Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 867: Climbing to the Peak

The training here is almost over. I should gather more points while I can.

Su Ping completed the first Astral Painting in his body after three months of cultivation. The Astral Painting State consisted of nine Astral Paintings; he would be significantly strengthened with every painting added.

Su Ping's plan was simple: he was going to gauge the power of the first Astral Painting, claim all the points he could get before he left that mysterious realm, to then exchange for materials needed to upgrade the Solar Bulwark.

The owner of that mysterious realm might have some of the rare materials that Xingyue Shen'er wouldn't have access to.

Dragon Emperor flew towards Su Ping and remarked coldly, "Are you finally ready to continue?"

Su Ping was stunned by this. He glanced at him, wondering when they had become such good friends.

Su Ping ignored the guy and flew straight to the all-class monument.

"…"

Dragon Emperor nearly choked with anger after being ignored in front of everybody; he couldn't help but blush, even though he had always controlled himself well. He snorted and wore an expression of disdain to defend his pride.

The students of the Dragon Tomb Academy were shocked to see the always arrogant Dragon Emperor be slighted. Mixed feelings was the common denominator; they were angry since it was an affront to their academy, but they also felt somewhat delighted.

The students of other academies, however, focused their eyes on Su Ping until he entered the all-class monument.

"He's indeed challenging the all-class monument!"

"He could have passed all floors if he would have challenged another monument, right?"

"You don't say. He probably would have passed them on the first day."

All the students wore complicated expressions. Dragon Emperor and the young man who carried a wooden sword were among the best students, but they had been lingering around the 90th floor, while Su Ping had the potential to pass all the floors. The gap was truly massive.

"He should at least be able to cross two floors this time, right?"

"The higher you go, the more difficult it'll be. However, I think it won't be a problem for such a genius."

"Can't you be any bolder? I bet he can pass all the floors today!"

"All the floors?"

The students who were discussing became silent for a moment; oddly enough, no one disagreed. After all, Su Ping had worked a miracle on his first day there; he had suppressed the geniuses of the five academies for months. They couldn't surpass him even if they were to train for a year.

After all, even the young swordsman and Dragon Emperor had slowed down; it would have taken them months to pass one floor.

In the crowd—Yuan Linglu bit her lips.

She had made significant progress in the past three months, rising from the 35th floor to the 47th. She was very close to the 50th floor, which was a major threshold; whoever surpassed the 50th floor would be considered a genius in ten planetary systems.

However, the higher she went, the more devastated she became.

She felt the horror as she considered the higher floors. The enemies before the 50th floor were unbelievably strong already. Although they were only in the Fate State, they had the combat ability of an early Star State warrior!

She could hardly imagine what the 90th floor implied. The others mentioned that every floor after the 90th was much more difficult than the last one; she could not imagine what they were like either.

Our gap wasn't this big when we fought for the legacy…

Yuan Linglu watched Su Ping's back with despair and frustration in her eyes. Although Su Ping had surpassed her during the competition on Mount Longtai, she was still able to fight him back then; but now she had been completely eclipsed.

…

Inside the all-class monument—

Su Ping entered the 97th floor; he had chosen to quit without much resistance the previous time. However, he was at the moment planning to pass.

It shouldn't be too eye-catching if I pass the remaining three floors, right?

Su Ping focused his attention as he gazed at random scenes and enemies, then summoned his Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon.

Su Ping had to fight with his pets after passing the 95th floor. After all, all the enemies would have top Star State combat ability; several of them appeared at the same time.

The knees of any other Fate State practitioner would have buckled, and they would have straight off surrendered at the sight of their enemies, because it was impossible to win.

Even the proud young men such as Dragon Emperor and the young swordsman would reflect a reaction in their faces. After all, the leap in difficulty was completely unreasonable!

It's the same line up; it seems that the all-class monument remembers me. I have to pass this floor in order to meet a different lineup of enemies. It's impossible to try different enemies by quitting and reentering the monument.

Su Ping smiled in a relaxed manner. He had failed to beat them before; this time, he could find out how much stronger he had become.

He no longer hesitated and unleashed the power of the first Astral Painting inside his body.

The three round stars on the Astral Painting revolved like glittering suns, infusing a power boost throughout Su Ping's body and making it run like a river.

Boom!

Su Ping punched; his fist dazzled his enemies with a sharp aura. The unleashed astral power had spikes; this was due to the aggressive nature of the triangular Astral Painting in his body.

His astral power carried new features; it contained the horrifying aggressiveness of the triangular Astral Painting!

…

A man who had been sleeping inside a palace deep inside the mysterious realm suddenly opened his eyes when Su Ping challenged the monument.

Two lightning bolts seemed to have instantly darted out of the palace through the void.

"This little guy is truly patient.

"He must be trying to challenge my record. I wonder if he can break it," the man mumbled with a smile.

A vortex appeared in front of his eyes and displayed a feed of Su Ping's battle. He had already entered the 97th floor and was about to fight the enemies.

Bang!

Su Ping unleashed an invincible aura on the battlefield. Three balls of lightning were constricting and shining in his stomach. They were obvious even from the outside, and they lookrf like pearls.

Su Ping gathered his strength, as he charged forward and killed one of the illusions with one punch!

"Huh?"

The man who was leaning on the side suddenly sat straight after such a surprise. Could a guy in the Fate State really have that much astral power?

Soon, the man realized that Su Ping's technique wasn't as simple as he thought; it allowed him to absorb that much astral power and stopped him from making a breakthrough. His cultivation technique is definitely strange…

Su Ping quickly finished off all enemies on the 97th floor and entered the 98th floor.

I thought they would hold him behind for a while…

The man looked at Su Ping's speed and put on a smile; he found that his previous worries were hilarious.

Just as he expected, Su Ping instantly killed all the enemies again with his horrifying astral power and his many laws on the 98th floor.

He reached the 99th floor in the blink of an eye!

That was the top floor in every monument, where the enemies were the strongest!

The man knew that the monuments had been left by that realm's creator as a test; he had passed the test, proving that he was qualified to inherit the mantle and become the new master of the mysterious realm.

The real benefits of that mysterious realm weren't limited to those monuments…

"If I hadn't claimed this in the past, this mysterious realm would have definitely fallen into his hands," mumbled the man before he shook his head with mixed feelings.

He was practically immortal, given his Ascendant State cultivation, and his greatest entertainment was to witness the rising stars in the universe.

"His name will probably spread to the ears of those people very soon; I need to take action immediately," said the man to himself and quickly left.

At the moment, on the 99th floor of the all-class monument—

Noises burst out consecutively, and the environment was extremely harsh; illusions were changing nonstop on that floor. Su Ping found himself in a forest for a second, to later appear in a sea right after; his enemies were also changing constantly.

There were dragons at one moment and elemental beasts at another. They were also transforming from archers to assassins and tanks with solid shells every now and then, making it impossible for him to react.

Are you testing my responsiveness?

Su Ping suffered a few injuries and was becoming quite infuriated. The enemies on the 99th floor were very tricky; some had mastered multiple laws, while others had almost fully grasped a single law.

They would have been quite the challenge for top Star State geniuses in the outside world.

Are you forcing me to use my dual merge?

No, I won't!

The more Su Ping fought, the angrier he became; he seized a moment to put away the white-scaled Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon and then summoned his Inferno Dragon.

The latter was stronger in terms of combat ability when compared to Little White.

The stronger a pet was, the more enhancement it could provide after merging.

He didn't summon the Dark Dragon Hound or his other pets to help; they were too weak in comparison to the enemies he was facing.

Although they were strong and talented, they weren't strong enough to fight those at the top of the Star State, and they would only be burdens.

Summoning many pets in a battle was only suitable for the general battle pet warriors; geniuses such as him had to count on themselves.

Even though their pets could be one rank higher than themselves, it didn't matter much to the true geniuses who also entered the fray; their pets would only work as support.

However, pets were better suited to the general public. They could also become horrifying when they reached the Ascendant State!

Any Ascendant would have to kneel before a person who managed to establish a contract with a Celestial State pet.

The higher they reached, the more difficult it was to make a breakthrough!

"Merge!"

Su Ping quickly merged with the Inferno Dragon. Very soon, there was a surge of a daunting aura, which was thirty percent more powerful than when he merged with Little White; he dodged the incoming attack and punched the man who ambushed him, forcing him to retreat.

Then, Su Ping gathered his astral power to form a sword entwined with thirty laws; the weapon's aura made the surrounding space collapse.

Boom!

…

"The 98th floor!"

"Damn! He's only been there for ten minutes, and he managed to pass two floors?"

"I thought it would take him multiple attempts to reach the 97th floor. I was wrong!"

The geniuses were in shock as they looked at the refreshed score monument.

The students who came out of the monuments started to gather around to watch instead of recuperating after coming out of the monuments.

Dragon Emperor and the young man who carried a wooden sword didn't cultivate on the hilltop either, as they were too disturbed to do that.

The young swordsman pursed his lips and heaved a high, knowing that he hadn't reached the unemotional level his master had asked him to reach.

He saw that—while Su Ping remained on the top of the rank—the number of floors behind the latter's name turned from 96 to 98. Such a change came as a shock to all.

It was too fast!

Two floors in ten minutes!

Even geniuses such as Dragon Emperor and the young swordsman had to fight for hours to pass a floor close to the 90th.

They had also failed most of their attempts; winning hadn't been easy for them!

Considering Su Ping's speed… He had undoubtedly dominated all of the enemies that appeared!

"It seems that he's really going to reach the 99th floor…"

Someone sighed, his mood sorrowful.

"He's truly as strong as an Ascendant. A future Ascendant State expert is right next to us…" The others wore complicated expressions too, thinking they were about to compete with an Ascendant State expert barely starting to grow.

But in the end, some were even vaguely proud in a way.

It wasn't humiliating to have been beaten by such a genius, was it?

Maybe years later, when Su Ping did reach the Ascendant State, they could talk about this incident; it would be a story they could brag about.

Some people were distracted; Dragon Emperor and the young man who carried a wooden sword fell silent.