Astral Pet Store (WN)

"An Ascendant State body?"

Chi Huo narrowed his eyes, compelled to look in Shen Huang's direction. He then saw the black cocoon within the small universe on top of the throne's armrest.

The little guy had undoubtedly gained something else, and was assimilating it at the moment.

He's only a Star Lord no older than a hundred years of age. And yet, he's got an Ascendant State body…

Has the old man invested all his treasures in the boy?

Time flowed.

The Heavenly Lord battles became increasingly fierce. Only six contestants remained after the second round of elimination, including the three Celestial's first disciples, the leaders of the Yuantians and the Loulans, as well as a Heavenly Lord who was Xu Kong's disciple, who had glowed for 10,000 years in the past!

The silent genius shined again at that moment, making the audience remember his name.

"Yuantian Zhan doesn't care for ladies, at all!"

Ji Xueqing, You Long, Chunyu and the others were eliminated; they eventually returned to their seats. Ji Xueqing was picked by the Yuantans' ancestor. Even though she was a top Heavenly Lord, the guy was much more skilled; she suffered a brutal loss. Even the secret technique she had worked on for years was absolutely useless.

"It's impossible to awe the troops without unparalleled strength!" Senior Brother Han heaved a soft sigh.

Chunyu was silent. He had been defeated by Xu Kong's disciple, the genius whose name had spread throughout the universe sixty thousand years prior. He was the guy's senior in terms of age; the latter was unstoppable when he rose.

The genius further consolidated his brilliance as time went by, becoming even stronger. Being defeated by a junior had never crossed his mind.

Both were unparalleled geniuses. Someone had once compared them, and their achievements were similar.

However, it was obvious which one of them was better once their talents were tested in battle!

The loser didn't slack off over the years; it was just that his rival had been advancing too fast!

He unconsciously looked aside and noticed the empty seat, then finally remembered something and looked at his master's side to find the black sphere.

Maybe his junior brother was the only one capable of catching up with that genius in tens of thousands of years.

"Why did our junior brother Su go to see Master?" You Long had already recovered from his defeat. He had been aware that his opponent was indeed strong; his only option was to go full out. To actually win would have been exhilarating, and yet completely understandable if he lost.

Regardless of his diligence when it came to training, the other guy was clearly stronger!

"Master probably opened up our junior brother's sight, fearing that the guy wouldn't get to see your battles clearly. You shouldn't have covered your battles," said Zhu Feng with a shrug.

Ji Xueqing sighed, "Our master truly likes Junior brother; we didn't have such treatment."

"It can't be helped, our junior brother is too talented; probably not even Junior Brother Liu Xing can compare to him."

"Yes."

The rest of Su Ping's seniors felt conflicted. They were more or less jealous, but not angry; after all, they had all seen the young man's talent, and knew they couldn't have done the same at that age and level.

It was all because of Su Ping's unique technique for cultivating multiple small worlds.

Furthermore, he was the only one who had the secret technique at the moment.

"Eldest brother is the only one of our group still competing; I wonder if he can make it to the end. I felt he had more trump cards during the fight between Yuan Tianchen and me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to force him to reveal them," said Ji Xueqing with a frown. She was in fact worried; the army's commander was of paramount importance, and as powerful as a Celestial expert in a way!

If someone from another star zone were to win the position, they would probably assign the difficult battles to the Golden Star Zone in the future.

That is, it was impossible to argue about the decision taken, unless their actions became too outrageous. The Golden Star Zone would have had to endure the loss.

"The Loulans' ancestor is by no means simple."

"I think Heavenly Lord Tian Ye has reached his limits while under Xu Kong's command, even though he has only cultivated for 60,000 years; he is probably the most likely person to rise to the Celestial State in the next 10,000 years."

"Look at those geniuses. If I were to forget my past achievements I would think of myself as mediocre."

All those disciples felt troubled.

"The Night Reaper and our first senior brother are mortal enemies; they're probably going to fight in the next round," said Senior Brother Han.

"Not necessarily; she was just invited to talk with Master and Junior Brother Su, and they did so for a good while. Maybe she'll go for a weaker rival in the next round!" said Zhu Feng.

Ji Xueqing and the others were surprised. "The Night Reaper came out to talk? Why?"

"How could we know? My guess is that it has to do with our junior brother. Anyway, our junior has been training since their conversation ended; apparently he learned something," said the fifth-ranked Heavenly Lord.

Ji Xueqing, Chunyu and the others felt bewildered as they looked in Su Ping's direction.

They all knew that Shen Huang was fond of the latter, but going as far as inviting the Night Reaper to give him pointers was completely unexpected.

Another elimination round took place while they discussed.

The Night Reaper got to pick first again.

She had missed one of the battles while talking with Su Ping. However, her master had made a recording of it, which he replayed for her during the break.

Liu Xia approached Song Yuan while everyone was watching.

Song Yuan couldn't help but put on a bitter smile, knowing it was bound to happen.

"We…"

"I hope you can make it to the next round," said Liu Xia indifferently, "Don't disappoint me."

Song Yuan felt dazed.

The next moment—Liu Xia walked past him to meet with the Loulans' ancestor. She said casually, "You were mean to my junior brother just now; I shall avenge him."

The elder was stunned for a moment, but then said with a smile, "Injuries are inevitable during practice. You want to pick me? Let's get started then."

Liu Xia realized he didn't want to make an enemy out of her; her answer was a nod.

Their battle started right after everybody backed away.

Neither of them had the time to hide their trump cards at the moment; it was a high performing competition from the get go.

Domains, constitutions, laws, secret techniques and battle pets; they pulled out all the stops, launching shocking attacks.

"Ten Ascendant State pets! Oh my god! An Ancestral Dragon! The Black Fire Phoenix! They are top demon beasts with Celestial State bloodlines!"

"The Loulan ancestor is even more unbelievable. That Void Flame Dragon is even more ferocious than the Ancestral one; alas, neither of them has reached their peak status yet."

"Is that what top Heavenly Lords have? They could have crushed us with pets alone."

All the Ascendants in the audience were shocked.

They were all experts and masters on the territories they oversaw; however, the two contenders' battle pets were stronger than any cultivator in the audience. Honestly speaking, even the food they ate was inferior to the pets' sustenance.

Of course, not even their excretions were comparable to the ones coming out of those pets, either.

"As expected of one of the seven biggest families in the universe; they do have a lot of treasures." Ji Xueqing looked at the battlefield with mixed feelings. "Those are among the best and rarest pets; five of them are considered to be of the mythical kind. Any of them would cause a storm of blood in the outside world."

The top rare pets in the Federation had another name, aside from the one related to their level.

Celestial pets were collectively known as mythical pets.

Pets with top, Ascendant bloodline were known as legendary pets.

Lesser pets didn't have special names. They were simply categorized as Ascendant or Star Lord pets.

Even Celestials would fight over a mythical pet!

There were currently five mythical pets among all the pets summoned by the Loulan ancestor!

It was clear that the guy had acquired those pets via unknown ways. The creatures had already become adults, but were unable to reach the peak of their bloodlines due to the man's limitation in relation to his own level.

Ascendants couldn't summon pets above their level.

In fact, even though Star Lords could only aspire to have pets one level higher than them, none of them dared to use Ascendant pets, all because they couldn't suppress them!

Their only choice was to use Ascendant pets, which had been domesticated and controlled.

However, such creatures could merely compare to normal Ascendants beasts, being only slightly stronger than Star Lords. Some of the top Star Lords were capable of dealing with such pets.

For those in the Ascendant tier and beyond, they could only establish contracts with pets on their level.

"Night Reaper isn't bad, either. She has four mythical pets, and her other pets are all legendary. It's unbelievable! She'll probably grow as strong as other Celestials when she rises to their level," remarked You Long in astonishment; he only had one mythical pet, so he couldn't feel any more envious.

"It's impossible to tell who has more trump cards until the very last moment!" Ji Xueqing was quite jealous too; she had only gotten her hands on two mythical pets at a great cost, after so many years. One of them nearly got her killed!

The battlefield became chaotic as the pets emerged one after the other.

The bombardment of secret techniques, arrays using pets, and the combination of secret techniques were too much for the void battlefield, which seemed to be on the verge of exploding.

"The Night Reaper's pets are not as good as those of her opponent, but her strength is obviously better than the Loulans' ancestor; the domain of eternal sleep is truly terrifying!"

"If Liu Xia were a pet, she would probably become a top mythical pet."

All the audience was astonished. Even though their pets were rare and tough, what was truly terrifying was the two parties fighting at the moment. The Night Reaper had suppressed a mythical pet with her own strength!

Not all mythical pets were as strong, when gauging their power head to head. Liu Xia's pets had already grown to their limits. This was caused since Liu Xia was stuck in the bottleneck just before the Ascendant State, and so were they.

Even though they had reached their limits, they weren't as strong as Liu Xia.

There were rumbling noises; some pets were soon wounded and had to quit.

The Night Reaper also revealed her true power; everything was withering under her eternal darkness domain.

Five of the pets aiding the Loulan ancestor instantly fell asleep, and their bodies began to decay at a fast pace.

The Night Reaper's illusion appeared next to the sleeping pets; she used her scythe to slash and pull the pets' souls out of their bodies with her scythe!

It was a soul technique!

The Loulan ancestor also performed an ancient secret technique. He became as sturdy as a statue and remained indestructible, even though Liu Xia's pets would attack him constantly. He charged at her.

However, there were wounds covering the elder's tough body, received from Liu Xia's sharp blade. He, on the other hand, had trouble keeping up with Liu Xia; even if he caught up with her, she would unpredictably disappear like smoke.

"I heard that the Night Reaper had once entered the Nether World. Is that the secret technique she learned? It is super effective against the Loulans' elder."

"The Loulan ancestor is already unbelievably strong. Still, he looks like Lu Xia would, but everything has been lined up for Liu Xia to win."

"You've done well enough."

Their Senior Brother Han and Chunyu were observing in silence; both of them would be defeated in the second round. Being top Heavenly Lords, they were quick to tell that the elder was losing.

It was impossible for him to turn things around, unless there were other trump cards.

The battle ended, ten minutes later—

Just as expected, Liu Xia was the final winner, and the Loulan ancestor avoided using desperate measures.

Being part of one of the seven biggest families also meant that there were too many responsibilities riding on his shoulders. Perhaps winning wasn't his original intent, but to showcase his family's strength.

Nobody knew what exactly he was up to; in any case, all the audience shared similar thoughts after watching the battle.

It was best not to cross the Night Reaper!

Likewise, it was better not to cross the Loulans, either!

"I heard that the Loulan family had once explored an ancient domain and found an unparalleled technique. Still, I never saw their ancestor use it during the fight," said You Long softly when the battle ended.

Chunyu said with a peaceful tone, "Sometimes an unused technique is more effective than the one being used."

Ji Xueqing sighed. "What a shame; he didn't help our first senior brother test Liu Xia's limits. I think she's still hiding something."

Everybody was silent, complex feelings floating about.

The next battle began soon after. Their eldest senior Song Yuan picked Yuantian Zhan, the Yuantians' ancestor.

His reasoning was simple too; he wanted to avenge Junior Sister Ji Xueqing.

Their battle was just as fierce; they summoned as many pets as the Loulan elder did. Even though there were very few mythical pets in the entire universe, some had been born during the Federation's long history, and most were controlled by the Celestials and their subordinates.

Owning such pets was tantamount to disaster for normal people, which would often cause their deaths.

While the fierce battle raged on the void battlefield—the black sphere revolved quietly on the throne's armrest. The black fog on the surface faded away, revealing the figure within.