Astral Pet Store (WN)

Su Ping didn’t explain. He simply said, “Come with me.”

He summoned three pets, the Inferno Dragon, the Dark Dragon Hound, and the Purple Python.

As for the Little Skeleton, he would only summon it when absolutely necessary.

“Your pet…” Su Ping was about to tell Tang Ruyan to summon her battle pets when he thought of something. “Can her battle pets be revived in her state?”

“No,” The system answered at once, “Their deaths would be real. Your contract is merely with her, not her battle pets.”

Su Ping was not too surprised by this.

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If Tang Ruyan’s battle pets could be trained there, then he would ask her to be his carrier, to take in more pets with him in the future.

He remembered that Joanna’s battle pets couldn’t revive in cultivation sites, either.

“Let’s go!” Su Ping said.

They were in a dense forest, an immense one. Apart from the Divine Energy spread everywhere, he was also perceiving a smell of blood in the air. There had to be beasts or members of the god race there!

“What?”

Tang Ruyan had yet to snap out of her shock. Su Ping was already leaving; she hurried over and asked again, “What is this place? How come we’re here?”

“All you need to know is that it is a place for you to fight,” Su Ping answered, not looking back.

Soon, he had seen some massive beast tracks on the ground. The beasts had squashed some leaves in the mud.

“Let’s go.” Su Ping followed the tracks.

Tang Ruyan was dumbstruck. Su Ping’s words didn’t sound like an order. She was getting a feeling that she would follow his words out of instinct.

Whoosh!

She followed him, while unleashing her powers and using another secret skill, Shadow Tracing. She could travel at very fast speed, and even be able to get away from eighth-rank beasts.

Soon, she realized that Su Ping was getting further and further away from her.

“Wait up,” she shouted and hurried on.

Su Ping didn’t stop. He was traveling as a titled battle pet warrior, aiming to train Tang Ruyan.

Half an hour passed. Suddenly, Su Ping felt he had become something’s target. Informed and experienced as he was, Su Ping quickly recognized that he was facing an Ocean State beast king

A little bit too powerful, but it’ll work. Su Ping didn’t stop.

Soon, he followed the tracks and reached the end of a road that had been destroyed. A behemoth was standing there, staring at him. The beast had sensed that something was following it and that it wasn’t strong. Therefore, the behemoth stopped to wait for it. “A hunter? Go to hell!”

The beast saw the human and spoke the gods’ language.

Su Ping had learned the gods’ language from Joanna so he was able to understand. Still, that behemoth’s accent sounded a bit strange.

“Finish him!”

Su Ping told the customers’ battle pets and the Purple Python to fight the beast king first.

As for the Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound, Su Ping didn’t release them; the beast king wouldn’t have survived the joint strikes of the two.

“You go as well,” said Su Ping to a panting Tang Ruyan.

She had just arrived; she placed her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. She heard Su Ping’s words and stared at the behemoth. “A beast king?” “Yes. Go and kill it!” Su Ping said. Tang Ruyan glared at him. She wondered if she had heard it wrong. Did he just tell me to go and kill the beast king?

She was about to diss him when something inside told her that she should abandon all distractions and that maybe, Su Ping was right and she should give it a try.

But that’s a beast king!

The will to survive kicked in. She freed herself from that strange state and said, “I, I’m merely at the seventh-rank. I will only slow those pets down.”

“Don’t be afraid. Just go. Don’t worry about deaths,” Su Ping said, with a cold-blooded tone.

He was always cruel when it came to pet training

Tang Ruyan was about to refute when she felt a burning sensation. She realized that she would die if she didn’t follow his orders!

Is he going to kill me?

Tang Ruyan could hardly believe it. But Su Ping looked very different from when he was at the store. That was not a man who would joke around.

Startled as she was, she made up her mind. She prepared to summon her battle pets to fight in that desperate fight.

The moment the swirls opened up behind her, Su Ping said, “You will have to rely on yourself. Don’t use your battle pets. Rely on the skills you learned from the Tang Family. I trust you.”

Tang Ruyan was furious. Indeed, the Tang Family had collected many skills but no amount would be enough when facing a beast king!

Su Ping was relentless. She bit her lips. Suddenly, she felt as if she were making a rash decision. “If you want me to die, so be it!”

She let go of her fear and once again, with the Shadow Tracer, she charged toward the beast king.

The battle pets were laying siege to the behemoth. The fact that those lower beings were trying to attack it had angered the beast king. Feeling insulted, the beast king roared. “Rot in hell!”

The beast king spoke the gods’ language. A surge of golden energy gushed out. The three pets that belonged to Su Ping’s customers flew backward. The three pets would have died if it weren’t for their previous round of training.

The Purple Python was the only pet that remained standing next to the beast king.

The snake’s scales were raised. The Purple Python attacked its shield the moment the beast king unleashed its energy. The python shook its head and rapidly approached the beast king, wrapping up the latter.

Thanks to its ample battle experience, the Purple Python was agile. The beast king tried to grab it and tear it apart, but the scales were too sleeky.

Tang Ruyan had reached the beast king as well Her determination wavered as she looked at that gargantuan figure. She thought of Su Ping’s words. She then shouted as she dashed toward the beast king.

Bang!

The beast king bellowed; the sonic impact cracked the energy shield that Tang Ruyan had just raised; even the Glass Bulwark failed.

The next second, she was found hundreds of meters away, barely breathing.

Su Ping frowned. He went to see her.

“Keep going,” he said. Tang Ruyan coughed out blood. Su Ping was looking down at her from a height. She couldn’t find any warmth or kindness on his face, just coldness.

She smiled. She placed her hand on the ground and slowly crawled up. Even standing was too painful and too much work for her. She lowered her head and said, “If my death is what you want, I’ll grant your wish…”

She looked into his eyes.

The tenderness and affection in her eyes stunned Su Ping. He was then reminded that Tang Ruyan was a person, not a pet.

Or, pets weren’t animals as he thought they were; they also had feelings. It was just that they couldn’t show their feelings like Tang Ruyan.

Was it…

Really so?

Su Ping replayed in his mind how the Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound would run toward death again and again under his command.

They were determined, willing, and they trusted him!

He replied with silence.

He had been surrounded by too much affection along the way.

No wonder the Inferno Dragon would not step down even when facing the Otherworld Heavenly King.

The Inferno Dragon was willing to sacrifice itself for him in the cultivation sites and had always been so. Why would it be afraid of a Heavenly King?

Is that how you showed your feelings for me…

Su Ping turned around, gazing at the Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound who were sitting in the distance, bored. The Inferno Dragon was scratching its back and the Dark Dragon Hound was looking for bugs on the ground. Neither was interested in the ongoing battle…

Because they had experienced too many…

Su Ping looked away.

“Go,” he said to Tang Ruyan again.

At that moment, the glow in Tang Ruyan’s eyes had died down.

Su Ping noticed that but said nothing.

He had understood that she trusted him and was willing to do what he ordered. But he wouldn’t let her down, not even when he had to put her in harm’s way

After all, her death wouldn’t be real. Her pain was there so that she may live!

That was the rule of life.

Tang Ruyan gave Su Ping one last glance but said nothing. She turned around and walked to the beast king; then jogged and then ran, shouting

Bang!

The moment she reached the beast king, she was reduced to dust.

Su Ping watched her as she perished, then he ordered her revival.

Soon, Tang Ruyan appeared on the spot, good as new. She stared at herself; to her surprise, her wounds were gone and even her fatigue.

“Go!” Su Ping repeated.

Tang Ruyan came back to her senses but still didn’t know what was going on. Is any of this real?

She wondered if she were dreaming…

How could she have possibly arrived in that peculiar space?

She had also died. But then she came back to life…

It had to be a dream!

She remembered how Su Ping was different from when he was at the store. She was convinced.

That was just a dream!

If it was indeed a dream, then there was nothing to be afraid of!

Finish it!

Tang Ruyan once again charged at the behemoth.

Soon, she died and returned to life.

Again and again… and again. Tang Ruyan was getting more and more excited. That was a dream!

But the dream was too realistic!

She could do whatever she desired there!

“Ha, ha, ha, go to hell!!”

“Beast King? Come on… Let me show you how I’m going to crush you!”

“Hey, dude, smile for me…”

Her loud and wild laughter echoed in the forest. Tang Ruyan threw herself at the beast king again and again. Even though each attempt would end with her dying, she was getting more excited and more thrilled.

Su Ping: “…”

The sudden change of the girl stunned Su Ping.

That deep emotion gathered at the bottom of his heart had just vanished.

I must be thinking too much…

The girl was so ladylike in her usual day to day life. What happened?

“Fight well. Don’t think you can do anything just because you won’t die. Learn from the pets.” Su Ping had to discipline her.

Tang Ruyan snorted. “Don’t tell me what to do. I’m the boss here. Anyway, why is the beast king still here? I should be able to kill it with one thought on my mind.”