Astral Pet Store (WN)

“Ah…!”

“Ah, it hurts!”

People were crying. Others started to notice what was going on as more and more people fell from the sky. What they saw frightened the wits out of them.

A terrifying beast was there, gazing upon them. They were hundreds of meters above the ground. Falling from such a height would mean they would be crushed to pieces!

The battle pet warriors who were among the fleeing crowd were also panicked by that. Their brains stopped working the moment they saw that beast.

Some with stronger nerves quickly came back to their senses and summoned their battle pets.

Some of the flying battle pets freed their masters from that chaos. Common folk would also cling onto the wings of such battle pets, as it was their last thread of hope.

There were battle pets that weren’t of the flying kind, but they were able to use skills to brace the fall.

“Cheap food…”

The Thousand-eyed Demon Beast giggled. It was as if hearing the cries and screams was fun for it, akin to the most beautiful music.

The beast turned around and stared at the base city in the distance.

The beast saw some people heading over; all of them were at the legendary rank.

The chaos had soon been sensed by some legendary battle pet warriors who were guarding the teleportation portal. Even though they themselves were shaking in their boots, they had to go there. If they couldn’t repair the passageway in time, then no one… absolutely no one in the entire base city would be able to get out!

They had no idea what the beast, for it to have the means to stop the Vulture’s skill. The one thing they did know was that the beast was scary.

DVV VV

ds

Doom would be inevitable if they didn’t go and face the beast. But if they did, there would still be a glint of hope.

“Delicious food…” The Thousand-eyed Demon Beast licked its reeking and slimy mouth. Its fangs were sharp; one could hardly imagine how strong its bite force would be. “Oh, come over…” the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast mumbled.

Space was trembling in front of it. The three legendary battle pet warriors that were getting closer vanished in the air. They reappeared in the next second, dozens of meters away from the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast. They were within the beast’s strike range!

And the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast did strike.

It was as if the creature knew exactly where the three people would be; it made an attacking motion with its sharp claws at that location.

“How…”

“The… The Fate State…”

The three legendary battle pet warriors had never been so afraid in their entire lives. Their faces were contorted, and they froze on the spot as they stared at the sharp claws. They remained motionless.

They wanted to run. However, space had stopped them from running away!

Child’s play!

Killing the three was like a piece of cake for the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast, easier than an Ocean State Warrior killing a titled warrior!

Whoosh!

The claws squeezed the three legendary battle pet warriors. Their eyes popped out and blood oozed out from their eyes and mouths. Their internal organs, including their hearts, had been torn to pieces.

The battle pet warriors that were riding on their flying battle pets to get away were dumbstruck by this outcome.

The three of them had been at the legendary rank!

But they didn’t even have the chance to fight back!

Desperation!

The battle pet warriors could not help but tremble; terror and fear crawled over their faces. Some who had reacted faster ordered their battle pets to fly away at once.

And yet, they had barely moved dozens of meters when they exploded in the air, leaving behind a blood flower pattern in the sky.

The other battle pet warriors were so frightened they forgot how to move.

“You will be my appetizers… “The Thousand-eyed Demon Beast grinned with joy and cruelty. The large beast opened its mouth; it smelled as if a piece of flesh would have been left to rot for months!

The three legendary battle pet warriors wanted to beg for their lives but they were unable to open their mouths.

They could not even blink!

“Huh?”

Suddenly, the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast turned its head away.

Four people were coming forward. The leader of the four was a bulky man covered in black hair, which made him look like an angry bear.

He was Xiang Fengran and he was there to help!

“Better food…”

The Thousand-eyed Demon Beast flashed a cruel smile.

In a forest region in the Subcontinent District.

Roar!!

The roar served as a cue for a figure covered in tiger stripes to dash out. Three beasts were running wildly across the forest to chase that pretty lady in tiger stripes. “They’re here. Kill them!”

The tiger lady teleported to the edge of the forest and stopped.

The woman’s body had turned into that of a tiger, but her face remained the same as before. She was Xue Yunzhen.

“Three at the Void State…”

A bald middle-aged man looked gravely at the three beast kings going after Xue Yunzhen. He was also at the Void State. Even though he wasn’t as powerful as Xue Yunzhen who was at the late stage of the Void State, he could deal with the less troublesome Void State beasts when merged with his battle pets.

“Allow me. We must finish this quickly,” Zhou Tianlin suggested.

Even before the bald man was able to get confused, Zhou Tianlin stepped forward and he opened five swirls.

Five violent creatures came out from the swirls, roaring and snarling. The five Void State beasts that were once imprisoned in the Demigod Burial made an appearance.

Violence ripped across the forest. The bald man’s jaw dropped.

This man had been likely to drag us down… He had five Void State pets?! The five beast kings… are the best of the best!

“Look at them…”

Xue Yunzhen turned around in the air. She noticed that the five beast kings were much alike to the ones she had recently bought from Su Ping’s store.

It was as if all the beast kings would have been cast in the same mold!

Finish it!

Zhou Tianlin went and allowed the five battle pets to run free.

The five vicious beasts sprang at their targets.

Some of the five teleported to their targets and the others snuck by moving through the underground. There was even one that summoned thunder and lightning bolts to stop the three Void State beasts.

Those three beasts came from the Corridor and that environment had made them quite cruel. However, the Corridor was nothing when compared to the largest prison in the Demigod Burial.

Void State creatures were just insignificant minions in that large prison. Even Star Rank beasts were commonly seen!

Roar!

Roar!!

The five battle pets had waited a long time for a moment to vent off some energy for a long time. The three Void State beast kings were surrounded; they were soon torn open amid some miserable cries.

Five against three. Nothing from that battle had been surprising, given the circumstances.

It was also of note that the five battle pets were all at the late Void State rank. On the other hand, only one of the three offending beast kings was at the late stage. The other two were at the middle stage.

The battle ended in less than two minutes. Zhou Tianlin stared at the five battle pets that were at the moment wolfing down the corpses, clearly frightened. If it weren’t for the fact that the five battle pets were telling him through their bond that they were happy about him, the master, he would have collapsed on the ground. I cannot believe that Mr. Su allowed us to choose such beasts at will… Zhou Tianlin exclaimed to himself. Then, he kindly asked the five battle pets whether they could be kind enough to return to their contract space for the time being

Yes, he asked if they were willing to do that. After all, any of the five battle pets turning hostile toward him would mean the end of his life.

Having received that beseeching message, the dragon turned around and darted a glance at Zhou Tianlin. The dragon threw away some flesh in its mouth and snuck into the swirl that had just opened up.

The other four battle pets gave up their meals and went back as well.

Zhou Tianlin was relieved.

Whoosh!

Xue Yunzhen approached Zhou Tianlin. She sized him up and asked, “Did you buy those battle pets from Brother Su?”.

Zhou Tianlin forced a bitter smile and said, “Yes. I’m grateful for Mr. Su’s kindness.”

Her guess was right. The five beast kings were just like the one she had bought from Su Ping and they were completely different from the other beasts she had seen on the Blue Planet. She wasn’t surprised to find that the source of all those battle pets was Su Ping. He sold Zhou Tianlin five of those battle pets…

Where did that guy get so many battle pets?

Xue Yunzhen blinked. She found that the young man was more mysterious than she thought.

“No wonder Mr. Su asked you to join us. It turns out that I’m the weakest of all…” the bald guy teased.

Xue Yunzhen finally understood Su Ping’s intention; he had sent them off with reinforcements.

“It seems that our team is quite strong. Ha, ha, come with me; let’s make those bastards tremble!” Xue Yunzhen waved her hand forward.

Zhou Tianlin smiled. He summoned a Void State pet of the demon family to protect him. Xue Yunzhen and the bald guy were stunned after noticing that Zhou Tianlin was summoning another Void State pet they had not seen before. “How many Void State beasts did you buy?” Xue Yunzhen asked, wide-eyed.

Zhou Tianlin smiled embarrassingly and said, “Not many, just ten…”

Xue Yunzhen and the bald guy looked at each other in confusion.

At the same time, on a plain.

There was a sparkling, half-transparent crack hovering in the sky dozens of meters above the ground. The crack was over a hundred meters long and it would lead to an uncultivated land found inside. That was a Class A barren area.

Some archaeologists had once asked explorers to bring back some samples and they were proven to be from the ancient age.

Still, those beasts that grew in the ancient age, able to eat up a star were gone. Only a few small beasts remained, and even they were beast kings. ‘Small’ was a relative term.

A shadow flew past the crack; a wiggle made the shadow vanish and reappear in a forest thousand of meters away from the crack.

Several people were standing in the forest. Someone was playing with some leaves. They were waiting

The dark shadow appeared and a figure came out from said shadow, which was Ye Wuxiu.

He had merged with his demon battle pet, which had strong hiding skills. Not even a Fate State creature could have detected their presence.

“They’re hidden inside,” said Ye Wuxiu. He took a deep breath and added, “An entire army of beasts is there with crowds of beast kings. I’ve already found more than fifteen Void State beast kings and there can be more!” “Did you say fifteen?”

Li Yuanfeng, the man from the Han family, and Qin Duhuang were surprised.

That many wild beasts were hiding in one spatial crack. That had to be a super base camp for all the beasts from the Deep Caves!

“Any Fate State beasts?” Li Yuanfeng asked.

Ye Wuxiu shook his head, “I didn’t find any. The leader of the beasts is at the later stage of the Void State and four other beasts are at the later stage of the Void State. I suppose the leader of the beast kings can muster power close to the Fate State.”

A person had to be outstanding if he or she could make other beasts of the same state bow!

Li Yuanfeng and the others looked at each other, turning pale because of what they had seen.

The man from the Han family proposed, “Cap, we should call the team closest to us.”

“We don’t have enough people here,” the old man Mo agreed.

Li Yuanfeng remained quiet. He wasn’t afraid of death, but he was not stupid, either. Apart from him and Ye Wuxiu, the others on the team were at the Ocean State. Going into the crack would be like heading to their doom. “I can give it a try if no beast king is at the Fate State,” Qin Duhuang said.

The others turned to him in surprise. Ye Wuxiu frowned. He didn’t object to him right away because Qin Duhuang was also from Su Ping’s base city. He asked, “What do you mean?”

“Mr. Ye, you said that there are five beast kings at the Void State working as the core of their team, including the leader, right? I can keep the five occupied. As for the other Void State beasts, you and Mr. Li can take care of them. I would then work with Brother Han and Brother Mo to quickly kill the other Ocean State beast kings!” Qin Duhuang said calmly, but his words weren’t the least bit casual.

He had earned the Raging Spirit title, to later explore the entire continent. Then he went back to lead the Qin family; he was quite seasoned. Qin Duhuang was able to remain calm and composed even while being in front of legendary battle pet warriors much more powerful than he was.

“Five you say?”

Ye Wuxiu and Li Yuanfeng gazed at him in astonishment.

The determination in Qin Duhuang’s eyes seemed to be proof that he wasn’t lying.

He was a legendary battle pet warrior; he wouldn’t stupidly try to flaunt his superiority at this time.

“How will you do that?” Ye Wuxiu found the strength to remain polite.

Qin Duhuang replied with silence; two swirls opened up next to him. Li Yuanfeng and Ye Wuxiu froze on the spot as soon as the two battle pets began to crawl out. Both pets were at the late Void State!

They also found the two presences familiar.

They were like the battle pets they had bought from Su Ping!

The two battle pets roared as they came out and looked down to see everyone from a height, including Qin Duhuang.

That was the first time that Qin Duhuang had tried sending them to the battleground. He wasn’t nervous when he was facing Ye Wuxiu. However, he was worried and stressed out while facing his own pets.

Still, he didn’t let the fear show, or he could lose control over his battle pets. Keeping a calm face, he said, “Listen, Mr. Su sold me eight of these battle pets before you came to Longjiang, and all of them are at the late Void State! I can send six of them to distract the five core beasts and the other two will take care of the leader!

“I can send out another one if that’s not enough!

“I still have another late Void State pet with me. Once merged with it, we’ll be able to eliminate the Ocean State beast kings!”

Ye Wuxiu and the others found such remarks mind-blowing

Su Ping had sold Qin Duhuang eight of those battle pets before they got to Longjiang? Damn it!

They had argued about who would get the battle pets. It turned out that they were contending over the scraps!

Ye Wuxiu looked at Li Yuanfeng and the latter threw his hands up. Don’t look at me. We got there too late!

Ye Wuxiu pursed his lips. Finding out about that fact was useless. It wasn’t like he could ask Qin Duhuang to give up the battle pets. They knew Su Ping but they were still mere acquaintances. On the other hand, Qin Duhuang was from the same base city as Su Ping; Ye Wuxiu only found hateful that he had come out from the Deep Caves too late!

“Those damn bastards in the Deep Caves!” Ye Wuxiu clenched both fists and teeth.

Li Yuanfeng and the other three from the Deep Caves also hated the bastards of the Deep Caves.

They would have gotten out much sooner, were it not for the fact that the beasts in the Deep Caves were so scheming that they trapped them in the Wind Field. They would have made it in time to buy battle pets from Su Ping!

“Where did that guy get so many frightening battle pets? They are better than my own battle pets…” Li Yuanfeng murmured.

Ye Wuxiu heaved a sigh. He came up with another question for Qin Duhuang. “How many of those did Mr. Su sell?”.

“In total…” Qin Duhuang felt sorry for them so he dropped his voice, “Around forty…”

Forty, forty…

The four were dumbstruck.

Ye Wuxiu finally came back to his senses and heaved a sigh after looking at Qin Duhuang’s forced and faint smile. “Let’s deal with the wild beasts here. We won’t have to call anyone since you have this many outstanding battle pets. But, if something goes wrong, we will leave and I’ll cover you!”

The others sighed inwardly. They stopped themselves from overthinking and began to make plans with Ye Wuxiu.

…

Roar!

To the east of the Longjiang Base City, there was a creature half dragon, half dog that was dashing about in the wilderness, scaring away the wild beasts it came across.

Su Ping stood on the Dark Dragon Hound’s head. There was a pool of blood trailing behind them. The strong and pungent smell of blood was spread out by the wind. Three base camps finished. Those guys are really hiding. Are they planning on waiting and collaborating with the wild beasts from the other continents?

I think this was how the Nordic Continent got destroyed. No wonder two continents were finished overnight.

A glint of coldness rose in Su Ping’s eyes. Not once did he sheath his sword; blood was still dripping

He was going to kill all the wild beasts!

The break of dawn was almost there. The temperature was rising; the gentle warmth of the early morning was becoming a scorching furnace.

Time passed; it was getting close to noon time.

Su Ping flew all the way and killed all the way!

There would be piles of corpses everywhere he passed in the barren area. No wild beasts in groups would escape him. But he paid no heed to the fleeing beasts.

“Thirty-eight…”

Blood rained down on a sunny day. A beast collapsed on the ground.

Su Ping flicked the blood off his sword. He had killed thirty-eight Void State beast kings. He looked more concerned than ever.

He was taking care of the east side alone and yet there were too many Void State beast kings in hiding. He could not even imagine the situation of the other areas!

But this… was one continent!

The wild beasts were still elsewhere. They had yet to reach their continent.

If the wild beasts arrived and launched a massive attack… There had to be hundreds of Void State beast kings, and possibly more than a thousand Ocean State beast kings!

After all, the ocean wild beasts were also involved. The number of beast kings in the ocean was great. That was why humans would not try going to the ocean for no reason.

“If they came to Longjiang…” Su Ping gazed at the corpses on the ground, his face clouded. Even a hundred Ocean State beast kings, let alone over a thousand, were enough to flatten the Longjiang Base City!

A single Ocean State beast king was able to wipe away a Class B base city! Over a hundred… could destroy a base city ten times over!

I cannot do it alone…

The more he explored, the more Su Ping realized he wasn’t capable enough. True, he could kill Fate State beasts, but that was different from protecting mankind as a whole.

Defending was never easy!

I have to ask everyone to come together as one, everyone, not just the executors. Otherwise, those who have to protect everyone else would fall sooner or later…

Su Ping took a deep breath and gazed into the distance.

He was staring at a desert. Further away was the ocean; the deep, blue ocean.

That was the continent’s edge!

He moved and fought with Longjiang as the starting point; he had actually reached the ocean!

It was time to go back.

Su Ping hopped back on the Dark Dragon Hound and headed back to Longjiang.

He thought seriously about how to deal with the wild beasts on his way over. The legendary battle pet warriors were definitely not enough to protect the entire world!

Beep…

Su Ping’s phone rang at some point. His heart skipped a beat. The last thing he wanted was bad news. The call was from Ye Wuxiu. “Captain Ye.”

“Phew, Brother Su, I’m sure glad you’re okay. Where are you?” Ye Wuxiu exhaled in relief.

“I’m on my way back to the Longjiang Base City. What is it?” Su Ping asked. “Good. Black Lunatic… came back just now.”

“He’s back? How is the Dragon Swamp Continent?” Su Ping asked at once.

Ye Wuxiu replied after a moment of silence, “The Dragon Swamp Continent… is gone.” “What…?”

Su Ping was unable to hear a thing for a few seconds. He looked pale. Oddly enough, he wasn’t surprised, while being shocked at the same time. One continent had been overrun and countless people had died. The thought was too much to bear.

“What happened to the Dragon Swamp Continent?” Su Ping asked.

Ye Wuxiu heaved a sigh and said, “Brother Su, we can talk when you get back. I think we’ve underestimated the Deep Caves. We have to be ready before they get here. Otherwise… humans will go extinct on the Blue Planet!”

Su Ping didn’t reply. He hung up and had the Dark Dragon Hound fly back at full speed.

Soon after, Su Ping arrived at the Longjiang Base City.

The Pixie Pet Store was still being upgraded; only six hours had passed. The upgrade would still need eighteen hours more. Ye Wuxiu and the others were staying in the Qin family’s building

Su Ping went to see them. Everyone stood up.

“Mr. Su.” Zhou Tianlin and Qin Duhuang nodded, bowing slightly to greet him. Su Ping took a quick glance. He was happy to see that most of the legendary battle pet warriors were still there. It seemed that their strategy had indeed worked

That being said…

Su Ping saw Xiang Fengran.

He was alone; the other three legendary battle pet warriors were not there.

Xiang Fengran’s black armor was full of cracks; he looked pale and exhausted, no longer exuding that heroic spirit. “What happened in the Dragon Swamp Continent?” Su Ping asked before he sat down.

Xiang Fengran looked at him. Eventually, he lowered his head. “It was a Fate State beast.”

Silence fell.

The Fate State.

“I met the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast from the Corridor. The creature cut off the teleportation passageway. I wanted to stop that but the damage was done; I could not reconnect the passageway. I was unprepared when I fought that beast. I had to rely on Feng and the others but… They didn’t make it back…”

Xiang Fengran bit his teeth. Li Yuanfeng looked at Su Ping.

They had met the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast when he and Su Ping had gone to the Corridor. Su Ping’s battle pet had distracted the beast so that they could flee.

“So, the base cities in the Dragon Swamp Continent…” Su Ping didn’t finish the sentence. The look on Xiang Fengran’s face had already told him the answer.

Silence. Depression.

A quiet mood lingered indefinitely.

After who knows how long, someone clapped and broke the silence. Xue Yunzhen stood up and said, “Hey, you’re men, aren’t you? Don’t be like this. It’s just death. It’s not like we’ve ever been afraid of dying.

“Don’t lose your spirit. Our day was not fruitless. We found and destroyed seven hideouts of the wild beasts by the barren area on the west. Two of the seven had gathered a large number of beasts, including a dozen or so Void State beast kings. We killed them. We’ve made great contributions.” Everyone looked at her. Only three among the crowd were female, with Xue Yunzhen being the most powerful of them all.

Her friends would call her Xue the Tigress in private to complain about her short-temper. But they had to admit she was more heroic than anyone else at the moment!

Ye Wuxiu took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. Sorrow won’t solve any problems for us. The Dragon Swamp Continent is gone. We have to save this continent with all of our efforts. We cannot allow the last piece of humanity’s territories be destroyed. I think we should devise a plan for our revenge instead of burying ourselves in sorrow!”

“I don’t think we can force them back. But we should protect the continent at least,” Jing Shen said.

Li Yuanfeng turned to Su Ping and said, “Brother Su, I think we have to work with the Tower. We alone cannot stop all the wild beasts. After all… those Fate State beasts… We are weaker than them.”

Su Ping knew that Li Yuanfeng was trying to spare his feelings because of his past disputes with the Tower.

“I understand. I was thinking about that,” Su Ping said.

On his way back, he had indeed thought about

As of that moment, the only way to get over the crisis was to gather all the help available!

Internal strife would only lead to destruction!

Li Yuanfeng was happy to hear that. “Brother Su, I knew you were a sensible man. I will call the Tower and get the Tower Master. We have to leverage your strength and his. We will find a way to get rid of the beasts bit by bit, just like we did today.” Su Ping nodded. “Apart from calling the Tower, I have another suggestion. The continent has three defense lines at the moment. I think we should unify the three defense lines and build a single iron-clad defense line. That way we can gather all the forces we have to fight against the wild beasts. Otherwise, the wild beasts can separate the legendary battle pet warriors and devour us one by one.”

Ye Wuxiu agreed, “Good idea. I was gonna propose something similar.”

Xue Yunzhen nodded. “That’ll work. But we have to think about it. We cannot simply gather up so that the wild beasts can get rid of us in one fell swoop. The defense line has to be strong enough to fend against the strikes from beast kings!” “We still have some time. We can use all of our beast kings to construct and reinforce the defense line,” Jing Shen said.

Xue Yunzhen frowned, “But what if our battle pets get exhausted before the wild beasts get here? They won’t be able to fight.”

Jing Shen didn’t offer a reply.

Su Ping smiled. “Don’t worry about that. You can leave your battle pets in my store. I promise that they can be restored to their peak state in one hour!”

After the store’s upgrade was done, advanced nursing pens would be available. Resting in the nursing pen for an hour would be enough to free the battle pets from tiredness. Staying in the nursing pen for a few more hours would heal even the most serious wounds. That was how strong the advanced nursing pens were.

The only thing that worried him was the remaining time for the store’s upgrade, since it still needed eighteen hours.

But still, building the main defense line and gathering all the residents of the continent would take a long time, even longer than eighteen hours!

His store would be upgraded by then.

But…

The worst scenario could happen, if the wild beasts arrived within those eighteen hours.

Even so, Su Ping believed that their continent would not fall as quickly as the others, since they had swept across the continent for wild beasts’ hideouts.

Still, we have to be ready… Su Ping blinked. He had to think of other methods in case the wild beasts arrived sooner.