Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 821: Blackmailing

"You three worked hard too. You'll be rewarded later!"

The leader girl chuckled as she looked at Shennong's Three Punches and the others.

She raised her hand, summoning four glittering Star State treasures, which were gloves, armor, a sword, and a saber.

Obviously, she had prepared them for Su Ping and his allies.

The four treasures flew to them, and the leader girl gave the saber to Su Ping. She said, "While this saber is not as good as your secret treasure, it's a fine Star State secret treasure nonetheless. If it's useless to you, you can sell it for money, astral crystals or secret techniques."

While those treasures were valuable, they wouldn't be appealing to the Star Lords, so she simply offered her treasures to them.

"Thank you."

Su Ping nodded and accepted it.

The saber may be useful. He could give the bone saber to the Little Skeleton and use the new saber himself, unless he merged with the Little Skeleton at critical moments.

"Thank you, leader!"

The other three thanked her and then also cupped their hands before Su Ping in admiration.

If Su Ping hadn't won, they couldn't have possibly gotten any of the fruits of law.

At the same time—

The purple-robed young man returned to an alliance. His amazing performance had attracted a lot of attention; everybody saw which alliance he returned to.

"Mr. Xing, no need to be bothered by such an insignificant contest," one of the Star Lords comforted the grim purple-robed young man.

the other Star Lord also nodded and said, "Indeed. In my opinion, if you had used all your trump cards, you might have gotten the Tree of Laws. Besides, that guy was a level higher than you anyway. The gap between the Fate State and the Star State is huge!"

The purple-robed young man remained sullen and silent.

The gap was huge?

Of course I know this!

However, ever since his childhood, he had always challenged and beaten opponents beyond his level, until this day!

He could comfort himself with the level gap, but he was still regretful; if he were stronger, he might have been able to suppress such a Star State genius!

"Not enough. I'm not strong enough…"

The purple-robed young man coldly gazed at the man far in the distance.

…

At this moment, a Star Lord suddenly said, "The barrier is loosening!"

The other Star Lords sensed it too and looked at the depths of the garden. They immediately sent their followers back into their small worlds and marched forward.

"Let's join them!" the leader girl quickly said. She waved her hand, and Su Ping and Father Time instantly flew into her small world. She then moved forward and traversed a thousand meters in one step.

All the other Star Lords also moved out.

As they went down the trails in the garden, they eventually saw a colorful, shivering barrier that blocked the end of the road.

There, two Star Lords were cracking the barrier with glowing astral runes on their skin.

"What about it? How much longer will it take?" someone instantly asked.

One of the Star Lords who were cracking the carrier opened his eyes and said, "Thirty minutes, at most. This is a barrier from the primordial times. It is only recorded in ancient classics. We couldn't have cracked it if we hadn't read as many books and joined efforts."

"Thank you for your hard work," said the leader of the Ouhuang Alliance courteously.

The other people also thanked them while acting politely.

The Star Lord, however, said with indifference, "No need to thank us, we're not doing this for free. Actually, we don't need much. All of you are free to enter if each of you give me two Star Lord ranked secret treasures, which will be a reward for our work!"

"…"

All the Star Lords changed their expressions, from appreciation to anger. "You're too greedy! Even people like us don't have many of them, and you want two treasures from each of us? That's too much!"

"Exactly!"

"You're too greedy. Two for each of you? If we do as you say, each of you would get ten Star Lord treasures!"

"I thought you were being altruistic, not this shameless!"

"Are you blackmailing us using the barrier as a bargaining chip? Isn't it too demeaning? You're risking offending all of us…"

All the Star Lords seemed dissatisfied.

"Cut the nonsense!" The Star Lord who was cracking the array said with an angry and solemn tone, "Give us what we want if you want to get inside, or we can all just stay here. We've been cracking this array and practically giving it away to you when you were fighting for the Tree of Laws. Now you decide to be petty about the ticket fees?"

"We can afford the wait. Feel free to crack the barrier on your own!"

"Let's just wait until the divine residence is closed and the Ascendant State experts leave, then we can just return empty-handed!"

"Yeah, let's!" said a Star Lord furiously.

"Let's all return empty-handed!" someone echoed resolutely.

The leader of the Ouhuang Alliance said casually, "I can afford the wait too. After all, even if you don't get anything in the end, I'm sure I won't return empty-handed with the Goddess of Fortune's favor!"

"…"

The leader of the Thousand Feathers Alliance looked at him as if he were a moron and then snorted.

The leader girl remained casual and peaceful. After all, she had already won the Tree of Laws. It should be others who felt anxious.

The people inside the Star Lords' small worlds looked at each other in bewilderment, not expecting that pair of seniors to blackmail them. Was the journey to the divine residence going to end at its gate?

That would be hilarious!

However, nobody dared to say anything at the moment; that was a Star Lord business.

Many rogue Star State cultivators were digging in the garden at the rear.

The soil discarded by Star Lords was a treasure to rogue experts.

The nourishment able to grow the Tree of Laws was extremely rare. Although ninety percent of the energy in the soil had been absorbed, the remaining ten percent wasn't ordinary either and would be worth the trip!

As time went by, more and more parts of the barrier were cracked. Twenty minutes later, both of the Star Lords stopped and watched the other Star Lords casually.

Their implication was obvious.

If the others wanted to go in, they would have to accept their requirements, or all of them would be stuck there.

The two experts weren't just opening the gate for free.

That was how the world moved. When you do something good, other people might thank you on the surface but secretly mock your stupidity!

"Are you really going to do this?"

"We're all dignified people. Why are you so greedy when it comes to such trivial treasures?"

"Well said. If they're just trivial treasures, why don't you give them to me?"

"…"

Everybody was caught in an impasse.

Half an hour later—a deafening explosion was spread out from the depths of the divine residence!

The rumbling thunder sounded like the roar of an ancient beast; it could also signify the appearance of an ultimate treasure!

The noise came from the distance, and everybody outside of the barrier was able to hear it. The faces of all the Star Lords changed as they looked at the magnificent divine residence.

However, they seemed to be too far from the residence; they could not see a thing.

"Damn it!"

"Fine, we'll give you the secret treasures, but it's only going to be one each. You can split them up between yourselves!"

"Indeed. Just one. Don't cross the line, or we'll just work together and kill you!"

"We'll attack if you don't accept. This is making me so angry!"

All the Star Lords were angry; they felt as if someone were strangling them.

The two Star Lords looked at each other and finally gave in; they accepted the new proposal.

They originally demanded two secret treasures because they wanted to leave room for negotiation; they were also tempted by the noise deep inside the divine residence.

In any case, they were capable when it came to secret barrier techniques. They might be needed again if there were other locks in the divine residence.

Furthermore, they could get secret treasures that other people couldn't!

Being stuck and haggling with those guys wasn't that convenient.

Soon after, the Star Lords submitted their worst secret treasures. Some of them had redundant items; they wouldn't regret giving them away.

Inside the small world—Su Ping watched the two Star Lords accept the secret treasures and crack the barrier.

His eyes glittered. He was familiar with the barrier, but he wouldn't say it out loud.

Joanna had taught him the refined arrays from the primordial times.

Their mechanisms were rather similar to that of the barrier. He felt capable of cracking it too, if he had more time. But he certainly wouldn't do that.

Those who could crack arrays were bound to get more secret treasures from the divine residence. Everybody knew that. He preferred to keep a low profile.

"Huh?"

Su Ping suddenly felt as if someone was gazing at him.

He turned around, only to find it was the purple-robed young man who had competed with him earlier. The man was standing in the middle of the Star State group, but he was obviously different from the others, plus he was giving him a cold glare.

Su Ping raised his eyebrows and his middle finger.

Bring it on!

The young warrior snorted in fury and his eyelids twitched before he looked away.

The nearby Father Time said to him telepathically, "Brother Heaven Destroyer, you should be careful. That man must have a powerful background, he may be backed by a force beyond the Star Lord State!"

Several advanced Star State men from the Alliance of Stars were standing next to Su Ping at the moment.

O'Neil had been pushed aside; he could only smile bitterly as he watched this happen. It was true that real gold always glitters. Even those advanced warriors were extremely courteous to Su Ping at the moment, which made it harder for him to get close.

He then felt lucky for not having made an enemy of Su Ping.

Otherwise, his entire family would have been destroyed because of his grandson!

A family that had ruled over a planet for a thousand years had a huge population. Whoever could cause its downfall would definitely be a black sheep of the family!

He probably just captured Garland because he wanted the others to inform me, so that I would leave him alone… O'Neil thought and heaved a sigh.

That was the world of a bigshot.

They didn't care about retaliations, at all, because all the rest were ants to them. He probably would have been slapped and killed had he retaliated.

However, the man was too lazy to slap him, so he simply warned him.

"Don't bother. I don't care even if his father is in the Ascendant State," Su Ping said to Father Time.

He had considered the situation when the young man was dominating the small world and crushing Star State opponents. Also, he realized that the Ascendant State bigshot behind that fellow couldn't be one of the three guys exploring the divine residence.

Such a bigshot was definitely not there, or he would have simply plucked the Tree of Laws remotely; it would be unnecessary to ask a junior to compete for it.

Was the fight to make a demonstration? To whom?

There would be a better opportunity to shine in the Universe Geniuses' Contest.

With that in mind, Su Ping wasn't afraid of pissing that guy off. After all, as long as he returned to his store, that Ascendant backer would be unable to do a thing.

Besides, Su Ping didn't think that such a powerhouse would fight for that.

It would be embarrassing!

Father Time was shocked by the response, becoming solemn afterwards.

The way Su Ping talked… Is there an Ascendant State expert behind him too?

It made sense!

How could a genius such as Su Ping not have an Ascendant State teacher?

Even if he was from one of the five best academies, his talent was such that he would be protected by the academy even after he graduated. The other Ascendant State experts would have to talk with his backer first if they wanted to deal with him!

At this moment, both of them heard an ambitious and refreshing voice, which belonged to their leader. "You're right! A real man shouldn't be afraid of anything, not even the Ascendant State. I admire your courage!"

Su Ping was stunned and surprised. "You can hear us?"

"Of course. Nothing is a secret to me in my small world!" replied the leader girl, chuckling.

Su Ping: "…"

So, you even know the color of my underwear?

That's so shameless!

Su Ping looked around to see all the people present and felt like his blood was freezing.

The moment he thought that so many people were practically naked in the eyes of their leader… He had a weird feeling.

How horrid!

"Huh?"

The leader girl frowned, as she found that Su Ping's eyes looked weird. But she couldn't tell why they were weird.

Right then, the barrier flashed and disappeared.

"We made it, it's open!" the Star Lord who cracked the array said in relief.

He then became vigilant and looked at everybody. Since the barrier had been destroyed, he could only flee if the other Star Lords were keen on getting their treasures back.

Although he was outnumbered, he was also a Star Lord and could hardly be killed if he was determined to flee; that was one of the reasons why they had the guts to blackmail that many people.

"What's that?"

The other Star Lords were clearly aware of that, too. None asked for their ticket fee back. Besides, their attention was drawn by the views beyond the broken barrier.