Astral Pet Store (WN)

Tang Ruyan stared at Su Ping. She forced a bitter smile. Su Ping was the one who had captured her, but she had realized that Su Ping was a kind person with a vicious mouth.

“Don’t do this.” Tang Ruyan lowered her head again. “I’m not worth it. I have to go back!”

“Sure, you can go. But that cannot be a suicide mission,” Su Ping said, “After you sort your family matters, come back and continue working for me.”

Tang Ruyan answered with a bitter smile, “If I can survive it… I will come back.”

“You will as long as you want to.” Su Ping waved his hand. “I will tell my battle pet to go with you. Let’s revisit the matter later. Today, just do your work.”

Tang Ruyan’s eyes glowed with hope.

Did he just say he’s going to lend me his battle pet?

She knew very well how stunning Su Ping’s battle pets were. His battle pets were as mighty as beast kings. If she could go back with a beast king, it would be of great help to the Tang family!

“Thank you…” Tang Ruyan said, lowering her voice.

Su Ping motioned her to step away.

Tang Ruyan went back to her post without further ado.

The customers around them had heard the conversation and glued curious glances on her.

If they had heard correctly, the Tang family they were talking about had to be one of the four ancient families!

Some with a wilder imagination had worked out the story. They could not believe that the girl working for a legendary battle pet warrior was from the Tang family. Since the legendary battle pet warrior was going to help her and lend her a battle pet, those forces that were going after the Tang family were in for a disaster!

Soon, the system alerted Su Ping that all spots had been taken.

Including the nursing pens.

Su Ping put down his pen and made the announcement. “We don’t have any room left. Please come next time.”

The customers were surprised to find that “no more room left” was a thing.

Other stores would never turn down any customers.

The customers found an explanation when connecting the fact that Su Ping was a legendary battle pet warrior. They were still under the conviction that running the store was not Su Ping’s focus in his life, but his pastime. As for making more money? A legendary battle pet warrior didn’t need money!

The customers, although disappointed, had to leave.

Afterward, Su Ping told Tang Ruyan, the girl and the old man to approach him. “You told Tang Ruyan about the Tang family’s troubles, right? Spare no details. What happened? How long has the Tang family been in trouble?”

As they stood in front of Su Ping, Xia Yumeng and the old man could not help but tremble. Xia Yumeng found the courage eventually. “Sir, I heard from others as well. The Situ family and the Wang family are working together. Several days ago, they started to strike the Tang family’s businesses and companies. I heard that those two families are not going to stop there; they will probably launch a military attack in the next few days.”

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. “The Situ family and the Wang family? So, the matter is limited to the four ancient families. Do you know what got the two families to work together on this strike?”

Xia Yumeng answered, although gingerly, “I think it is because the Tang family head got hurt while cultivating.”

Su Ping noticed that Tang Ruyan was wearing a worried expression. He shook his head. “Since it’s one of the four ancient families, the sole fact that the family head was wounded would not give the two families enough reason to strike. After all, they had been on good terms until then. There must be another reason for that sudden strike. Even if the family head was hurt, the family would have others in command. The family head is at the peak of the titled rank at best. He’s not the true reason.”

Xia Yumeng turned pale. “I, I do not dare to lie to you, sir. This is what I heard…”

The old man was also agitated. “Sir, our miss and Ruyan are best friends. We would not dare to fool her. I’m willing to swear on my title!”

Su Ping waved his hand. “Do calm down. I’m not saying that you’ve lied to her. I am merely pointing out that there are other reasons for this; it’s not surprising that you may not know. Either way, they’re not going to fool around with the next strike. They must have orchestrated the strike while being certain of a victorious outcome.”

Tang Ruyan suddenly came back to her senses. Su Ping’s analysis scared her.

The Tang family had an artifact that was strong enough to kill beast kings! The Situ family and the Wang family knew this well; they had known the Tang family for quite a long time!

The only explanation was that the Situ and Wang families had acquired something that could render the Tang family artifact ineffective, and they had found a reason to decide that the Tang family had to go!

Tang Ruyan’s mind felt heavy.

She looked at Su Ping, wishing to speak but stopped on second thought.

If Su Ping could go and help her, given his influence, no matter how long the Situs and the Wangs had been planning together, they would have to give up!

However…

Su Ping was a legendary battle pet warrior!

Why would he help her and the Tang family?

The Tangs had sent armies to attack Su Ping’s store. The two parties had a dispute once. Even though everything had ended with the Tang family issuing an apology and offering Su Ping treasures, who was to say that Su Ping had indeed moved past that?

“What is the situation like in the Tang family territory?” Su Ping asked.

Xia Yumeng answered candidly, “The Tang family is located in the Yedou Base City, which has entered a state of emergency and is carefully screening people coming from other base cities. The Situ family and the Wang family are still calm at the moment. I don’t know when they will initiate the battle. However, the Tang family has already called back all of the members stationed in other base cities.”

Tang Ruyan turned paler upon hearing that, but she kept her head low so no one would see the pain on her face.

Su Ping cast her a glance. He would rather not let her go back because the Tang family had shunned her. He tried to persuade her but failed. As such, he thought he might as well let her go to let her have a closure on the matter.

“I believe it will be fast.”

After some thought, Su Ping said to Xia Yumeng and the old man with her, “Thank you very much for telling me this. You can go back if you have other business to attend to.”

The old man thanked Su Ping and hurried to leave with Xia Yumeng. Staying there with Su Ping was too stressful for them.

That left Su Ping with Tang Ruyan and Zhong Lingtong in the store. “I’ll have Frosty go with you. You’ll come back alive at the very least,” Su Ping said to Tang Ruyan. “Which one is Frosty?”

Tang Ruyan was confused.

Su Ping summoned the Little Skeleton. He ended up naming the skeleton Frosty.

At first, Su Ping had thought the Inferno Dragon would have been enough; it would have been a big threat for any of the four ancient families. However, he then learned that two of the families were working together. Fearing that the two families had some trump card, Su Ping decided that the Little Skeleton was a safer bet because he wouldn’t be there with her.

Not even the Otherworld Heavenly King would be able to kill the Little Skeleton; its ability to stay alive had been tested in the Realm of Purple-blood Dragons. Those purple-blood dragons at the Fate Realm had had a hard time trying to kill his pet.

Tang Ruyan was overjoyed. She knew that of all of Su Ping’s battle pets, the fragile looking Little Skeleton was in fact the most powerful!

“Thank you!”

She could find no other words and saying thank-you was not enough to express her gratitude.

She would have to remember his kind gesture.

“Listen, dear, go with the aunt here and take care of her. Don’t let her die.” Su Ping patted the Little Skeleton’s smooth skull.

Tang Ruyan: “??” The Little Skeleton took a few seconds to digest this information. The Little Skeleton nodded after a while. It seemed that the Little Skeleton needed to check its reflexes.

Su Ping was used to that by then. Even though the Little Skeleton was not the best communicator, it was the best fighter… his most violent battle pet!

“Kill anyone and anything trying to harm her,” Su Ping added.

The Little Skeleton nodded.

Su Ping smiled. As she looked at Tang Ruyan, he remembered that the Zhong family had once given him some herbs that could increase his astral powers. He had never used them and would no longer need them since he had reached the ninth rank, thanks to the Ashura king’s blood and the herbs he had found in the dragon realms. Those herbs were suitable for those at the seventh or eighth rank.

“Your rank is too low. Any titled battle pet warrior could kill you with attacks across space. The Little Skeleton cannot keep an eye on you at all times. I have some herbs. Take them and try to break through to the eighth rank,” Su Ping said as he took out the herbs from his storage space.

Tang Ruyan was speechless. She had become used to Su Ping’s poisonous words. She did worry because of her seventh rank. She had once been proud of her achievement; she had done excellently when compared to all her peers. She prided herself of being a talent.

However, after meeting Su Ping the freak, including the titled and even the legendary battle pet warriors, she realized that… the seventh rank was nothing.

“Will it take too much time? What if by the time I go back, the Tang family has already been…” Tang Ruyan voiced her concern. Su Ping rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t overthink. Your friend said they haven’t started the battle yet. They’re all pretty big families and even if they have indeed started, the battle would not end that quickly. If you are worried, I suggest you do not waste another second.”

He tossed her the herbs.

Tang Ruyan thought for a while and realized that Su Ping’s words made sense.

She took the herbs with her to the test room. Su Ping told Zhong Lingtong to fetch him the notebook so that he could categorize the pets according to the information.

Su Ping was thrilled when he checked the number of energy points.

He had made 68 million energy points that day.

All the customers had chosen training for advanced pets and most had even selected professional training!

He had 90 million energy points in total!

Another ten million and he would have one hundred million energy points!

Su Ping could hardly believe that. Of course, it would take a long time to train all the pets. That was why he was unable to go with Tang Ruyan.

For one thing, he didn’t like the Tang family. Besides, he was too busy. The Little Skeleton alone would do.

It would at least keep Tang Ruyan safe.

As for the survival of the Tang family, that was not Su Ping’s concern.

“Upgrade the store!” Su Ping said to himself. That would cost him ten million energy points. To upgrade the store to the fourth level would require one billion energy points!

Over a hundred times more than the current upgrade!

“Checking… The first requirement was fulfilled. The second requirement was fulfilled. The third requirement was fulfilled…

“Initiating store upgrade. “Upgrade process will last for 24 hours.

“The system will be under maintenance in the meantime. Only elementary to advanced cultivation sites will be available. Top-level cultivation sites will be closed for the time being.

“Deducting energy points… “Upgrade initiated…”

Su Ping raised his eyebrows when he heard those messages. “System, why do you need to be maintained? I thought you were the sil… smartest system.”

“Maintenance means rest. The system is tired from keeping an eye on a useless host the entire time,” the system refuted.

Su Ping was surprised that the system had learned poisonous words.

Where did the system get that from?