Astral Pet Store (WN)

After the newcomer spoke, two people suddenly appeared, blocking Loulan Lin and Loulan Hai's way.

"Ye Ling?!"

Loulan Lin narrowed her eyes in shock and fury when she recognized them.

'They had just been invited to the Loulan family's banquet, and yet they were currently ambushing them.

"Ms. Lin, nice to meet you again," said Ye Ling with a smile.

A beautiful girl was standing next to him, as elegant as an angel; she seemed absolutely clean and unsullied. The girl stared at Loulan Lin and Loulan Hai as if they were already dead.

"Wanyan Shuang!"

Loulan Hai recognized the woman and slightly changed her expression. Ye Ling was third place on the Divine Lord Rank, and the woman was even more terrifying. Although she wasn't listed on the ranking at the moment, she had defended the fifth place on the rank ten thousand years prior!

Ten thousand years had passed; she surely was a lot stronger than before.

Seeing Loulan Hai's shock, the woman asked casually, "Do you know me?"

"T've studied every person who has made it to the Divine Lord Rank in the past 100,000 years," said Loulan Hai gloomily.

"Did you have nothing better to do?" asked Wanyan Shuang.

Ye Ling was equally amused. "You should have spent the time improving your cultivation."

Loulan Hai remained silent, his face showing an awful expression.

Loulan Lin asked with a gloomy tone, "Ye Ling, what's the meaning of this? The Loulan family considers you a friend."

"Iconsider you a friend too," said Ye Ling with a smile. "But we seem to be fighting for the true god's legacy. What kind of friendship would spare me in such a situation? Do tell."

Loulan Lin changed her expression and asked, "Aren't you afraid of our family's revenge?"

"That depends on whether or not you can leave this place. To uphold the fairness of the trial, even the Celestials are barred from interfering. There's no way for you to reach out to anyone, unless you advance or the trial comes to an end…"

Ye Ling chuckled. "Big families have their own shortcomings, even if the Loulan family is one of the top seven families of the universe. You can easily raise a genius at the cost of countless rare resources; but those geniuses can only make it to the Divine Lord Rank's top fifty at best. To rise higher, they

have to be talented.

"Unfortunately, those who are talented in your generation have already risen to the Ascendant State because of your family's persuasion.

"Your newest, the one named Loulan Jinghong if I remember correctly, rose to the Ascendant State three thousand years ago, right? He had cultivated five thousand years before that. It's said that he was already capable of reaching the Ascendant State after two thousand years of cultivation, but he wanted

to consolidate himself."

"Unfortunately, his family persuaded him in the end. That's the flaw big families have. You're too shortsighted!"

Loulan Lin was indeed gloomy.

Ye Ling did have a point.

There had been remarkable figures in the family, who were among the top ten of the Divine Lord Rank. One of them had even been rated at the very top of the ranking; but all those people rose to the Ascendant State soon, and didn't stay for long in the Star Lord level.

"Ye Ling, we're willing to give you the token. Just let us go and we won't blame you for what happened today!" said Loulan Hai all of a sudden, while standing behind Loulan Lin.

The latter changed her expression and looked at him. However, upong seeing his eyes—and because Loulan Jue was still fighting fiercely far in the distance—she realized why he had said that and felt sad because of it.

She had voluntarily applied for the trial because she wanted to win the legacy and surpass that guy through a shortcut!

It wasn't easy for them to acquire the token. If they lost it, it would be almost impossible to find another, unless they were to try their luck in the central continent, which would surely be a slaughterhouse; all the best geniuses in the universe would gather there. It was said that the ultimate treasures that

the Celestials had offered were exactly for the competition in the central continent.

They didn't stand a single chance of winning the unfair competition, at all.

Therefore, their only opportunity of winning the token was to get one there!

"You'd give me the token?"

Ye Ling smiled. "You're talking as if it were yours; you only grabbed OUR token before we found it, and you're returning it to us at this very moment. Oh, right, it's illegal to steal someone else's belongings; you should be punished for that…"

'The expressions of both Loulan Lin and Loulan Hai changed. Ye Ling was obviously going to kill them and keep their mouths shut.

"Ye Ling, you're wasting our time," remarked Wanyan Shuang coldly.

Ye Ling raised his eyebrows. Exactly at that moment, Loulan Lin threw a streak of light in Loulan Jue's direction and said telepathically, "Run!"

Loulan Jue had already noticed Ye Ling's presence, but he was too busy fighting two enemies. He had to grit his teeth and retreat upon hearing what Loulan Lin said.

"What a petty trick."

'Wanyan Shuang saw the flying streak of light, then raised her hand; the streak of light made a detour and flew towards her hand.

But then, the streak of light disappeared when it was about to reach her hand.

"Huh?"

'Wanyan Shuang frowned and coldly gazed in a certain direction.

A person showed up from that same direction, then tossed a fruit core up and down. "What a lively place."

Following right behind him, a few others walked out, and a handsome young man asked in surprise, "That many people?"

It was exactly Su Ping's team who had just arrived.

Loulan Lin and the others—who were about to run off—saw them too, and immediately noticed Su Ping in the crowd.

The person playing with the fruit core was Shuai Qianhou; he stored the fruit core, and was at the moment staring at Wanyan Shuang with great interest.

Wanyan Shuang's expression turned grim upon seeing Shuai Qianhou.

Ye Ling, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes when he saw Su Ping's arrival. The former had noticed the latter when they gathered in the square, but Su Ping didn't bother to look at him.

That guy is still in the Star State. Shen Huang is truly trying his best. He's even sent the Star State disciple to fight for the legacy! Ye Ling sneered in his heart and looked at Su Ping angrily. But he managed to hide the killing intent in his eyes.

"Mr. Su!"

Loulan Hai looked at Su Ping with a troubled expression. Loulan Feng had made the introductions back when Su Ping visited their family, but he was always taciturn and never liked making friends. So, he dropped the matter when Su Ping didn't show any interest in talking to him. In his eyes, even if Su

Ping grew to become a Heavenly Lord someday, he wouldn't need the guy's help at all, given his lofty status as a member of the Loulan family.

However, Su Ping's timely arrival had solved their crisis.

Loulan Hai had no time to care about his pride. Being a member of a big family, he knew when to bow down; he quickly greeted Su Ping and moved to approach him along with Loulan Lin.

On the other hand—Loulan Jue forced the two men to retreat, and approached Su Ping too.

$u Ping looked at Loulan Lin, and saw that she kept her head lowered. He nodded and said, "I'm glad that you're fine."

"Thank you for helping us, Mr. Su," said Loulan Hai quickly.

Shuai Qianhou glanced at the man, not really caring about him. He wasn't interested in dealing with members of the seven families. He asked Wanyan Shuang, "Are you interested in joining us? Let's make a scene in the central continent!"

Wanyan Shuang narrowed her eyes. "How exactly are we going to do that?"

"We kill anyone we meet, get the key, and win the legacy!" Shuai Qianhou chuckled.

Wanyan Shuang said, "There's only one key. Who will have it?"

"Of course, I will have it. Do you plan to compete with me?" Shuai Qianhou looked at her with a smile.

She stared at him for a long time, then said, "It's too soon for you to say that. You haven't been the best Star Lord in the past 100,000 years."

Shuai Qianhou smiled, not bothering to deny it. "What are you suggesting?"

"We can go to the central continent together, but only the most capable person between us will have the key." Wanyan Shuang drew a smile on her cold face.

Shuai Qianhou smiled in return. "Fine then. Come over here. We're allies for now."

Wanyan Shuang nodded and immediately flew over.

Ye Ling was stunned for a moment. He asked, "Ms. Wanyan, you…"

"Sorry," she replied casually, then flew away toward his new ally without looking back. She glanced at Su Ping and the others, and found them subpar.