Astral Pet Store (WN)

“Is he going to be okay?”

“What battle pet was that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen the like…”

“I cannot believe it. The battle pet used over a hundred legendary rank defensive skills in one go. The energy stored is close to the Void State…”

The legendary battle pet warriors were still in shock after Su Ping stepped into the swirl.

That battle pet had made them wonder if Su Ping was indeed just a titled warrior.

Li Yuanfeng had witnessed what Su Ping was able to do in the Corridor; he knew that the golden hound was not the strongest battle pet. As such, he was not so surprised. He just felt concerned about him.

Whoosh!

As soon as he stepped into the swirl, Su Ping immediately felt how the turbulent currents in space were cutting him, peeling the defensive layers off.

The defensive layers lasted for merely ten seconds!

“Over there…”

The pet contract gave Su Ping the general idea of where the Little Skeleton was. He borrowed energy from the Inferno Dragon without hesitation.

Void Sword!

Bang!

A ray of dark sword light suddenly rolled out, sweeping away all the spatial chaos in front of him. At the same time, a crack was torn in front of him, and then a faint light emerged from the crack.

Su Ping stepped away from the swirl.

That swirl was neither long, nor short. Slowly getting his bearings and looking for coordinates could get him lost and that could be quite dangerous. Still, he was being guarded by the contract. The Void Sword enabled him to directly break free from space. Is this… the Corridor?

Su Ping was surprised that he had reached the familiar place.

One cut and he was there already?

The extremely wide corridors in front of him, the dim light, and the stench of feces and blood in the air all told Su Ping that it was indeed the beast king’s nest!

“I think the formation has stopped working…”

Su Ping was not happy to have reached the place; if anything, he was worried. His cut should have strength equal to the Fate State.

Those at the Fate State could use Space Folding and Space Confinement. They had the ability to cut and travel through space. If any of those beast kings had such a rank, they could easily leave the Deep Caves without anyone knowing, simply by using their spatial skills! That’s not a if. It is a must… There must be beast kings at the Fate State… And even the Star Rank!

Su Ping’s face was clouded.

Fate State beast kings would notice that the formation was failing as they made their attempt at escaping.

And when that happened…

Su Ping thought of something horrifying. He looked around. He put away the Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound and decidedly went to where the contract told him to go.

The bond had a stronger pull after he arrived at the Deep Caves. Su Ping could tell exactly where the Little Skeleton was and how far apart they were. Whoosh! Whoosh!

Su Ping teleported again and again.

He saw many massive skeletons along the way; some of the bones were scattered around.

Su Ping ran about madly. Just as he had expected, he didn’t run into any living beasts!

His worries increased.

Half an hour later

He was getting really close.

He was communicating with the Little Skeleton through the contract.

He could tell that the Little Skeleton was also moving towards him. They would soon meet in the Corridor! During the past 30 minutes, Su Ping had encountered three beast kings at the Ocean State. They were injured, recovering in their nests.

Su Ping killed them directly. He was becoming more concerned as time passed.

It seemed that the beast kings had vanished from the Corridor.

Those beast kings… had left.

Those beast kings were certainly hiding somewhere outside!

However, he had learned from Qin Duhuang and Yun Wanli that while the number of wild beasts gathered across the world was large, there was still hope because of a lack of beast kings.

If people knew that many beast kings were roaming the surface, they would be overwhelmed by panic.

Did the Tower hide the information so that the public would stay calm?

Su Ping denied that idea at once.

If those beast kings appear in public spaces, the Tower couldn’t have hidden that information even if they wanted to. Also, hiding such information would be meaningless because humankind would have already been on the verge of dying. The beast kings are hiding. Are they afraid of something? Su Ping frowned.

He felt that their Blue Planet had some secrets.

For example, why would the Otherworld Heavenly King go to the Longjiang Base City?

He had been wondering about that for a long time. Hunting for food didn’t make sense, given the large number of beast kings. The Heavenly King had some intention!

What could have attracted its interest? Those beasts are leaving the Deep Caves but Li and the others are still in the Wind Field. They don’t know yet… Su Ping’s face became clouded at the mere thought. No one in the Wind Field was at the Fate State!

Not even in the Tower… Nobody was at the Fate State! It seemed that… Only the Tower master had such rank!

Those at the Void State, while they had some understanding of space, they couldn’t detect the decay of the formation and the state of the Corridor.

It’s a complete waste of manpower if they stay there. But I don’t think they’re fools. I don’t think they’re going to stay there for long if they realize that no beasts try to attack them. Can it be that… there are some beasts hiding somewhere, and they will only pretend to strike Li and the other guys so that they don’t leave the Deep Caves?

Su Ping blinked. Terrifying as it might sound, it could be true.

He could not afford to belittle the intelligence of those beasts!

Su Ping had met many sinister beasts in the cultivation sites. Some eighth or ninth-rank beasts had become skilled hunters and they could be smarter than humans!

Those beasts in the Deep Caves were organized!

He was able to ascertain this from seeing all those beasts waiting on the plain when he left the Deep Caves the first time.

The ruler of the wild beasts in the Deep Caves was playing a game!

The game was to overrule the entire Blue Planet!

Humans would be the losing party and would go extinct!

“I don’t think the Tower knows this yet. I have to go back and tell them at once.” Su Ping said to himself.

The ruler of the Deep Caves probably didn’t think that a human would have the courage to enter the Corridor at that moment.

Whoosh!

Right then, the strong connection told him that the Little Skeleton was very close!

Summoning! He used the compulsory summoning that was a function of his contract to bring the Little Skeleton closer!

As long as the pet wasn’t fighting and was within a certain range, he could get the Little Skeleton back. That was the power of his contract.

Whoosh!

A ray of white light appeared in front of Su Ping. The next second, a white skeleton appeared in front of him. It stumbled out from a swirl in space; the Little Skeleton had just finished a teleportation.

They made eye contact. Su Ping was thrilled. He got here in time. He found the Little Skeleton!

“This is great!”

“I found you. This is amazing!!”

Su Ping pulled the Little Skeleton into his arms. He could not find any words to describe how happy he was. He had to rely on the Little Skeleton to leave the Deep Caves, being forced to leave it behind. Su Ping kept on worrying about it, thinking that something might happen to the Little Skeleton if he didn’t make it back in time. Finally, he could leave that matter to rest.

The Little Skeleton didn’t do anything in Su Ping’s embrace for a bit. After some time passed, the Little Skeleton raised its hand and patted Su Ping’s back.

Two swirls appeared behind Su Ping. The Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound came out. Both cheered happily as they saw the Little Skeleton.

“Let me see you.”

Su Ping let go of the Little Skeleton and sized it up and down. The Little Skeleton didn’t look much different; it only seemed more powerful than before. It was likely that it had reached the peak of the ninth rank.

“You must have suffered,” Su Ping said and patted the Little Skeleton’s skull. His heart was aching.

Even though the Little Skeleton had no wounds, Su Ping knew that the Little Skeleton must have gone through fierce and brutal battles. It was just that the Little Skeleton had strong healing abilities so he couldn’t see the wounds.

But the Little Skeleton must have been wounded!

“No… I have not…” The Little Skeleton moved its mouth and uttered some words even though it lacked fluency.

Su Ping was dumbstruck.

The Little Skeleton… can talk?

Su Ping found it hard to believe. He had always thought that the Little Skeleton was slow and would only react fast in battle. It had a sort of dull look when passive He had thought that the Little Skeleton would have to reach the Fate State before it could talk.

The Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound eyed the Little Skeleton with surprise. Soon after, the Inferno Dragon turned around and looked at the Dark Dragon Hound. The latter understood the meaning behind the look and glared at the dragon. Of those three, the dog was the only one that couldn’t talk.

The Inferno Dragon grinned, showing an unmasked contempt.

The dog stomped the ground. Su Ping didn’t pay attention to their shenanigans. He felt depressed. The Little Skeleton must have gone through horrors in the Deep Caves while he was away. This was reality, not the cultivation sites.

The Little Skeleton only had one life!

And it survived!

While the Little Skeleton could regenerate, it didn’t mean that survival was easy for this pet.

The world should treat the tough skeleton better.

Su Ping was emotional. He once again pulled the Little Skeleton into his embrace. The skull felt cold but Su Ping swore he could feel the skeleton’s warmth.

“I’m sorry. I will never let you go,” Su Ping said.

The Little Skeleton leaned its skull against Su Ping’s chest. After a while, the Little Skeleton said, “OK.”

Su Ping calmed himself down. He thought of the theories he had thought of, which made him feel bitter again. He asked the Little Skeleton, “Do you know when the beasts got out from here?”

The Little Skeleton had to know more about the things that happened in the Corridor.

“Yes.”

The Little Skeleton nodded.

Knowing that the Little Skeleton still had some difficulty to speak, Su Ping began to inquire through the contract.

Soon, Su Ping had gained a basic understanding

They left three days ago… Not so long ago.

Su Ping breathed in relief.

It would have been terrifying if the beasts had escaped earlier and were hiding somewhere on the surface all this time, it would be terrifying.

I have to let them know at once… The beasts have broken out. Still, I wonder… What’s happening at the deepest level of the Deep Caves? Su Ping wanted to go back and inform Li Yuanfeng so that they could tell the Tower. But this latest thought intrigued him.

He had never been there!

He knew that the Deep Caves had levels, according to what Li Yuanfeng told him.

The Corridor was at the upper level; the actual lair of those beasts was under the Corridor! Those beasts lived down there; the weak ones could only leave their lair and go to the Corridor. The much more powerful wild beasts were down there!

He wondered if the lair had also been emptied.

Su Ping frowned.

That was a rare development. It should have been almost impossible to go into the lair because of the many beast kings on the way!

However, they were gone now. He had a chance to see the truth about the Deep Caves!

Su Ping finally decided. “Come on. Let’s go and check it out.”

That was a risky choice, but he had the Void Sword; he could cut through the void and escape, on the off chance he ran into a large number of beasts. On the other hand, if the beasts had left, he might be able to find something useful there.

The Little Skeleton, the Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound didn’t disagree. They had become used to his orders, whether it was dangerous or not.

Su Ping placed the dragon and the hound back in the contract space because they were too large. He could summon them if he did run into problems.

Whoosh!

Su Ping took the Little Skeleton’s hand and flew away.

The Corridor seemed deserted without the beast kings roaming about.

Bones and feces were all over the place, and there was slime of some unknown beasts on the rock walls, which made the place seem a little gloomy and hideous.

He would see some beast kings along the way but most of them were injured and resting.

Su Ping went and killed them as soon as he saw them.

They finally arrived at the end of the corridor after four to five hours passed. They made some detours because the Corridor was like a maze. Su Ping preferred to err on the side of caution, not daring to cut space open like before, in case he would alert the beasts that might be in hiding.