing intent. The creature’s ferocity was soon exchanged for terror; it looked at Su Ping, trembling. Su Ping immediately placed the contract on its head.

Bzzz!

The contract seeped into the creature’s head. The next second, Su Ping felt a mist of darkness appear in front of him. Something extremely terrifying was coming towards him and he heard a roar. That roar pierced the sky. He felt that he lost his hearing Su Ping was stunned.

The roar made him feel utterly small; it seemed to belong to a giant. Soon, Su Ping came back to his senses. He noticed that the contract had disappeared as if something had annulled it. He failed.

The creature shed his timid demeanor; it shouted wildly, suddenly bursting into a mist of blood.

That mist surrounded Su Ping. He saw a vision with a large number of people as they fought those evil creatures. All of a sudden, Su Ping fixed his gaze on one of those people. It was Su Lingyue! However, that “Su Lingyue” was not like he remembered her. Her face was the same and so was her height, but there were silver scales on her hands, face and neck! Su Ping suddenly remembered that small silver scale he had picked up moments before.

Does that scale belong to her?

How did she become like that?

He saw through the blood mist that the silver-scaled Su Lingyue was quite powerful. She was as able as a titled battle pet warrior. She fought the demon creatures and used some skills that Su Ping had seen before. Those were mandatory skills taught in the academy. The images disappeared while Su Ping was observing. He was in a dark and quiet place but something was gazing at him. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but a path then appeared in front of him. Unlike the other passageways he had visited, the walls weren’t dried and cracked; they were actually flesh and blood! Su Ping could not believe this. Was that the truth about the Dragon Tower?

Roar!

Dark mist kept whooshing out from that passageway with walls made with flesh and blood. It turned into massive creatures that pounced at Su Ping.

Su Ping used his finger as a sword. Some creatures were torn apart with a bang; there were wounds on the fleshly walls. Even so, the flesh wiggled and the cuts on the walls disappeared quickly. Su Ping turned around. He could no longer see the way back. There was no way back for him!

Establishing the contract failed. Those creatures aren’t individual beings. They are… one! Su Ping frowned as he stared at the walls made of flesh and blood. That Dragon Tower was strange. He was no longer able to see boundless worlds. All that was left in front of him was that passageway. “This should not be normal,” Su Ping told himself. He wasn’t sure about it. Was it part of the 14th level’s testing?

If not, it was because he had tried to sign a contract with that creature. That roaring thing should be the true form of that creature… Su Ping took it more seriously. With his experience in many cultivation sites, he was able to tell that the master of that consciousness should at least be at the Star Rank.

However, that creature was not in its prime state; it would have already destroyed the Blue Planet if otherwise.

He thought about it but still decided not to go up the stairs.

More and more evil creatures came out as he made his way upward. Su Ping made use of his Sin Cutter to kill those evil creatures. He had become quite proficient with it; he was able to inflict great harm on those creatures, even while using his fingers, instead of wielding a blade. He could even kill a person at the titled rank with his finger, easily.

Soon, he encountered a different creature.

That was an insect with spikes, like a pangolin, but this creature was two to three meters long. Of course, it wasn’t a large size compared to other pets. But that insect was scary. It was fast, and the claws and its teeth were very sharp.

That thing is at the upper position of the titled rank, at least.

Su Ping was surprised. He didn’t know where he was at the Dragon Tower but he was sure that the creature was terrifying!

Lucky for me and bad for you, this is a narrow space.

More and more creatures were swarming over. Anyone would have felt their blood freezing by then, but not Su Ping. He clenched his fists.

A virtual hand whooshed out. The Fist of Exorcist pressed on with tremendous force.

The virtual hand pushed away all the insects. Some of them were smashed into the fleshly walls and some were split on the spot. Su Ping didn’t stop there. Rays of sword light were shot from his fingers. He slit those that weren’t dead yet. As Su Ping was pressing on-outside the dark door at the base of the Dragon Tower. The young stenographer named Sen and his friends were standing in front of a device not far from the dark door.

There was a map of the entire Dragon Tower which indicated the levels but no other details.

A red dot with the number 1 was pressing upward.

“That’s level 15. Holy cow!”

“Look at him go. He used less than 10 minutes to reach level 15 from level 1. Was that just a walk for him?!”

“Level 17…”

“Make it 19…”

Those young people were stunned into stillness as the red dot climbed up.

The glow from the device lit up their surprised faces. The young man known as Sen was not doing any better. He had seen how strong Su Ping was outside, but that was completely unexpected! The man had reached level 19 in an instant! Even Fei Tianyi, the best student in the past century, had merely managed to reach level 18!

He had only made the record to see it being broken by someone else! “Look, 20…” a young man pointed it out. All his friends wore dull expressions; no one was able to say a thing. That’s a pungent smell of death! Su Ping killed his way forward, leaving insect corpses behind. The king of those insects was at the peak of the titled rank and its backshell was so strong that they could be harder than dragon scales! Su Ping didn’t know exactly what those creatures were; their scales were hard and their claws sharp. Su Ping had accidentally received some blood marks on his arms by accident.

But his skin and flesh were unusually tough.

He had gone through Heaven’s Tests and he was reinforcing the Solar Bulwark. He had also spent a lot of time in Joanna’s spring. He could be tougher than a dragon of the same rank, and yet , the insects could hurt him.

Did she run into those things? But the young man said she left the Dragon Tower. So, she didn’t encounter that strange thing, Su Ping said to himself. He was seeing some puffs and wisps of darkness. The smell of death was so thick he was able to see them with his eyes. Any creature that came in touch with the smell of death could lose years of lifespan. That would also happen to the average people.