Astral Pet Store (WN)

“Huh?”

Diqiong felt something as it was about to leave the nest. It turned around and cast a look at Su Ping, only to see a wisp of dark light disappearing. Diqiong wondered. Just then, it had perceived a strange power, something that Diqiong was aspiring to obtain…

That had to be an illusion…

Diqiong shook its head. Su Ping was so much weaker; he couldn’t have used that power. That had to be an illusion…

“Let’s go.”

Diqiong flew out of its nest and dragged Su Ping along.

The proud crow took Su Ping to the gathering place for the trial.

Su Ping stood in the golden cube which was no longer unbreakable for him. He felt that he could—when exerting his full strength—break the golden cube!

But he didn’t have to do that.

He stood in the golden cube with his hands crossed behind his back and looked around, then at the ancient tree and its leaves. He was certain that if he were to pick a hundred leaves from the tree, the leaves themselves would be large enough to cover up the entire Blue Planet!

But for the ancient tree, losing a hundred leaves was nothing.

Vast and boundless.

Su Ping felt that even his mind had been broadened. What a miraculous feeling.

…

“That human…”

Three Golden Crows were sitting on a twig. It was as if their sight could see through the whole universe and time, the past and the future. One could hardly look into their eyes.

At the moment, the Chief Elder looked through the clouds and leaves and saw that wisp of dark light disappearing from Su Ping’s fingertips.

“He’s not so bad after all…”

The Chief Elder nodded. Its eyes were glistening.

…

…

“Are they all here for the trial?” Su Ping asked.

Diqiong took him out of its nest and flew past many leaves that were as large as ten base cities. Su Ping gradually began to see more and more Golden Crows gathering.

All those Golden Crows were as large as aircraft carriers; much larger than beast kings found on the Blue Planet.

There were much larger crows surrounding the relatively smaller Golden Crows. The two groups were traveling to climb further up the tree.

Su Ping realized that those had to be the Golden Grows that had prepared for the trial.

Diqiong looked at the Golden Grows and threatened Su Ping, “Yes. All of them are your opponents. I will make sure they do their worst and crush you without mercy.”

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. “So, the many bullying the few?”

“Not really. We don’t need to rely on a large group to crush you.” Diqiong snorted.

Su Ping was not in the mood to argue; he only gazed at the grand view.

More and more Golden Crows of various sizes were approaching the ancient tree. It was as if many rays of glistening light were reaching the ancient tree.

Even the young Golden Crows were at the legendary rank, not to mention the adult Golden Crows.

Being an ancient race, Golden Crows were indeed threatening.

“The trial…”

For the Little Skeleton’s sake, he had to get through the trial!

…

Under the tree crown.

The elders were on a twig, while perched on the surrounding leaves were countless Golden Crows. All the crows perched on the twigs had some high status; the general public could only fly around followed by their kids.

Of course, those kids were Su Ping’s intimidating opponents.

Diqiong took Su Ping to the twig the elders were sitting on.

Diqiong’s appearance startled many Golden Crows. They made way for her and greeted her with respect. The other Golden Crows were interested in Su Ping, since it had been dragged there by Diqiong. That was the first time they had seen such a “strange” thing… Is that her royal highness’s snack?

A Golden Crow in its infancy asked a larger one, “Mother, what is that thing? I don’t think it looks tasty.”

A massive Golden Crow poked its kid’s head with the tip of its wing. “Be quiet and listen to the elders. I’ll break your third leg if you can’t pass the trial this time!”

…

The Chief Elder looked down at the Golden Crows from a height. It didn’t say a thing to Diqiong and Su Ping. The Chief Elder announced when all the Golden Crows had arrived, “The awakening trial begins now. All participants, please come forward and gather in front of me!”

The Chief Elder’s sonorous voice was heard across half of the ancient tree.

The Golden Crows were awed by that voice.

Some adult Golden Grows bowed to show their respect. Once the elder finished, they urged their kids to go in case they would be left out of the trial. Su Ping felt that the sight was just like the time when human parents were sending their kids to school. All of a sudden, he felt those Golden Crows were not so distant from him after all.

They weren’t just merciless ancient creatures; they were living creatures with hearts.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Golden Crows flew and approached the Chief Elder.

Those Golden Crows were “smaller” young Golden Crows. They landed on the twigs behind Diqiong and Su Ping. The wind they had stirred up blew Su Ping’s hair into a huge mess.

The young Golden Crows came one after the other; their strengths varied, as some of them seemed to be more powerful.

“Look, her Royal Highness Diqiong!”

“Her Royal Highness, bearer of the ancestral bloodline!”

“Squeak~”

The young Golden Crows noticed Diqiong; the looks in their eyes were full of admiration and respect. Some Golden Grows were stepping aside, afraid to look at Diqiong.

“The He family!”

“The Qiong family!”

Diqiong glanced over at the young Golden Grows. There wasn’t a whiff of admiration as it looked down on all of them, just like a queen picking a dress.

Su Ping remembered that Diqiong had told him the Golden Crow that aced the trial would potentially become part of the royal crow’s private guard. All of a sudden, he felt sorry for those magnificent, young Golden Crows.

Diqiong said to Su Ping all of a sudden, “If you can manage to reach the last round, which is the comprehensive trial, you’d better hope you don’t meet any of them or you’ll end up in trouble!”

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. Was that a warning?

Still, it sounded more like a taunt.

“That guy is from the He family; it can easily win first place and join the reserve of my Guard!” Diqiong raised its chin toward a certain direction.

Su Ping turned around, confused.

All the Golden Crows looked alike. Which one is Diqiong talking about?

“You can’t find it? It’s the ordinary looking one,” Diqiong said to Su Ping.

Su Ping was still confused.

Ordinary?

All of those Golden Crows seemed ordinary; he felt as if he were visiting a chicken farm. Well, he wished he were in a chicken farm because he could tell the differences from the chicken’s feathers, but those Golden Crows… All of them had golden feathers. How could he tell any of them apart!

“That one is from the Qiong family. You want to stay away from it as well,” Diqiong said again.

That Golden Crow felt Diqiong’s look and immediately wore a respectful face; the others around it did the same thing. Each and every one of them was thinking Her Royal Highness Diqiong was looking specifically at themselves.

Interesting.

Su Ping glanced over. The young Golden Crows were lowering their heads as if they were feeling shy…

“Well, well.”

Su Ping curled his lips. He could tell that Diqiong was cautioning him kindly, although he was completely clueless as to why Diqiong would do that. But… that was of no help!

“I’m bird blind,” Su Ping said to Diqiong.

Diqiong was perplexed.

Su Ping decided not to explain. He didn’t think a Golden Crow would enjoy being referred to as a bird.

The space in front of the Chief Elder suddenly began to ripple as an opening appeared. Inside there was a venue with towering stone columns which had carvings of Golden Crows. Su Ping also saw a bridge made of clouds.

Across the bridge was a small venue, but you could also see a bottomless pit by the edge.

There were boulders lying around.

“Go ahead, kids,” the Chief Elder said.

All the Golden Crows were excited.

The young Golden Crows squeaked and chattered. Suddenly, Su Ping felt his ears were going to bleed. Next, he heard the wind and the flapping wings.

The Golden Crows flew toward the swirl in the air.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The countless Golden Crows vanished as they entered the trial venue.

Although young, the Golden Crows were majestic; Su Ping could see nothing but the rays of golden light. He was amazed.

Even the entrance to the trial venue was marvelous for an ancient race!

Soon, many Golden Crows had entered the testing grounds and only a dozen were still outside. Some of the large Golden Crows began to squeak in anxiety and heave sighs of disappointment. They were the parents of the kids that had not flown into the venue yet.

“Damn it. I forgot that I’m still outside!”

Su Ping patted his head.

Diqiong cast him a glance and said grumpily, “You’re not going anywhere without my permission. The Chief Elder also said that you were going to be tested in a separate venue. Try to keep calm!”

“Right…”

Su Ping remembered that the Chief Elder had indeed said something like that.

“You would have spent all the time dying if you were to join them!” Diqiong snorted. “The Chief Elder is trying to protect you, as a way to be fair and respectful toward the Heaven Master!”

Su Ping pulled himself together. “So, the trial has no time limit, right?”

“Of course. The first round is all about strength. It has nothing to do with time or speed. Of course, you can tell something from how fast the Golden Crows are entering. The strong ones are fast and the weak ones…” Diqiong left that last part unsaid.

Su Ping was relieved.

He saw that the Golden Crows were flying toward the boulders.

Some boulders were even several times larger than the Golden Crows.

Su Ping suddenly saw how a Golden Crow grabbed a boulder of its own size and began to fly away. But the task seemed to be strenuous.

Even so, the feathered onlookers seemed to be amazed.

“What is that about?” Su Ping asked Diqiong.

Diqiong explained with pride, “I told you that the first round has to do with strength. Of course, we’re going to see who is stronger. The one able to pick up the biggest boulder and fly to the other side will have the best score; if two carry boulders of the same size, we’ll choose depending on which one flies faster.”

Su Ping widened his eyes in disbelief.

Is that it?

That’s too primitive!

The ancient race should do better than this!

“Human!”

It was the Chief Elder. “To be fair, I’ll be opening a venue for you alone. You must have seen how the trial is done. You may go now.”

Another swirl gradually came into being next to the one that the Golden Crows were in. The venue inside the new swirl was much smaller.

The onlookers gazed at the Chief Elder in surprise and then cast their gazes on Su Ping who stayed behind Diqiong. The only foreign creature present was Su Ping.

“Thank you, Chief Elder,” Su Ping said. The Chief Elder claimed that it was being fair, but it was only doing so for the sake of the Heaven Master. Even so, Su Ping was grateful for the consideration.

“Go ahead,” Diqiong said. It looked away from Su Ping as if not caring at all.

Su Ping didn’t know what to say to that moody bird. A moment before, Diqiong was cautioning him, but then it was acting as if it didn’t want to talk to him. What a complex creature.

Whoosh!

Su Ping focused his mind and flew toward the swirl.

He took the trial so that he could get the Little Skeleton back. He could not afford to be distracted.

He had entered the venue.

“That is heavy!”

Su Ping felt he was pushed to the ground and almost fell. But he reacted fast; his body made the right choice before his mind kicked in.

Su Ping turned around. He only had a faint view of the outside from the entrance, much like looking from underwater, with everything being murky.

“I think the gravitational pull is much stronger here,” Su Ping said to himself. Besides, that was a place where no astral powers could be drawn. He would have no supplies to make up for the astral powers he would use.