Astral Pet Store (WN)

Hardly had he returned when he detected the young Chaos Beast, the Little Skeleton and his other pets. But he was wreathed in a strange power before he reached them.

Then, the world changed, and Su Ping was teleported to another region.

A shivering aura was spread out. Su Ping saw the Chaos Perception Dragon, as well as the Little Skeleton and the young Chaos Beast playing around.

The Little Skeleton and the Inferno Dragon were scared at first, but a good while passed and they were already having fun with the young Chaos Beast by then. They no longer feared the massive senior beast, either.

Su Ping guessed that the Chaos Perception Dragon had just taken him there. He instantly said, "Thank you, senior."

"When did you come out?" asked the beast in a peaceful and indifferent manner. Still, its voice contained undercurrents that felt like a storm.

"Not long ago. It wasn't easy for me to get here," said Su Ping with a bitter smile.

The Chaos Perception Dragon gazed at Su Ping with its bloodshot eyes, and said after a long time passed, "It seems that you found what you wanted in the Divine Eye. Are you going to leave?"

Su Ping nodded. "Thank you for everything, senior. I'm heading back; I hope I can see you again someday."

"We belong to different species. Is it appropriate to call me senior?" asked the Chaos Perception Dragon.

After feeling dazed for a moment, Su Ping smiled. "Senior, you're kidding. You've done me a great favor regardless of our origins. I hope we can become friends when I become as strong as you, senior, if that's okay with you."

The Chaos Perception Dragon looked at him but didn't say anything, simply closing its eyes.

Su Ping realized that it was letting him leave. He immediately offered his thanks, and then waved at the young Chaos Beast.

The Little Skeleton and his other pets gathered around Su Ping when they saw him. They nuzzled against him intimately; it seemed that they had missed him. The young Chaos Beast hadn't been with Su Ping for long, so it still wanted to have fun. It didn't drop the black chaos energy ball and flash back to where Su Ping was until he called it over.

Su Ping glanced at the energy ball. The young Chaos Beast had been playing with the Chaos Perception Dragon. The whole thing seemed to be some sort of exercise.

Su Ping petted the young Chaos Beast and said, "We're going back."

The young Chaos Beast understood. It turned around and glanced at the Chaos Perception Dragon. Then, it hopped over and they spoke for a long time.

The grand beast slowly opened its bloody eyes, which were even bigger than the young Chaos Beast, showing some sort of covert gentleness in them. Soon after, he closed his eyes again.

The young Chaos Beast turned around in satisfaction, then jumped back to approach Su Ping.

He smiled and sent them all back to the pet space. He then called out to the system and requested his return.

It wasn't until Su Ping vanished that the Chaos Perception Dragon finally opened its eyes again. Such a behemoth looked like a lonely mountain on that dark and desolate land. It stared at the place where Su Ping disappeared for a long time.

…

Back inside the shop.

Su Ping returned to his pet room. He released the Little Skeleton, the young Chaos Beast and the rest of his pets, letting them play in the nursing pens for now. He soon found Joanna, Green Lady and the others.

Once he saw him arrive, Tang Ruyan was the first to jump out and greet him in surprise, "You're back."

Su Ping smiled in his heart upon noticing the obvious affection in her eyes, then asked, "How long has it been?"

"You were there for two months. I thought something happened to you," said Tang Ruyan right after.

Joanna also walked over and said, "I really thought you had died in there." She sounded as if she were blaming him, but it was only because she cared for him.

Su Ping felt dazed, then remembered the ten-fold time difference. It didn't take too long for him to enter the world of gods and fight in the Rain Clan. However, he cultivated for more than two hundred days in the Ember Palace, which meant more than twenty days in the outside world.

So, in other words, he stayed for three hundred days in the Divine Eye?

"It was indeed a long time…" Su Ping mumbled. He then heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it had only been two months. He had made significant improvements compared to two months before. His combat ability had soared!

"Your ancient deity aura is gone. It now seems to be hidden more deeply. Instead, you carry abundant divine power like Anna…"

Green Lady also approached him, immediately noticing differences.

Once she heard that, Joanna checked him in more detail and was soon surprised. "Your body was transformed into that of a god?"

"More or less."

Su Ping nodded. The ancient deity constitution linked with the Small Deity World was hidden deep inside his body. If he was willing to, he would switch to it anytime. After all, he had already established the Small Deity World, and could use the power whenever he wanted.

"Your body…" Joanna's shock grew. She sensed that there was a stream of terrifying power inside Su Ping's body, seemingly roaring in another space and time. If her guess was correct, then Su Ping was already…

The sutra old man also joined them and remarked in shock, "You've become a Golden Deity in only two months? You're only one step away from becoming a Deity King…"

This cultivation speed is simply horrifying.

Unprecedented!

He had never seen anything as crazy. Even though the experts could slow down the flow of time, it might not be a good thing for their cultivation. In particular, when one was trying to make breakthroughs, the flow of time had to be normal, or else they could easily fail to accomplish a breakthrough.

If they failed, all their effort would be for naught, and they would end up badly injured.

"Wait, your level hasn't increased. You…" Soon, the sutra old man noticed something was off. He narrowed his eyes with even greater shock. "Your level is the same, but your body is as strong as that of a Golden Deity. How… How is that possible?"

"You…"

The cauldron woman also looked at Su Ping with astonishment on her face. Although his cultivation level remained the same, his body had grown significantly sturdier, and she couldn't tame him easily anymore.

That is, unless the curses on her were lifted and her power was released, it would be impossible for her to kidnap Su Ping anymore.

All of them were shocked by Su Ping's changes achieved over the past two months.

Once he saw the last two, Su Ping asked Joanna, "Have they been obedient in the past two months?"

Joanna snapped out of her shock with a troubled expression. "You're so strong right now that they have to be obedient now. I think that in a while…"

She didn't continue.

She thought that it wouldn't be long… for her to also be left behind by Su Ping.

The two living artifacts showed bitter faces upon hearing what she said.

They wouldn't have believed that two months prior, but they knew it was an undeniable fact at the moment. Su Ping's growing speed was simply too fast; he was even more unbelievable than the reborn Old Monster Ye!

"Did anything happen in the past two months? Any updates on Old Monster Ye?" asked Su Ping.

Joanna shook her head. "Nothing serious. However, the Celestial cultivator who has a history with you has been causing quite a mess lately."

"Oh?"

Su Ping instantly asked, "What kind of mess?"

The sutra old man heaved a sigh and said, "He was in his most vulnerable state when he was just reborn, but we missed that opportunity to kill him. He's been recovering his strength and challenging many people. He's become quite famous; everybody's talking about him."

"You can ask your Celestial master for details; we don't know much due to the limitation of our identities," said Joanna.

Su Ping was intrigued. He nodded, then sank his consciousness into the virtual universe linked to his mind and sent a communication signal to his master.

The signal was soon picked up. Shen Huang's projection appeared in front of Su Ping inside a virtual space.

"How did your cultivation go?" Shen Huang looked at his disciple with conflicted feelings, as he had been his biggest source of surprise. He knew he wasn't really Su Ping's master, and that someone else was teaching him. Nevertheless, Su Ping was definitely one of his most talented disciples.

"Not bad." Su Ping didn't go into details; he was incapable of protecting himself until he reached the Ascendant State. He certainly didn't want to repeat his escaping experience in the world of gods; he only had one life there.

"I heard that Old Monster Ye is causing a lot of trouble recently. Is that true?" asked Su Ping.

Shen Huang nodded. Realizing what Su Ping wanted to know, he said, "We missed the best opportunity to kill him. He had been in hiding until one month ago, then he got out and killed two Heavenly Lords. Don't worry, they weren't your senior brothers or sisters; they were from different star zones.

"It's said that the two Heavenly Lords were verbally offending him. Still, it's obvious that he's very strong, to have slain two experts of that caliber at once; he's even stronger than some Celestial State experts.

"Right now, he has established free cities in the chaotic areas beyond the twelve star zones. Countless thugs and thieves of the universe are gathering there. Maybe it won't take long for them to establish a thirteenth star zone."

Shen Huang continued with increasing solemnity, "But that's not permanent. If he's given enough time, a civil war where all humans in the universe will be involved might burst out before the universal catastrophe!

"He certainly doesn't want to claim one star zone; he wants to be the king of the universe!"

Su Ping seemed calm. He wasn't too surprised; after all, the guy was a devil from the age of deities. How could he stand being equal to twelve more experts?

"I don't think the other Celestials are willing to see that, are they? Who supports him and who opposes him?" asked Su Ping.

Shen Huang glanced at Su Ping, feeling somewhat dazed. Even though it was the right question to ask, he thought that Su Ping should have been more surprised.

His eyes glittered. Letting the matter drop, he continued, "Indeed, they're taking sides. There are people who support him, those who oppose him, and those who are neutral. Give it a few more decades, and maybe the three parties will be clearly distinguishable. There will be wars in every aspect.

"A civil war of a universal scope may break out at any time."

Shen Huang didn't continue. He glanced at Su Ping and added, "We're already preparing for war; you only need to know that it's happening. It's actually unnecessary for you to know this. No need to feel any pressure; just focus on cultivation. Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up for you!

"Even if I can't, you still have your senior brothers and sisters. You've never met most of them, yet they're all curious about you and want to talk to you; however, I won't let them interrupt your cultivation since we only have limited time."

Su Ping nodded in silence.

A few decades… There should be enough time for him.

"Got it. Thank you, master," said Su Ping.

"No need to be courteous with me." Shen Huang smiled.

Su Ping exited the virtual space after ending the conversation.

Old Monster Ye had indeed caused a lot of trouble since he had been reborn. A lot of people would die in the event of a war bursting out!

Even a minor conflict in the universe could result in the destruction of hundreds of planets and the deaths of billions of people!

Su Ping took a deep breath. He knew he was too weak to fight a Celestial at the moment. He hadn't even reached the Ascendant State yet, not to mention that Old Monster Ye was quite tricky to deal with, even among the Celestials. Whoever was capable of slaying a Heavenly Lord was a fearsome individual. After all, Heavenly Lords were respected because they could ensure their safety when dealing against Celestial cultivators!

Su Ping focused his attention, then checked the energy balance in his store. He discovered that the balance had significantly diminished because he had been cultivating with the shop closed.

Looks like the shop has to operate while I train in the cultivation sites. Even if we can offer professional training, it will still earn plenty of energy points from normal training. Otherwise, I'll soon use up the balance…"

Su Ping didn't know whether or not it would happen again next time he trained in cultivation sites. He might run out of energy for his resurrections if he was caught there for several hundred years!

"Get ready for business. The two of you will help," said Su Ping to the sutra old man and the cauldron woman.

It was time they were working as employees.

The sutra old man and the cauldron woman looked at each other in bewilderment.

However, Joanna, Tang Ruyan and the others smiled. Tang Ruyan opened the door and sunlight entered, illuminating the dim store.

The sound of the crowd also came in. Soon after, Tang Ruyan greeted a guest and invited him into the shop.

Su Ping asked the still dumbfounded cauldron woman to stand on guard at the door. The sutra old man was responsible for talking to the guests and answering their questions. After all, he was quite knowledgeable and talkative.

While they were busy working—Su Ping left the store and took a brief rest.

"Wow, what a cute little mouse!"