Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 1231: The Ancient Corpse that Blocks the World

“That’s the crack of the universe!” Lian Qi gazed up and said solemnly.

Su Ping looked in that direction. The world changed before his eyes; buildings were no longer buildings, but lines made of laws. The void was no longer the void, but countless collapsing laws. Furthermore, the laws were constantly stretching toward the crack, as if they were being devoured!

“It is said that the crack is connected to the mysterious space beyond the universe, where laws are annihilated and a terrifying power exists…” You Long whispered solemnly.

Song Yuan remarked vehemently, “It is hard to imagine what kind of being is able to tear the universe apart…” It was clear that it wasn’t his first time witnessing the phenomenon.

Chunyu asked, “Is that the ancient corpse?”

In front of the crack was a looming cloud that stretched to infinity. It was impossible to tell where its left and right bounds were; only the general contour could be seen. There were countless laws surrounding the body, ensuring its undying nature.

Su Ping narrowed his eyes, as he had also noticed the “cloud.” Even laws were being deconstructed in front of the spatial crack, let alone normal clouds; not even law-based clouds could have lasted at that close range. Even though the gigantic cloud wasn’t human shaped, that was the only explanation why it didn’t degrade.

“That’s right. It’s the ancient corpse,” Lian Qi nodded and said, “The laws of the Mayhem Star Zone have been collapsing at a slower rate ever since the ancient corpse appeared. The decay rate is surely faster than tens of thousands of years ago, but it did slow down when the ancient corpse appeared…

“Look, those are all the people who want their share of the corpse.”

Lian Qi pointed at a few roads down in the city where a few lines were moving. All the people gathered there were in the Ascendant State.

Han Ye looked at one of the teams and said in a low voice, “They seem to have stopped.”

Lian Qi nodded. “This is the inner city, which is controlled by the eight forces. All eight forces joined hands when the ancient corpse appeared. You have to pull strings or pay the ticket if you want to pass; all roads have been blocked.

“Most outsiders are unwilling to fight the local forces over this matter. A massive war broke out recently and both parties suffered losses. Right now, the eight forces are only asking for resources as toll, and they no longer dare to fully block the roads. Even the central people of the twelve star zones have to take those roads too.”

Mo Ye snorted. “Those criminals seem to have declared themselves kings of the land.”

Lian Qi smiled and said, “Whether they’re criminals is debatable; some of them are considered criminals only because their ancestors committed crimes in the past. What wrong have they done? There’s probably only one crime in the world, which is weakness. They offended either the Celestials or the saints on the Planet of Origin, so they had to be exiled.”

Mo Ye frowned and said, “Junior Brother Lian Qi, you’ve stayed in this place for a good while; you mustn’t be contaminated by their ways. Some of them didn’t just offend the Celestials; they also killed countless people and even slaughtered all life in some star zones. What did the poor creatures they killed do wrong?”

“That’s why I said that weakness is the only crime. Since they were guilty of being weak, they deserved to die,” said Lian Qi with a peaceful smile.

Han Ye shook his head and said, “It’s pointless to argue about this. All we need to do is make sure we won’t be caught in their dilemma; we’re incapable of saving everyone.”

Lian Qi looked at Mo Ye but chose to drop the subject. He continued, “Let’s go this way. The Wolf Fangs, which is one of the eight major forces, happens to be related to the Celestial Court. They offended the Celestial expert of the Doom Star Zone; the enemy of an enemy is a friend. And, I also happen to know the deputy commander of the Wolf Fangs.

He then dashed downwards and reached a drawbridge.

Once down there, a flag fluttering in the wind could be seen; it had three black, sharp-pointed fangs.

The guards of the Wolf Fangs instantly recognized Lian Qi upon arrival. One of them glanced at the visitors and chuckled. “The famous God of War and the Saber King are here. But I expected to see more people from the Celestial Court; I heard that more than thirty Heavenly Lords came from the Flying Cloud Star Zone, including some of your old friends.”

“Only one person can get the legacy. Having more people isn’t necessarily a good thing,” said Chunyu casually.

“That’s true.” The Ascendant State cultivator smiled and then noticed Su Ping. He was instantly surprised. “Who’s this guy?”

“Our junior brother. He’s here for fun,” said Ji Xueqing casually.

Lian Qi clasped his hands. “There isn’t a lot of time left. We’ll be on our way; thank Feng Ping for me later.”

“Boss Feng has already left, you’ll probably meet him.” The Ascendant State cultivator smiled; he shook his head once the outsiders were gone. “Were they fearing the risk of infighting if more people were sent? And why bring a liability with them? The Celestial Court is truly unreliable; no wonder they’re being suppressed by the Heavenly Devil Alliance.”

Everyone moved faster once they passed the drawbridge.

The time and space pressure was very strong in that region. Everyone had to move using their grasped paths of space, even though they were only crossing a short distance. Normal Star State cultivators couldn’t even stand there; they would be relocated by the ever changing space-time conditions, and would end up lost in deep spaces.

Even Star Lords had to rely on their small worlds, but they couldn’t stay too long, either.

All the outsiders rushed on the street. They seemed to be running randomly, but they were actually avoiding the chaotic laws found in every step and landing at precise points.

There were a lot of residents in the buildings on both sides of the street; many were watching the passersby.

Some of them were young Star State men, and even some were in the Ocean State. They seemed to be locals who couldn’t leave the buildings.

“More people willing to kill themselves.”

“Mom, are there really treasures inside the ancient corpse?”

“Yes, but we’re too unworthy to pick them up.”

The residents silently gazed at Su Ping and the others; they had seen a lot of similar adventurers.

Everybody was finally able to reach the deepest part of the City of Sins after running for half a day. They crossed the city and found a sloped, desolate place; the ancient corpse and the crack were just above.

“Be wary of ambushers,” Song Yuan narrowed his eyes and said. He released his aura and summoned two pets; one of them was a huge dragonfly and the other was a green-haired girl. They followed him and monitored the environment.

Both creatures were sensitive Ascendant pets. Their fighting prowess was subpar, but their senses were keen; they could even detect the Celestials unless those powerhouses were hiding with special techniques.

Everybody felt safe with Song Yuan leading the way, but they all stayed on alert, probing the area with their own senses.

Su Ping transformed his eyes into the primitive eyes of chaos. His pupils turned dim and dark, as if a gray mist were floating in them. The world before him changed once again; all the superficial illusions were removed and the real appearance of the world was revealed.

The seemingly cloud-like ancient corpse revealed its true appearance. It was a gigantic body floating in midair, surrounded by countless laws. The chest muscles were thousands of kilometers long; there was also a wound on its arm that was caused by a cut. The wound appeared to be unhealable, and it looked like a crater on the moon; the blood solidified at one point.

There were countless dents inside the wound, which were massive. They covered hundreds of square kilometers.

Su Ping narrowed his eyes as he observed the ancient corpse. Those laws… seem to be struggling to crawl out of the body.

He then turned and noticed a dozen people lurking in the void, thousands of kilometers ini the distance. They were all Ascendants, hiding in a broken bowl that covered their auras. However, there were cracks on the bowl, which allowed Su Ping to detect them with the flowing aura of chaos.

Those people aren’t fighting for the treasures. They’re waiting to ambush people… Su Ping withdrew his gaze after noticing them. Normal Ascendants would surely fall prey if they passed by; even a Heavenly Lord could have missed them. The death of a Heavenly Lord would result in lots of treasures and resources found in their person.

No wonder those people preferred to give up the ancient corpse’s treasures and simply hide there.

“Brother Song…”

The green-haired girl suddenly floated in front of Song Yuan and pointed in a certain direction. She whispered, “Someone is lurking over there.”

Song Yuan narrowed his eyes and asked, “How many?”

“Eight. All in the Ascendant State; but they aren’t too strong,” said the green-haired girl quickly.

Song Yuan nodded and dropped a hint at Chunyu.

Chunyu understood and suddenly drew his saber, gathering a terrifying aura that was combined with laws in that direction.

Laws were crumbling at a shocking speed at the foot of the mountain, right in front of the crack in the universe. Normal Star Lords could hardly endure half an hour in their small world; Ascendant power was greatly reduced too. However, Chunyu’s attack seemed unaffected, as if deployed in the outside world; just as brutal and brilliant.

The eight men lurking in the void were all shocked; they scrambled to dodged. One of them exclaimed in a mixture of shock and fury, “Song Yuan, there are no grievances between you and the Grand Star Zone. Why did you attack us?”

“Who says I’m attacking you? My junior brother simply felt the urge to draw his weapon,” said Song Yuan with a snort.

The eight men were surprised and infuriated, but none dared to talk back; after all, they were no match for Song Yuan and the others in a real battle. Even though the two parties had the same number of people, their opponents were among the top Heavenly Lords, such as Song Yuan and Chunyu; either of whom could slay them with ease.

Whoosh!

Without further ado, Song Yuan simply led Su Ping and the others past the lurkers.

The latter watched them go away, before they mumbled angrily and hid themselves again.

“Those guys are just lying in ambush instead of fighting for the treasures.” Ji Xueqing snorted. “They can’t feel too good about us, why didn’t you kill them, senior brother?”

“Right now, the Heavenly Devil Alliance is our enemy. Let’s not mess with other star zones unless it’s necessary,” replied Song Yuan briefly.

“Those guys aren’t stupid. They must’ve seen other Heavenly Lords and know they can’t beat them. So, they simply chose to wait here to rob the weaker competitors,” said Han Ye.

“They would quickly die if they tried to approach the ancient corpse and pick something up. There’s been a lot of treasure troves emerging in the universe, and a storm of blood is roused every time. Countless people die in these gory competitions.”

Su Ping was rather curious after hearing what Han Ye said, but he didn’t ask.

They had already reached the bottom of the ancient corpse; an intense stench of blood filled the environment. The remains of enormous battle pets could be found on the ground; they had been shattered to pieces.

There were tiny holes on the ancient corpse, which were a couple of meters in diameter. They seemed to be ancient being’s pores.

Chunyu suddenly said, “Let me give it a try.”

He swung his saber again, launching a dazzling aura that looked like a star upon the ancient corpse.

The next second—the saber aura was broken, while the ancient corpse remained intact.

Chunyu’s expression changed somewhat. He had used eighty percent of his strength in the attack, but he couldn’t even cause a small injury on the ancient corpse?

That was a body that had been dead for countless years. The laws surrounding it had almost dispersed, and yet, its sturdiness remained.

He was definitely someone beyond the Celestial State…

Chunyu took a deep breath, with desire in his eyes.

Song Yuan and the others were solemn. They all knew how sharp Chunyu’s saber was; even a Celestial would have been mildly hurt by it.

“Let’s go. I heard something coming from within,” said Song Yuan, “Whatever happens, let’s try to stick together.”

“Sure.”

No one wasted any time; everybody entered one of the pores under Song Yuan’s lead.

There was a smell of decay and a vague smell of blood inside the channel. Su Ping stared at the channel walls, only to discover Dao Patterns which seemed to be made of both rock and flesh.

The Dao Patterns were circulating constantly like genetic strains; that was the reason why the ancient corpse was preserved.

The dispersing laws were like the odor vaporizing from the Dao Patterns.

All those fading laws moved in the same direction, which was toward the universal crack.

Boom!

Suddenly, noises burst out.

Everyone reached a relatively spacious dark red region after moving through the channel for some time. A fierce battle was taking place; ten Ascendants or so were fighting a huge insect that was dozens of meters tall.

“Oh no!”

The arrival of Su Ping and the others caught their attention. Their expressions changed after they saw Song Yuan’s face.

“They’re from the Blood Charm Star Zone…” Ji Xueqing easily recognized them; they belonged to one of the three star zones from the Heavenly Devil Alliance. They had met before, while exploring other treasures, but now their enmity was clear cut.

“Kill them.” Song Yuan was cold and decisive as he attacked.

“Run!”

The eight people were terrified, and quickly moved to disperse. Only one of them was a Heavenly Lord; they were definitely no match for Song Yuan and the others.

Still, there was no time for them to make their getaway. Song Yuan and Chunyu were extremely fast; they slayed seven Ascendants before Su Ping made a move. Only the Heavenly Lord was able to escape from the insect and dash to enter another channel.