Astral Pet Store (WN)

"I'll have to seal the blue planet Until the contest is over!" Su Ping said to himself.

If more people learned about the divine tree, some of the knowledgeable sort might recognize that it was one of the extinct wondrous trees; this could mean a disaster for the Blue Planet.

That is, unless he was willing to give the tree away obediently.

Even so, the experts who could be attracted to the tree would fight over it on the Blue Planet.

He had increased the planet's fame by slaughtering the invaders after his return. A lot of top organizations and corporations might have been attracted; this would later boost its economy, but he would have to abandon them for the sake of the divine tree!

Su Ping quickly came up with a plan after making the decision.

He returned to the banquet, aiming to talk to Xie Jinshui and Nie Huofeng who were drinking at the moment.

They were seizing the opportunity to talk to two Star State alliance members who were happy to talk to the two most powerful men of the Blue Planet, mainly as a friendly gesture to Su Ping.

Beep…

Suddenly, both of them received a message. Nie Huofeng lowered his head and read it, then he instantly said goodbye to the guests.

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"?"

The guests were slightly confused, but they were less angry when they heard that they had been summoned by Su Ping. They let both leave, while asking to mention them in front of Su Ping.

Xie Jinshui and Nie Huofeng went quickly to meet with Su Ping.

"Boss Su, how may we help you?"

Both of them reeked of alcohol, but they pushed the alcohol out of their bodies and calmly offered a respectful bow when they arrived.

He was standing on the top of a skyscraper in the base city. As he looked down at the streets he said, "Although I've taken care of the invaders, I have to participate in the Universe Geniuses' Contest, so I won't be staying in the Blue Planet for long. Since the tree may cause more trouble while I'm gone, I plan to seal the planet!"

"Seal the planet?"

Both of them were rather stunned by the news.

Nie Huofeng quickly said, "Boss Su, you've shown unparalleled strength upon your return. There's also a Star Lord behind your back. Even if others learn of the tree, they surely wouldn't dare to invade the planet like before, would they?"

"Indeed, Boss Su. They've been scared off and certainly won't be back. We'll suffer huge losses if the planet is sealed; we would return to the old days on the Blue Planet." Xie Jinshui was just as reluctant to seal the planet, too.

Sealing the planet would mean returning to the primitive age.

The Blue Planet at the moment was like a high-speed train, boosted by the locomotive that was the Federation.

"Greed is in the nature of every human being. My friends from the Alliance of Stars will leave with me. But even if any one of them stays, they wouldn't dare to show up if another Star Lord invaded. You'd be the ones getting hurt in the end."

Su Ping didn't tell them the truth about the divine tree to avoid any leaks. After all, it was associated with Ascendant State interests, and he wasn't sure that it wouldn't invoke the greed in their hearts.

A lot of people were decent guys, unless there were enough temptations.

The two of them looked at each other in bewilderment upon hearing that; Nie Huofeng hesitated. "Boss Su, isn't it a bit rushed? Should we reconsider the matter?"

"I've already made a decision. Just follow my instructions. You'll get twice as much compensation after I distinguish myself in the contest. Don't be too shortsighted," said Su Ping with the authoritative tone of a lord who would not be refused.

Both of them were intrigued. Indeed, Su Ping was so talented that he probably would become famous in the Universe Geniuses' Contest! In such a case, they wouldn't need to persuade organizations to come to the Blue Planet. They would get to pick them!

Both of them became rather passionate.

It was true that those in higher places had better views; the short-term interests they had been obsessed with were just petty in Su Ping's eyes!

"I understand," Xie Jinshui nodded and said.

He had watched Su Ping grow up and was very confident in him. He had already learned about the general matters of the Federation, such as the cultivations beyond the Star State: Star Lord State, Ascendant State, and Celestial State.

Su Ping had killed a bunch of people in the Star State while being a Void State warrior; he was definitely going to shock a lot of people in the contest.

"Sure."

Nie Huofeng nodded too and accepted Su Ping's arrangement.

Su Ping told them to leave after giving detailed instructions.

Then, he went to see Xingyue Shen'er, who was drinking on the most honorable seat at the banquet. Her face was red and her eyes were invitingly hazy, attracting the attention of a lot of people. Still, nobody dared to leer at her, as she was a real expert who could butcher a planet!

"Anything I can help you with?"

Xingyue Shen'er seemed less drunk upon seeing Su Ping arrive in a flash, but she wasn't entirely sober. In fact, someone as strong as her could easily sober up whenever she wanted to.

However, the easiest moments in life were those when one was drunk.

"Yes."

Su Ping nodded.

Xingyue Shen'er glanced at him and said, "Okay."

She then made a quick move and followed Su Ping to the clouds tens of thousands of meters above the base city.

The square base city under their feet was only the size of a matchbox from that height; it was glittering with dots of light. Outside the base city was the darkness of the night.

"Speak."

"Senior, I plan to train myself in seclusion for the contest, but the tree in my hometown has caught a lot of attention. I fear that someone else may come for it after I leave, causing damage to my planet in the process, so I intend to seal it," said Su Ping in a straightforward manner.

Xingyue Shen'er nodded. "Understandable. Don't worry about that; I won't let anything upset you. You're absolutely talented enough to distinguish yourself in the contest, or even to make it to the top ten! Just let me take care of such trivia for you."

"Many thanks!" Su Ping said sincerely, "You must have a lot of contacts and sources. A lot of news and rumors are still spreading on the Internet in nearby galaxies; I wonder if you can help me erase them."

"That's easy," Xingyue Shen'er replied calmly, "Since you're going to seal the planet, I'll ask someone to erase the news for you. I will also let everybody know that I'm protecting your planet. Nobody will dare to come for trouble, not even the Star Lords."

Su Ping was quite amazed, so he thanked her again, "Many thanks!"

Xingyue Shen'er raised her eyebrows and said, "No need to be so courteous. I'll repay the favors I owe you, and this is in fact not a big deal. You should simply focus on advancing into the Fate State, so that you'll be even stronger in the contest. Also, I'll be accompanying you during the contest. You'll be my living when you win a good ranking…"

"No problem," Su Ping replied with a smile.

Xingyue Shen'er glanced at him and said, "By the way, don't call me senior in the future. I'm a gifted girl… although not as gifted as you. But I'm still very young, all right? If you keep calling me that, people might think that I've cultivated thousands of years, and I don't want that."

"Well…"

"Just call me Sister Shen'er, alright?"

"Fine."

"What's that unwilling attitude? I would tear off anyone's tongue if someone else would dare to call me that!"

"…"

Su Ping could only accept with a bitter smile.

In any case, Xingyue Shen'er had agreed to help him in keeping the tree a secret, which was a relief.

Fortunately, that proud girl was too young and inexperienced to recognize that allegedly extinct tree. Otherwise, she might not have accepted the arrangement.

…

The next day.

Su Ping spent the entire day in his parents' place.

It wasn't easy for him to leave. He watched TV with his mother and listened to her talk about trivia, such as the dog that a neighbor lost, and the best way to make dumplings…

Su Ping enjoyed the casual life.

He wasted the day, choosing not to train because he had been busy for such a long time that he had almost forgotten how it felt like to be relaxed.

While he was taking that time off, Su Ping couldn't help but consider what the purpose of his life should be. Was it to climb to the peak alone, or to live a happy life?

Su Ping thought that the latter was more important and significant.

However, in order to be really happy, he had to climb to the peak, or misfortunes would happen to him sooner or later. If he was unable to resist them, he would later end up wailing due to despair and regret because of all the time wasted.

On the third day—

Su Ping bid farewell to his parents and embarked on the expedition.

The divine tree had yielded another pair of fruits before he left; Su Ping collected them and left the Purple Python behind. Then, he asked Nie Huofeng to help collect the following fruits.

Su Ping was planning to leave the Purple Python to keep an eye on the fruits for him.

Among Su Ping's many pets, the Purple Python was the weakest except for the Void Bug. Even though it had a special-grade aptitude, it was restricted by its bloodline.

It was already unimaginable that it had Star State combat ability when it only had a sixth-rank bloodline.

Su Ping left it there partly because he thought that it was too weak for the contest, and partly because it could prevent Nie Huofeng from greedily claiming the fruits.

After all, if the tree yielded dozens of fruits in a row, the latter might secretly try a few of them no matter how firm he was.

The Ancient Tree of Sacred Beasts could only produce a limited number of fruits, and a person had to eat all the 99 fruits in order to reach the Ascendant State. Not even one of them could be missing!

The Purple Python had already become intelligent after having followed Su Ping for a long time. It bid farewell to Su Ping together with Nie Huofeng, Xie Jinshui, Su Ping's parents and the others.

Su Ping petted the Purple Python upon seeing its reluctant eyes, all to offer some comfort and then say goodbye.

Su Ping returned to Rhea right before he left the Blue Planet.

Rhea's Woffett City was crowded; it had almost become the most prosperous city on the Kamp Continent. It was much busier than before!

"The grandmaster is back!"

"Who would have thought that our grandmaster trainer was also a Star State expert?"

"He's probably the strongest pet store owner in history, isn't he?"

"I wonder if we still have the privilege to ask the grandmaster to train our pets. I'm almost too ashamed to present my pet…"

The street outside of the Pixie Pet Store was so crammed that many customers' feet could hardly touch the ground. The city guards were busy and sweaty too as they tried to maintain the order.

Su Ping didn't want to cause another riot. He asked Xingyue Shen'er and the others to wait close to the atmosphere above Rhea while he said goodbye.

Then, he flashed to the outside of the store and then quickly entered it.

He had still caused reactions, even though he had moved at a high speed. Countless people shouted, excited to see him.

The cheering was awfully chaotic, because they found that they didn't know how to address that grandmaster trainer.

Tang Ruyan was delighted to see Su Ping at first. Then she called out to him with a complicated expression, "You're back…"

Su Ping nodded, then said to Green Lady and Joanna, "I'll be away for a while. The Universe Geniuses' Contest has begun and I'm going to participate."

"The Universe Geniuses' Contest?" asked Joanna, "Is that the Holy Battle of the Elected in your world? I heard the voice that came from the universe. It must have been a… Superior God."

Joanna was quite shocked to find that there was a Superior God in Su Ping's world, but then she found it understandable. After all, whatever was behind Su Ping's store was probably even stronger than a Superior God. She had never left the store to travel in Su Ping's world, but she knew it had to be a horrifying world beyond her imagination.

However, she had been observing the customers in the store and found that their cultivation techniques weren't as remarkable as she thought. She was quite puzzled, but she didn't ask Su Ping, because she didn't think he would answer, at least not seriously.

Green Lady nodded, who had their own way of addressing the matter; she had sensed that the voice contained the power that only belonged to the Deity Kings.

"I'm going too," she said to Su Ping, "As I said, I won't let you get away from my sight!"

s

"…"

Lost for words, Su Ping asked, "Are you going to push the planet again?"

"Why not?" Green Lady asked back.

"…"

O'Neil's face suddenly flashed in Su Ping's head. He thought, Sorry dude, it seems that your planet is going to be pushed again.