Astral Pet Store (WN)

Su Ping was itching to try

The worst that could happen was that he would have to spend energy points on his revivals.

However, compared to the benefit of refining his energy with the Heaven’s Test, Su Ping believed that the energy points would be well spent. This was something that he might only be able to encounter with luck, not by searching for it!

Since Heaven’s Tests could better his pets, it should be able to improve his energy as well.

His own strength and powers also mattered. Only after becoming powerful enough could he control fiercer and tougher pets. Otherwise, violent pets like the Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound wouldn’t have obeyed him, let alone act like lambs in front of him.

“I want to have a try,” Su Ping said to Joanna.

After a second of surprise, Joanna came to understand Su Ping’s intention. She inwardly produced a forced smile; only someone like the undying Su Ping was able to rely on the Heaven’s Test for training.

18.

Heaven’s Test was a trial and a disciplinary action of sorts. However, for Su Ping, the test had become a training tool. It even seemed as if heaven were working for Su Ping… “Go ahead,” Joanna said. She sighed to herself. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t envious of him. There would be so much she could do if she had had his abilities.

Su Ping nodded.

The fourth round of lightning had started.

This time, there was a greater number of lightning bolts. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as 18 bolts of lightning were coming into being. That was too much for the middle-aged man to bear all by himself.

If he were there alone, his Heaven’s Test would have ended after merely three rounds, once the thundercloud’s energy was exhausted. He would have merely triggered a thundercloud with a diameter of one thousand meters.

However, the fact was, he had to face the fourth round.

The tension growing out of the thundercloud was becoming more and more intense, rather than decreasing. There should be a fifth, or even a sixth-round coming!

“Shield of Ares…”

The middle-aged man was nervous. The only reliance he had was the shield.

Boom!

The lightning struck.

Roar!!

The Inferno Dragon threw itself at the lightning and withstood the strike with its physical body alone. That bolt of lightning was stronger than ever before. One bolt after and the dragon’s skin was split and its flesh torn. Blood was spilling out from all over its body.

The dragon didn’t stop. It shouted and shouted as it approached the second lightning bolt.

Boom!

That one broke the dragon’s wings.

Boom!

The third lightning bolt came right after. Like a huge hammer, it pounded on the dragon and pushed it to the ground. The dragon’s scales were scorched and curled. Both the Inferno Dragon’s soul and consciousness had died.

In its first try, the Inferno Dragon was able to go through four strikes. This time, it had deceased after three.

The fourth round of lightning strikes was much more powerful than before.

Whoosh!

Su Ping brought the Inferno Dragon to life at once. At the same time, he flew up to the sky, not willing to “waste” the following lightning strikes.

Bang!

A bolt of lightning went after the middle-aged man and landed on the umbrella in his hand. But the strike went through the umbrella and smashed into the Shield of Ares.

The Shield of Ares gave out a faint golden hue and turned into a sphere that completely covered up the middle-aged man.

The lightning strike was unable to break the sphere.

After this, the middle-aged man felt some relief. Excitement came into his eyes. No wonder the Shield of Ares was famous throughout the Divinity. The shield was indeed worthy of the fame!

Right then, the lighting strikes stopped forming

No more lightning bolts were attacking him. All the remaining lightning bolts went back into the thundercloud.

What is going on?

The middle-aged man was puzzled.

Immediately afterward, he noticed that the thundercloud began to tumble, like boiling water. Then it started to move and expand quickly; just as if boiling water were being poured onto a bowl already filled to the brim.

The thundercloud was growing again!

The middle-aged man was dumbfounded.

He heard a noise. He turned around, only to see Su Ping, the human he had briefly met, who was flying to reach him.

What…?

The middle-aged man was stunned. He knew that this young human being was not simple. He was a human being but all the local gods treated him with respect. The middle-aged man had once asked the guards and was informed that the human being was Her Highness Joanna’s honored guest.

Considering Joanna’s status, one could imagine how special her guest would be. “You…” The middle-aged man didn’t understand why Su Ping would go there. He had no idea about Su Ping’s strength. He sensed that Su Ping was weak but who could tell him whether Su Ping was hiding his abilities or not?

If Su Ping were like a Celestial God or a God Warrior, then the strength of the Heaven’s Test would increase to a level that he would hardly be able to imagine!

After all, Heaven’s prestige was not something to be challenged!

Even when the most powerful gods wanted to help out the younger generation, the only way was to give the latter some artifacts. The former were unable to intervene personally or else the Heaven’s Test would regard them as participants. If so, Heaven’s Tests would no longer be fitting for the young by then. Su Ping stood by the middle-aged man in the air. He was also baffled, wondering why the lightning strikes had stopped. But he soon understood, since he noticed how the thundercloud was growing.

The Heaven’s Test was preparing a big move. It seems that my potential is better than that of the Inferno Dragon or else this test wouldn’t have reacted like this, Su Ping thought. This realization delighted him. Heaven’s Tests turned out to be a quite fair “judge.”

“I wonder how large it’s going to be…” Su Ping was looking forward to seeing the result, to have a clear sense of his potential.

He could see the ratings of his pets’ aptitude but the system didn’t allow him access to see his own rating. The system knew but would not tell him, so he didn’t have an accurate idea.

Boom~!

The thundercloud tumbled and grew to a greater size.

In the blink of an eye, the cloud’s diameter expanded to forty thousand meters and gained momentum, with no signs to stop.

“No way…” The God Warrior standing on the ground was unable to believe this. He was even a bit scared. He could tell that Su Ping was merely at the sixth rank and he wasn’t hiding anything. He was sure that he wasn’t wrong about Su Ping, unless Su Ping turned out to be at a rank higher than his.

Based on his experience and interactions with Su Ping, the God Warrior was certain that Su Ping was not faking his rank. He, indeed, was at the sixth-rank.

Forty thousand meters…

Su Ping had the potential of a God Warrior!

If others would find out about this, many great forces in the Divinity would try to recruit him!

A God Warrior would be at the upper class in the Divinity.

After all, more powerful than the God Warriors would be the Major Gods, which were few and far between in the entire Divinity.

The God Warrior wore a solemn expression. Before that day, he had been treating Su Ping with respect and it was merely for Joanna’s sake. But after such a revelation, Su Ping’s personal potential was enough reason to be respected.

On the other hand, Joanna watched as the thundercloud expanded further. She didn’t appear to be surprised at all.

She was well aware that Su Ping had more potential than his pets; he was the master, after all. Since his pets could progress in this cultivation site, there was no reason that he couldn’t do the same.

Besides, Su Ping would not die for real while he was there. He had skills that could reverse time.

Su Ping was being backed by a mysterious and terrifying entity. Joanna believed that Su Ping was that someone’s student. It was understandable that a student of someone like that would have the strength equal to a God Warrior.

Boom_!

The thundercloud was rolling over and over and soon, its diameter had increased to fifty thousand meters.

The entire mountain was under the shade of the thundercloud. The many True Gods and Celestial Gods were all gazing at the huge thundercloud in surprise.

They had never triggered something of such magnitude when they took their tests. This was a sign of a peerless, proud son of heaven emerging!

As the gods stared in astonishment, the thundercloud kept on growing; in an instant, the diameter had reached sixty thousand meters, and it kept on reaching further out.

Seventy… eighty… ninety…

A hundred!

In a few minutes, the diameter of the thundercloud had expanded beyond the hundred thousand meter mark!

The God Warrior was so frightened that his eyes stared woodenly and his jaw was slack.

That size indicated a potential equal to that of a Major God!

An outstanding Major God no less!

Was this young man so terrifying?

The God Warrior was well informed and had lived for a long time. Even so, he had rarely seen a thundercloud of such a scale. Whenever such a thundercloud was triggered, the entire Divinity would be alerted!

At the moment, no one—from the peak of the mountain to the foot of the mountain-was making any sound.

All the True Gods and Celestial Gods were astounded and standing with open mouths.

“A hundred thousand meters…”

Joanna was taken aback. She kept her gaze on the young man hovering in the sky. With the help of her true self, Joanna had managed to get her hands on many valuable items and blood of special creatures, being able to build up a body like this. She had never realized that Su Ping also had such potential.

Potential and talent couldn’t have explained this and rich resources alone were not the answer. One had to be extremely fortunate and blessed!

In the sky.

The middle-aged man standing next to Su Ping had gone numb. For a long time, he let his mouth hang open; he simply was unable to shut his jaw close.

Who am I?

Where am I?

What am I doing?!

There was such a mess in his mind.

Was this his Heavenly Test?

The thing above his head was his Heavenly Test?!

He was feeling a strong urge to turn around and run away. He would readily pass his chance for this test to anyone!

The middle-aged man turned to look at Su Ping with a desperate look on his face. He was stunned by what he saw.

He saw an intense glow, shining brightly around Su Ping!

There seemed to be some tattoo depicting a totem, glistening over Su Ping. The shape was like… a bird of fire!

The middle-aged man was once again confused.

So hot!

Su Ping was not in the mood to mind what others were thinking, or even the Heaven’s Test itself. He felt he was burning up, and something was about to burst out of his skin.

He lowered his head and saw that his veins were popping out and he could see them clearly through his skin.

But not all the veins. Some blood vessels remained invisible. The parts where the blood vessels stood out were forming a pattern, a pattern of a… Golden Grow!

Su Ping stood in a daze.

He was cultivating the Solar Bulwark and was merely at the first rank. There was but a mere trace of the Golden Crow’s energy within him. It came as a surprise, for the trace of energy to be forced out by the Heaven’s Test.

So, it was true. Heaven’s Tests could recognize a person’s potential.

Su Ping took a deep breath and tried to contain this burning energy. That energy went back into his body and began to roll in waves. He gazed into the thundercloud. At that very moment, he was feeling the urge to burn something and be burned at the same time!

Finally, the thundercloud stopped growing.

That was one hundred and twenty-six thousand meters!

That was the thundercloud’s final diameter.

When the cloud stopped expanding, the energy within began to tumble, forcefully, albeit slowly. Soon, the interrupted fourth round of lightning came smashing down again. This time, there were 36 bolts of lightning!

Thunder roared and lightning flashed!

Su Ping felt the lightning glare was blinding his eyes.

Still, he aimed at one of the lightning bolts and threw himself at it. As a matter of fact, he believed that the lightning bolts would go to him voluntarily.

Bang!

Su Ping began to tremble right when the lightning bolt made contact with his body. Then his mind went completely blank. His sight, hearing, and tactile sense were fading away.

He couldn’t even feel his body.

But that sensation lasted for merely one second, then all the feeling surged back; the tearing pain, the burns, and the piercing sense, they all went back to his mind.

It was excruciating!

Su Ping clenched his teeth. Truth be told, he couldn’t even feel he was doing that; he just did it instinctually. He didn’t shout. He was soldiering through!

He was going through the baptism of pain. His will of steel made him look up into the thundercloud. He picked out another bolt of lightning and dashed over!

Bang!

He felt the lightning strike reach him. The level of pain was instantly doubled. He thought his blood and astral powers were boiling and soon, were burnt up.

His consciousness died.

Darkness came over him, the darkness that seemed to have been waiting for him for a long time.

Darkness was the only constant in his repeated training

Revival!

He could see light again. Su Ping opened his eyes and saw that he had woken up on top of the peak. He saw that the lightning was still roaring. The Dark Dragon Hound and the Inferno Dragon were staring at the thundercloud in fear, lacking the courage to try again. “Go!” Su Ping bellowed.

Having received the order, the Dark Dragon Hound had no other choice but to run to the lightning

Soon, the Dark Dragon Hound turned into a dead body and fell.

“You go!!”

The Inferno Dragon flew up, screaming and shivering

Several seconds later, its corpse fell to the ground as well.

Su Ping didn’t stop. The moment the Inferno Dragon was going to fall, Su Ping had already jumped up. He revived the Inferno Dragon the second it died while he was charging toward the lightning

Pain. Torn apart. Burns!

Su Ping believed that this had to be what hell felt like.

Maybe, this was hell.

At this moment, the area covered up by the thundercloud was hell!

Su Ping could have stopped the training easily. He could have comfortably stayed on the ground. But he drove out the idea as soon as it came into his mind.

To become strong, he had to endure pain!

A journey to strength without experiencing pain would have been incomplete!!

Roar!!

Su Ping shouted wildly and a dragon’s roar came out from his throat!

His bellow was spread across the entire mountain and even to the city!

Even though he was a human being, he had cried out like an animal in a gods’ city because of the pressure from the Heaven’s Test!

The God Warrior was frozen on the spot.

He couldn’t understand why Su Ping could come back to life and why Su Ping would do something so pointless.

He was freeloading in another person’s test and would not get the “reward” in the end. So, this was all just for training?!

But that was no training. It was a trip to hell, over and over!

The God Warrior couldn’t figure out why a human being at the sixth-rank could have such willpower. What must have he gone through to train his mind like this?

This time, the God Warrior was not the only one stunned. Even Joanna was wearing a surprised look.

She had always had the conviction that Su Ping was just some lazy fellow blessed with good fortune. Yet, at this moment, she finally saw the truth, and the reason why the young man was so intimidating.

His determination and his resolution to tackle every challenge!

She remembered their days at the store. He wore such a big smile when he was taking money from his customers. He was such a money slave. Right then, seeing him drenched in blood, shouting under the thundercloud, she wondered if this were a different person.

A different person?

Maybe, he was just revealing his true self.