Astral Pet Store (WN)

Training room—You Long's residence.

Su Ping sat cross-legged at the core of the astral power array, which was gathering astral power and sending it to his body.

A space was gradually taking shape inside him.

That place was made of a complete path.

Complete paths contained special force fields able to construct space, which could be expanded to develop into small worlds. However, it was a strenuous process.

It was like fashioning a sesame seed into a planet!

This difficult step was the exact reason why only a few Star State warriors advanced to become Star Lords.

So this is how it feels to create a small world…

Su Ping was completely invested in the process.

The feeling of establishing a small world was truly wonderful. He had to perfect a lot of laws in the small world, the bottom line was to ensure that living creatures would be able to exist there.

Only then could the creation be called a "world." Otherwise, it would only be a "space."

A lot of requirements had to be met in order for living creatures to thrive. He had to infuse the place with the other laws he had control of, using them as pillars to facilitate the evolution of matter, such as water, air, flowing space, etc.

As for time—

It was a different law that most small worlds didn't include.

Therefore, most Star Lords were unable to accelerate the flow of time in their small worlds, as a few would so that things would evolve quicker, or remain in stasis.

The concept of time was indeed found in small worlds too, but such time was only a deeper separation of space. When a space was cut into a billion layers, each would be one second, giving off the illusion of time flow if they were connected.

The small worlds created by Star Lords weren't part of a real universe anyway.

Therefore, the passing of time would go awry if people lived there for extended periods of time, since the illusion wouldn't last forever. To summarize: small worlds were actually flawed, semi-real worlds.

Although my understanding of time and space isn't as good as the Six Lives Buddha, I should still be able to construct a real world, Su Ping thought.

Having access to the path of time and space, he could have time flow and flowers blossom in his own small world.

Time and space were the cornerstones of a small world.

It would still be possible to do without time when creating a small world, only using the laws of space; Star Lords mostly resorted to such a method.

However, it was impossible to construct a 100% real universe with only the laws of space.

Even small worlds created by Ascendants would fall short when compared to the real universe.

This was because the real universe contained many laws and paths, which also meant that practitioners would have to gain a perfect understanding of all the laws in the universe if they wanted to make an identical replica of the real world.

Inside the small world, which was gradually taking shape—

Su Ping tossed a seed, which then sprouted and blossomed in the flow of time.

Green grass was growing on the hills; the vegetation looked beautiful and primitive.

I'm already able to transport creatures in my small world and store faith power…

Su Ping really felt satisfied when he looked at how the small world was gradually taking shape. It looked just like the real world at first glance.

However, if one were to observe it carefully, it would be evident that many elements were missing.

Su Ping then realized that he could transfer his astral power to the small world and store it there.

He instantly created a lake in the small world, filling it with astral power. The astral power formed a cloud in the small world, causing rain when it was condensed; blue rain fell over the lake, producing a breathtaking sight.

One would expect no less of the most mysterious energy in the universe. It was truly beautiful.

As things stand, it would be practically impossible to feel exhausted, even if I were to perform Heavenly Fall again. I can even use it twice in a row!

Su Ping's eyes glittered; that change alone had significantly strengthened him.

After all, it wasn't easy to resist a Heavenly Fall attack; very few people would survive it a second time.

He would become even stronger once he had absorbed the power of faith and filled it into the sword!

I'll look for power of faith in the cultivation sites once the championship ends. Su Ping was so eager that he wanted to finish up sooner.

He was already missing his store, as well as the people and beasts in it.

He also missed the Lightning Rat, the one always waiting for its master to return.

Su Ping's excitement died down considerably upon remembering the Lightning Rat. He thought of things from the past and was only able to heave a sigh.

Regrets were inevitable in life.

However, animals could sometimes be even more loyal than human beings.

…

Very soon, the battle for the championship was at hand.

Su Ping had devoted himself to cultivation, not bothering to watch the battles of the losers' group. Luo Ying had won the competition against Lilian by then.

Six Lives Buddha had also won the battle against her.

Lilian was ranked fourth in the end; she was knocked out of the top three.

Among the top three, Su Ping had defeated Six Lives Buddha; Luo Ying and the monk would fight.

If the latter won, he and Su Ping would fight for the championship. In such a case, Su Ping was already the champion in many people's eyes.

After all, nobody thought that the monk would still have any more trump cards hidden after their previous fight.

The monk had only managed to beat the mysterious Lilian with two future selves.

Lilian failed, but many people felt sorry for her, believing that she could have made it to the top three, if not for having encountered geniuses such as Six Lives Buddha, Luo Ying and Su Ping!

After all, the monk was almost defeated even after using his two future selves!

It was confirmed that the power controlled by the girl was Destruction, one of the four supreme laws. Unfortunately, she still failed in the end.

"Junior brother, it's time to come out," said You Long telepathically outside the training room, "Luo Ying and Six Lives Buddha will be fighting today; the winner will fight you later. Even if Luo Ying wins, he'll probably have to reveal all his trump cards."

Inside the training room—Su Ping was gathering astral power in his small world. He truly felt astonished, not expecting time to flow as fast. Has the battle ended already?

He finished his training and left the room. Then, he saw You Long looking at him with a smile, while clad in his usual clothes.

"So to speak, the one who loses the fight will be third place? What about Lilian?" asked Su Ping.

"She lost; it was a very close shave. If you're interested, I'll show you her last battle video Iater," replied You Long with a smile.

"Okay." Su Ping nodded.

He wasn't going to fight Lilian, but the girl still had her strong suits in battle he could learn from.

You Long quickly took his junior brother to the square, where the geniuses gathered.

Everybody fixed their eyes on Su Ping upon his arrival, including the Ascendant experts hovering in space. Those were the bigshots in the outside world.

Su Ping wasn't nervous, nor was he panicking; he simply had a mix of many conflicting feelings.

His fame had grown during the competition; even Ascendants had to pay attention to him.

It had to be noted that the Ascendant experts were as strong as Joanna's original self.

However, Anna's original self should be as strong as a Heavenly Lord, and a distinguished one at that, Su Ping thought.

He suddenly wondered about what would have happened if her reincarnation would have participated in the competition.

He was sure that he was only 60% confident of defeating Anna with all his methods!

However, he was 100% confident of beating Six Lives Buddha!

Anna has the Titan Divine Constitution, only seen manifested in gods. It's unrecorded in the Federation; many would still be shocked to see it, Su Ping thought.

She was a War Goddess in the Demigod Burial anyway, only second to the four Superior Gods; her strength was not to be questioned.

You flew to a place in space where he joined the other Ascendants.

The crowd instinctively parted when Su Ping passed by; many looked at him with a friendly smile.

Su Ping smiled back at them.

Everybody present was a genius. He preferred not to offend them by being deliberately arrogant.

Besides, geniuses also admired talented individuals among their ranks. Su Ping was actually impressed by them. After all, they didn't have a system.

"Whether or not you can become the champion will depend on this battle," said Su Jin'er telepathically as she approached Su Ping, "I hope that Six Lives Buddha will try harder and beat down that fancy guy!"

Su Ping glanced at her and chuckled. "Whether or not I become the champion has nothing to do with their battle. It doesn't really matter which of them wins."

Su Jin'er raised her brows. However, her memories about Su Ping's combat ability began to emerge; she thought it was only natural for him to be as confident.

A battle had already burst out in the battlefield at that moment.

Six Lives Buddha didn't hide his potential, simply summoning two future selves and attacking Luo Ying together.

The latter, however, had activated his constitution, then the monk attacked with lightning fast moves as he dodged his attacks.

Very soon, Six Lives Buddha paused time.

Everything was consolidated, but Luo Ying wasn't slowed down at all; many were shocked to see that. Has Luo Ying mastered the laws of time too?

Six Lives Buddha changed his expression too. But very soon, he performed a Time Cutting!

He predicted his opponent's moment and attacked from another time!

However, his attack was dodged again.

It seemed that Luo Ying was able to see through the flow of time, and knew where he would appear and what kind of attacks he would endure.

Luo Ying chuckled and said, "Sorry. Although my understanding of time isn't as good as yours, it isn't hard for me to resist such tricks."

He had mostly collected Divine Cores in the earlier contest, leveraging his constitution and his understanding of time. His hunting means were so fast that zombies were just weeds to be reaped, from his perspective. He could have hunted more of them if he had more time!

Six Lives Buddha performed Time Stop, Time Cutting, and Time Reverse with a gloomy mood.

His plan was to attack his opponent in a reversed flow of time, but his attacks were dodged again.

If the laws of time were a sea under his control, Luo Ying would be a fish that swam in it. The man would always be at ease, no matter what tides he would cause.

Six Lives Buddha stopped wasting his strength after realizing that, then simply attacking with his future selves.

Luo Ying moved as fast as a flash. Even though the two future selves were powerful, they could not touch him, at all.

"Have you heard that fastness is the greatest strength?" Luo Ying chuckled. "Although I'm not as strong as you, you can't possibly touch me!"

"Is that so?"

Six Lives Buddha closed his hands and said, "I didn't have the time to use this move in the battle against Brother Su; this is a good time to use it."

His two future selves joined hands again, unleashing a horrifying power. "Dual Time Stop!"

Bang!

The void shook, and everybody was solidified.

Luo Ying was also slowed down. He narrowed his eyes in shock.

The sea of time had been completely frozen. He could not swim any longer, even though he was a fish at the moment!

"It seems that it works." Given that Luo Ying was slowed down, Six Lives Buddha chuckled and lunged at him.

Luo Ying suddenly put on a smile, then spots of light appeared on his body like lotus flowers. "Unfortunately, your opponent is me. Anyone else would have been defeated by you. Right, that guy is an exception. So am I."

He accelerated while he talked, dodging Six Lives Buddha's attack with ease.

"Not even time can affect the fastest constitution in the universe!" said an amazed person, outside the battlefield.

Another person, who preferred head-on clashes over dodging, began to defend the monk. "Unfortunately, you can't win by simply dodging."

On the battlefield—

The expression shown by Six Lives Buddha changed ever so slightly, then said solemnly, "Sir, is there anything else you're capable of, except dodging? If this continues, I can't hurt you, but you can't hurt me either!"

"Is that you?" Luo Ying chuckled and said, "Your future selves don't come without paying a price, do they? You can't keep yourselves in such a state forever. I will counterattack when you are unable to endure any longer. Sure enough, the method is borderline shameless, but that's my way to win."

Six Lives Buddha took a deep breath and said, "Let's find out."

Again, he performed Time Stop and Time Cutting, attacking with his secret techniques as he tried to locate Luo Ying's weakness and make him collapse.

However, as time went by, Luo Ying became untouchable, just like a shadow. Even the massive area attacks were dodged.

The area attacks had no flaws; they could not be dodged, either, but they were not as strong and the attacks could be resisted.