Astral Pet Store (WN)

Su Ping simply nodded in silence after feeling his master's sincerity.

"I'll take good care of your parents. I've also fetched your sister; you can meet her anytime you want. She is now your second brother's disciple," said Shen Huang, hoping that Su Ping would focus on cultivation without worrying about his family.

Su Ping had heard his senior Ji Xueqing mention that before. He nodded and said, "Thank you, master. I won't be meeting my sister for now; just let her cultivate."

Su Ping did miss Su Lingyue, but he was also aware that time was of the essence. It would be better to cultivate than to reunite with his family. He wouldn't be able to enjoy life until he defeated their formidable foes.

"Okay."

Shen Huang nodded. The next moment, the glowing space was gone and Su Ping was back on the square. The Ascendants around him were still talking about war preparations; it seemed that he had only talked with his master for two seconds.

"Second senior brother…"

Su Ping looked at Chunyu, and said while looking confused, "Master said that my sister is now your disciple; thank you for taking care of her."

Chunyu replied with a smile, "Your sister is quite gifted. Her potential was squandered because of her poor background. But it's all taken care of now; I've helped her reshape her bones and constitution. There's a chance she can rise to the Ascendant State if she works hard."

"Thank you very much, second senior brother," said Su Ping quickly.

He knew that Su Lingyue was gifted. She was a young genius back on the Blue Planet, and could have risen to the Star State with enough resources.

Still, that kind of talent was just mediocre considering the whole scope of the Federation; her strength would place her amongst random members of any major family. If her bones and genes were reshaped, and given the right opportunities, she could probably reach the Ascendant State.

The Ascendant State is not bad at all; she would practically be immortal.?Su Ping's hopes weren't too high. If possible, he would rather keep his family away from the war.

Besides, living could be a painful task if one was immortal.

Shen Huang then gave more instructions for all their war preparations. Heavenly Lords such as Song Yuan and Chunyu would defend different parts of the Celestial Court with their legions.

Su Ping's task was to focus on cultivating and rise to the Ascendant State as soon as possible.

Everyone left once the meeting was over. Those familiar with Su Ping went to greet him, including the Loulan ancestor, their current leader, and Heavenly Lord Jian Lan.

Su Ping quickly turned around and said goodbye upon seeing the beautiful girl next to Heavenly Lord Jian Lan.

Jian Lan heaved a sigh as she saw him leave, then said to Loulan Lin, "Our family won't interfere with your marriage anymore; he's a top genius, but not necessarily a great husband. We underestimated him, thinking he had the likelihood of becoming a Celestial. The current events proved that this is basically bound to happen…

"Also, he's already as strong as a Heavenly Lord right now. He'll probably become the strongest being in the universe once he reaches the Celestial State. He might be able to completely unify the warring star zones of the Federation…"

She paused for a moment, as if feeling conflicted about the scenario described. She signed and said, "His wife will surely be a Celestial too. An Ascendant's life is long, but they're not truly immortal…"

Loulan Lin understood her grandmother's message. She bit her lips and looked in the direction where Su Ping left; she then clenched her fists as one thought rolled in her head.?The Celestial State…

If I reach the Celestial State, would I be able to fight by his side?

She felt rather desperate. Everything she knew and learned since birth attested to how unreachable that state was.

There had never been a Celestial expert in all the history of the Loulan family.

Some extraordinary geniuses had emerged, including her grandmother Jian Lan, who was much more gifted than she was; that was why she was a Heavenly Lord.

The thought only flashed in her head. She soon became determined again, then said to Jian Lan in a low voice, "Grandmother, I want to go to the Blue Orchid Mysterious Realm."

Jian Lan trembled as she looked down at her favorite granddaughter, whose head was lowered at the moment; her expression couldn't be seen. However, her fists were clearly clenched.

Still unwilling to give up…

Jian Lan heaved a sigh, but then there was an odd and sudden feeling of admiration. She had placed the matter on the table quite clearly, believing that Loulan Lin would be smart enough to understand and back down. However, she didn't expect that the latter would have the determination and courage to fight for the Celestial State.

Such a display of determination and courage could be seen as hilarious, but anyone would be stuck in mediocrity if the peak wasn't the objective!

"All right, but you must be prepared for the risk of dying," said Jian Lan.

Loulan Lin nodded hard.

…

On the other hand, Su Ping returned to the Blue Planet in Ji Xueqing's company.

She was asked to escort him mainly because she was a Heavenly Lord too; it would have been absurd to send Ye Feng to protect him, because Su Ping would have been the one protecting him instead if they were truly caught in a dangerous situation.

Ye Feng was no longer Su Ping's guard; he didn't know what to say about that junior brother of his who had been pretending to be weak. His team had been watching over Su Ping's planet, fearing that other Ascendants would attack.

But even if they did go there, they would only be sending themselves to the slaughter if they met Su Ping.

That is, unless a Celestial State decided to make a move.

The journey wasn't long. Ji Xueqing's protection was already enough while traveling inside the Celestial Court's energy shield. Even if a Celestial of the Heavenly Devil Alliance did show up, they would be capable of surviving long enough for Shen Huang to get there.

"Junior brother, keep it up. I look forward to seeing you in the Ascendant State." Ji Xueqing winked.

Su Ping cupped his hands and thanked her.

Ji Xueqing didn't stay too long, slipping away after sending Su Ping to his destination. She would have felt embarrassed to stay with his junior. His previous low profile made her feel she had been teased by him.

Once back in Rhea, Su Ping suddenly remembered the true owner of the place and wondered where the man was at the moment.

He shook his head, not giving it further thought as he returned to his store. Tang Ruyan and the others were busy receiving customers.

He was so famous that he was a walking at the moment; there were too many customers every day.

It was impossible for him to run a store in a low profile, unless he were to change his appearance and migrate to some uninhabited planet. This would only trick ordinary people, though; he would be exposed sooner or later, and the assassins of the Heavenly Devil Alliance would eventually show up.

The store's daily quota was soon reached, and they closed for business; the customers still waiting in line had long grown accustomed to such a thing.

Su Ping summoned Joanna and said, "Are you free to go back with me?"

"Go back?" Joanna felt dazed for a moment. Then, her eyes glittered. "Back to my place?"

"Sure."

"Okay," Joanna quickly said.

Even though her life in Su Ping's store was easy, she was still more accustomed to the Demigod Burial, which was her hometown; even the air in that place felt sweeter to her.

Tang Ruyan quickly approached them and pitifully said, "Can I go with you?"

"No." Su Ping was quick to shoot her down. "You've used up your Outstanding Employee reward; wait until the next time. Your job now is to watch over the store for me and you're too slow as a cultivator; you can hardly catch up. Just take your time."

Tang Ruyan felt frustrated. "But I want to become strong too!"

"Then keep wanting."

"…"

Su Ping went to the Chaos Spirit Pool room and took Joanna to the Demigod Burial.

They appeared in the sky above a desolate plane. Joanna looked around and asked Su Ping, "Are you here for them?"

"We can ask them for help if you think it's necessary," said Su Ping, "I want to find people who are about to go through their Heavenly Tribulations; I need to experience tribulations again."

That was the main purpose of his trip; he was hoping to become more familiar with that phenomenon by experiencing several of them.

Joanna was enlightened. No wonder Su Ping didn't go to the Archean Divinity, which was a better place, and opted for that cultivation site instead.

"All right, I'll summon them right now."

Joanna closed her eyes and glimmered. A moment passed, then she opened her eyes and said, "They'll be here in a minute; I believe that their attitude will be different."

"Whatever." Su Ping didn't really care about that. He was basically immortal when he visited the place anyway; he could practice fighting Celestials again if they had another argument.

All of a sudden, Su Ping remembered the Titan Divine Array mentioned during the previous gathering, and was also reminded that Joanna carried the Titan God bloodline. Feeling intrigued, he asked, "Do you know the Titan Divine Array? It's a military formation."

"The Titan Divine Array?"

Dazed for a moment, Joanna replied, "Of course. Where did you hear that from? It's a secret godly array. It's a small formation used in war."

Su Ping was surprised, not expecting that she would truly know it. "A small formation for war? How powerful is it? What about the larger ones?"

"It's reasonably powerful. There's the Inferior Titan Divine Array and the Superior Titan Divine Array. The first one requires eighteen members, while the other one requires a number of people divisible by nine, the minimum being eighty-one!"

Joanna added, "Eighteen Ascendants as strong as me can fight against a Celestial with the Inferior Titan Divine Array!

"Eighty-one people as strong as me can kill a Superior God with the Superior Titan Divine Array!"

Su Ping was astonished by the numbers and reach of the Superior Titan Divine Array.

And that's just a small military formation?

"What about the big military formations?" asked Su Ping in a hurry.

"The big military formations are controlled by the seven clans and some of the high-ranked gods," said Joanna, "But as far as I know, those have to be supervised by emperor-level experts; they cannot be used otherwise."

Su Ping grimaced; the thought of such power terrified him.

"Are there medium-sized ones?"

"Yes. They require Superior Gods as the core, but I only know their names. I don't know the details; after all, I left a long time ago. You'll have to look for answers in the Archean Divinity if you're interested."

Su Ping's eyes glittered; that was a great solution.

His senior brothers and sisters would be greatly strengthened if he could get his hands on such formations and showed them to his master. It could even be the deciding factor in the war.

After all, military formations were equivalent to aircraft carriers and nuclear bombs on underdeveloped planets. Countries with better technology and firepower could do whatever they wanted.

"It's been a long time," said a gentle voice. Heather—wearing a hazy and intriguing black dress—walked out of the void.

"Anna, you're back." said Avril with a smile as she appeared.

"Mr. Su, we are sorry for what happened last time," said Shivalello immediately after stepping out of the void, his attitude showing sincerity.

Eborr appeared next to him and also looked at Su Ping with sincere eyes. "Apologies for my arrogant outburst."

Su Ping's eyebrows went up as he looked at their completely different attitude. Their change was too much and too sudden, which was beyond his expectation.

Their manners were impeccable this time. Su Ping had no time to consider what they were truly thinking, but he knew fully well that those Superior Gods wouldn't have apologized to a Mr. Nobody if they didn't see him as valuable.

"That's all right. I've come to you because I need your help; I need to find people ready to go through Heavenly Tribulations as I want to experience it firsthand," Su Ping said directly.

"Experience… their Heavenly Tribulations?"

They had already become used to Su Ping's straightforward ways. Even though they felt slightly uncomfortable, they didn't show anything on the surface; they were merely astonished by the request.

"That's right. I want to experience their Heavenly Tribulations to polish my body some more," said Su Ping.

They unconsciously looked at Su Ping's body, only to narrow their eyes in shock.

"Mr. Su, your body…" Shivalello was shocked. Being a god himself, he was quite sensitive to divine power. He was able to sense a stream of pure and abundant divine power inside Su Ping's body; it gave off a familiar feeling.

Su Ping didn't cover it up. He switched to his original god's physique and said, "I don't have a lot of time, I hope you can help me."

They were stunned to see Su Ping's glowing body, as it already seemed perfect in their eyes. He had the best godly bloodline, even purer than their own!

Su Ping could actually look down on them in terms of bloodline.

"You've turned into a god…" Heather was dazed, not expecting Su Ping to actually transform into one of them. What shocked her even more was that Su Ping's body also had divine power!

Shivalello and the others were too shocked for words; Su Ping had grown far beyond their wildest imagination. They finally realized why the ever proud Joanna would voluntarily succumb to a human boy. Given enough time, that young man would surely surpass them and reach a level where they could only look up to!

"Please hurry up," Joanna urged them indifferently. She was never humble in front of Superior Gods, and she was even colder than before.