Astral Pet Store (WN)

The Dark Dragon Hound and the Purple Python had to follow Su Ping no matter how unwilling they were.

The hound was doing a little bit better because it was strong to begin with, and the golden fruit had enabled it to walk around normally.

However, the Dark Dragon Hound began to make that face again. It seemed like the dog was no longer able to handle the heat.

Su Ping rolled his eyes at the Dark Dragon Hound; it had become a stunning actor to avoid pain.

The Purple Python, on the other hand, was not prone to trickery. The snake was wiggling forward.

Not long afterward, Su Ping suddenly saw a ball of fire rising in the distance. That ball of fire was approaching them rapidly.

As soon as the fireball was close enough, Su Ping saw that it was actually a behemoth. The lion-looking beast was around seven meters tall and fire was burning in its hair and eyes. Even the exposed fangs were aflame. That was a beast of the fire family and there was no doubt of that.

Flaming Lion? Damn. I didn’t know they could be so big.

Without any hesitation, Su Ping stepped back and turned around to look at the Dark Dragon Hound which was still making that face of extreme suffering. The pet accidentally made eye contact with Su Ping as well; it soon decided to turn around and gaze into the distance, as if it would have just noticed something important in the horizon.

The Purple Python was still wiggling and waving on the spot, clearly not in the mood to look at the Flaming Lion at all. Even if those wild beasts weren’t there, survival was difficult for the Purple Python.

“Doggy, go.”

Su Ping snorted.

The Dark Dragon Hound looked at Su Ping with its googly eyes, but he kept a straight face. The dog knew that pretending to be cute would not work on that man-shaped piece of ice. The hound barked and turned over to see the Flaming Lion. The Dark Dragon Hound had raised many defensive skills, including the dwarfed Goddess of Ice.

The stone family and the wing family skills were still effective there.

The skill that worked best in that environment was the Dress of the Flame Muse!

A huge shield that was breathing out fire was manifested; it was like a hundred-meter tall wall that stood in front of the Dark Dragon Hound, and was still expanding.

Su Ping raised his eyebrows; that shield of fire worked much better there.

Roar!

The fire surging from the Flaming Lion took the shape of another lion which ran toward the Dark Dragon Hound, bumping into the Dress of the Flame Muse.

Bang. Fire burst free from the shield and surrounded the fire-made lion, cutting the latter into pieces!

However, after that, a fire hand slapped the shield, leaving a dent behind.

“You can’t just stand there, the Little Skeleton is not here. Get rid of the lion,” Su Ping alerted the Dark Dragon Hound.

The Dark Dragon Hound pricked its ears. The words “Little Skeleton” must have inspired it, since the unwillingness disappeared. The pet adopted a more serious attitude.

Roar!!

The hound bellowed using the dragon’s roar he had learned, which echoed in the area. A ray of golden light broke free; the image of a goddess formed behind the Dark Dragon Hound. The goddess drew its bow and an arrow formed with fire was pointed at the Flaming Lion.

Bang!

The arrow was discharged, instantly reaching the Flaming Lion.

The sense of danger alerted the beast. It roared and two fire claws appeared, flanking its body and reaching toward the arrow.

The two claws and the arrow bumped into each other. Sparkles filled the air as both the arrow and the two claws vanished. The Flaming Lion remained unhurt after the exchange.

Su Ping didn’t just watch. He had to fill the spot left by the Little Skeleton while it was away.He also had not planned that trip for training his battle pets. Otherwise, he would have stood idle, letting the Dark Dragon Hound and the Purple Python do their job.

Whoosh!

Su Ping exerted his full strength; the Force Field opened up behind him. In the meantime, he was mobilizing all the energy he had—even his blood was boiling. It was a sign that the Solar Bulwark was in effect.

He made a cut with his sword!

Swish!

The wind died down. The sword ray was pitch dark; Su Ping poured Divine Energy into the cut and hacked at the Flaming Lion’s head.

The Flaming Lion came to a sudden stop and narrowed its eyes, which were two fire spheres. Following that, many flames burst out from the creature.

Whoosh!

Su Ping felt he had lost his target.

He cut through the Flaming Lion which was split into two balls of flames and ran away. It instantly came into being again dozens of meters away from him.

The beast looked at Su Ping and ran away.

While the Flaming Lion ran to escape, its appearance began to change, its body becoming slimmer and longer, which enabled it to run faster. Soon after, the Flaming Lion had disappeared.

Su Ping didn’t go after the Flaming Lion. He stored his sword since the beast was gone.

I feel so hot!

Su Ping placed his hands over his chest; his heart was close to failing him.

He was fine while he wasn’t doing strenuous exercise. But he felt his blood was burning up as soon as he moved, and his heart was in such a level of pain that he could barely stand it.

He tried to take deep breaths but he was still feeling hot.

“Come on, let’s go.” Su Ping bit his teeth. He wanted to adjust his breaths but failed. The world was a furnace; the longer he was here, the hotter he would feel. He would eventually melt in this incinerator.

The Dark Dragon Hound deactivated the shields. The pet’s sweat turned into steam, and it stuck its tongue out as a way to get some air.

Su Ping told the hound to follow him.

The pet saw that Su Ping couldn’t even stand up straight. Since its master was suffering, the Dark Dragon Hound decided not to give up.

After twenty minutes or so passed, Su Ping finally collapsed on the ground after he felt that he was losing his senses.

Soon, his consciousness woke up.

He chose to revive on the spot.

He saw that the Dark Dragon Hound was at the gates of death and so was the Purple Python. The Inferno Dragon was doing better but it also looked fatigued.

Su Ping tried to cheer them up and they went forward.

The Celestial Star was a desolate world. Su Ping was seeing magma everywhere; he was in scorching pain with each passing second. An idea popped up. He wanted to go back, back to the comfort of his store and back to the other cultivation sites.

How easy that would be.

He wouldn’t have to suffer.

But that idea lived for one second and never came back to life.

“What is that?”

Su Ping saw a vast skeleton and he thought of the word ‘vast’ because of the sheer size of the thing made it seem like a mountain!

Even the Inferno Dragon was less than one tenth when compared to the size of one rib!

When looking from afar, Su Ping would only be like a speck of dust as he walked on the skeleton.

If it weren’t for the fact that Su Ping had encountered unimaginable creatures in other cultivation sites, Su Ping would have never believed that such a huge thing existed.

While Su Ping was walking on top of the skeleton, he heard a shrill cry.

Cry!

The intangible sound had a weird piercing effect. Su Ping found his heart racing and his blood boiling when he heard it. It was like some sort of… resonance.

Su Ping followed that sound and saw a massive golden bird flying over from the distance.

He could see flames at the tips of the bird’s wings and the bird had three feet. The bird didn’t look much different from the common birds except that it was larger. If he had to say, he would conclude that the bird looked like a crow.

Is that a Golden Crow?

Su Ping was dumbstruck.

While cultivating the Solar Bulwark, he had once seen a Golden Crow and the bird looked just like it!

The bird was approaching. Su Ping tried to teleport as fast as possible, instantly changing position to a place thousand meters above the ground.

However, the Golden Crow had flown past Su Ping by the time he went up to the sky.

Still, Su Ping’s teleportation had alerted the bird.

It eyed Su Ping with a sharp look.

Su Ping unleashed the energy from his Solar Bulwark. The Golden Crow turned around and flew back to Su Ping.

Su Ping heard a refreshing voice in his mind.

“Energy of the Golden Crows?”

The bird didn’t open its beak but Su Ping distinctly heard a lady’s voice in his mind.

“Are you a Golden Crow?” Su Ping asked.

“What are you?” the voice asked.

Su Ping replied, “I’m a human being. You may not know what a human being is, but that is what we’re called. I’m here to find something. I’m learning one of the skills that belonged to you, Golden Crows. I am, kind of, part of your family. Could you help me?”

“Human being?”

The Golden Crow looked doubtful. It gazed at Su Ping for a while and suddenly coldness filled its eyes. “I wonder where you stole our skill. You who stole our bloodline must die!”

The temperature was rising.

He knew that things were going to end badly for him the moment he noticed the change of that Golden Crow’s look, as he was quite sensitive to killing intent. He then found his mind was empty before he could explain.

Su Ping died.

“Revive on the spot!”

Su Ping didn’t hesitate.

The temperature made him cry as soon as he came back to life. He was trembling.

“What?”

The Golden Crow was perplexed.

Su Ping was only focused on the pain, although he really wanted to say ‘what are you surprised of!’

“Don’t try. You can’t kill me,” Su Ping shouted.

It sounded somewhat funny the way it came out.

Of course, the Golden Crow didn’t believe him; he turned to dust as soon as he uttered those words.

Revival!

Death!

Revival!

Death!

“Are you…”

“Are you done…”

“Are you done yet…”

“Damn it…”

For the 10th time, Su Ping came back to life. He had spent nine thousand energy points in that short instant, but the admission only cost him nine thousand energy points.

“I told you. You can’t kill me.” Su Ping felt helpless.

This time, the Golden Crow refrained from killing Su Ping again. It was awfully confused.

Yes, Su Ping couldn’t be killed.

So, “human beings” were strong, right?

The Golden Crow could not believe it.

It had never heard of such a scary race on the Celestial Star ruled by the Golden Crow race!

Horror!

No wonder the seniors in the family said that while they were the rulers, there were dangerous places outside that could hurt them.

They were right!

This thing called human being is dangerous!

The Golden Crow looked at Su Ping; it was feeling an urge to fly away.

Su Ping was speechless when he saw the caution in the Golden Crow’s eyes. There came a sudden understanding: he felt that Gold Crows were obtuse. Still, that Golden Crow should at least be at the Star Rank, although it wasn’t acting like one.

The purple-blood dragon he had met, for example, was sophisticated; he was never able to figure out what the dragon was thinking when he saw its eyes.

“I didn’t steal anything. One of your, I think, forefathers gave it to me, and I am immensely grateful…” Su Ping answered. The Golden Crow could accept this, right?

“Forefather?” the Golden Crow asked in disbelief, “Which one? What does it look like? Do you know the name?”

“It…”

Su Ping was speechless. What does it look like? It looked like all the Golden Crows. How could I tell the difference?

“It looked… like you.” Su Ping wanted to give up. “I don’t know its name. I think it called itself something like the system. I think it was a joke, don’t you think? No bird would go by that stupid name. Right?”

“You’re lying!” the Golden Crow shouted.

Su Ping was startled. What gave me away? The joke about the system?

He regretted it.

“Of all the Golden Crows, I am the prettiest of all. No other Golden Crow is like me,” the Golden Crow claimed.

“…”

It sounded dead earnest. Su Ping didn’t know what to do at all.