Astral Pet Store (WN)

In the fifth region.

Su Ping looked up at the giant planet above his head. Although Rhea was not even as big as a region in the void continent, he was still able to see everything clearly thanks to the short distance.

He was more or less relieved to see that Green Lady didn't pick up a fight with the local Ascendant State experts. If she had, he would have had no choice but to ask her to leave. After all, those Ascendant State experts couldn't possibly break into the store, or they would end up getting killed…

Su Ping continued his cultivation without any worries.

He no longer participated in the matches even if his name was announced. He was considered to have lost by default when the time was up.

Su Ping summoned the Little Skeleton and merged with it.

The Little Skeleton was small, so it wouldn't draw much attention to itself; after all, it didn't have a threatening vibe.

Su Ping devoted himself to cultivating while being protected by his pet.

I've drawn the first Astral Painting, which is about war and conquest and gives my astral power a destructive nature. This power can damage regular laws even if I'm not using any. It seems that my astral power contains some sort of energy that is even more horrifying than the power of laws.

The second Astral Painting is the Eight Nine Astral Painting.

Su Ping was fully focused as he meditated. The Chaos Star Chart was the first technique that the system had given him; it was also his foundation, which was something not to be easily changed.

Since the system was grooming him, he believed that the technique was probably better than he thought.

Su Ping had already realized that the technique wasn't simple. He was able to store dozens of times more astral power in his body after having grasped the first Astral Painting, thus rising higher in the Fate State. In terms of astral power storage, he believed he was one of the best of his level in the entire universe.

He felt that his combat ability would be doubled if he could grasp the second Astral Painting, if not further improved. By then, he would have the courage to even face Star Lords!

No matter the high level they had, he was still confident putting up a fight!

Boom!

Su Ping established an astral power barrier around him to block all probing; he sat inside and cultivated.

The cells in his body revolved like stars and unleashed great power, which slowly brought the Astral Painting under his control.

However, the drawing process was extremely slow; there was a strong repelling force in the Astral Painting, and he needed to understand the balance between cells instead of simply rearranging them. The Astral Painting would remain steady even without his maintenance once he reached that balance.

The competition continued while Su Ping cultivated.

Once the eleventh round began, more people secured ten victories for the ticket to the next phase. Dozens among the 639 players who got ten victories first were able to win, standing out from everyone else.

"He's indeed not pressing on."

In one of the regions—the young man who carried a wooden sword looked at Su Ping's match and saw that his name was dim, which meant he had lost.

However, he knew that Su Ping would never lose; it was very likely that he had forfeited the match.

After all, Su Ping's opponent was only a guy with eight victories. The young swordsman's estimation told him that the former could have easily won.

It was impossible for that man to beat Su Ping.

"He doesn't want fifteen victories?"

The other students of the five academies also noticed Su Ping's actions and guessed what was on his mind; they sighed in regret.

They were eager to see Su Ping winning fifteen matches; they believed he was capable of achieving that, unless he was unlucky and ran into all the best geniuses.

After all, if a man with the potential to reach the Ascendant State couldn't win in fifteen rounds, who could?

Is he saving his strength for the championship later? The idea occurred to some people; the more they thought about it, the more likely it sounded.

Su Ping was saving his strength for the galactic championship, which had interesting rewards.

Those rewards were substantial; fifteen victories didn't really mean anything.

"Maybe he simply doesn't want too much publicity, don't you agree?" Someone speculated about Su Ping's train of thought; They didn't think that a man who refused Huan Lieshen's invitation would be blinded by fame or fortune.

While the students of the five academies were focusing on Su Ping, the other geniuses were fighting each other and gathering information on each other.

They were indeed proud geniuses, but they weren't idiots.

Besides, there were Ascendant State experts above their heads.​​They might not win their appreciation If they showed nothing but their strengths. The greatest enemy for any genius was not danger, but arrogance!

Time flew.

The fifteen rounds ended in the blink of an eye.

There were 32 contestants who secured fifteen victories; many speculated that they would emerge among the top ten later.

The young man carrying a wooden sword, Dragon Emperor and the others weren't among them.

All of them lost interest when Su Ping stopped fighting, as if the title would have lost all its value.

"It was so close. I almost lost."

In the fifth region—a girl had a pale face at the moment; she had struggled to secure ten victories and win the qualification for the next phase.

She turned her head and looked at one place where a nest of astral power was floating; she knew who was in there.

He won ten rounds easily, while I was almost eliminated. It's almost hopeless for me to make it to the top hundred. Is he really that much stronger than me?

Yuan Linglu was terribly bitter. Right after leaving the Blue Planet, she was found to have a special constitution of the lightning class; she was being carefully trained because of it.

Her instructor had told her that she was only expected to gain experience in that contest; it would be much better if she could advance, but it wouldn't matter if she couldn't. After all, they would not consider this as a lifelong failure.

But she still didn't want to lose.

She had wasted too much time on the Blue Planet when compared to the geniuses in her academy!

However, she was still stronger than many peer geniuses from her academy, which had made her feel proud.

But all her pride collapsed the moment she saw Su Ping.

Both had grown up on the barren Blue Planet, and Su Ping had wasted a lot of time too. But once he reached outer space he had managed to reach a tantalizing height that she could only look up to.

It wasn't until then that she finally realized that geniuses, or monsters, couldn't be restricted by the environment.

That man was a real monstrous genius that emerged once in ten thousand years!

I can't compare myself to him, but I can leave my name here anyway… Yuan Linglu's eyes glittered for a moment; then, she withdrew her gaze. She had already dropped the idea of competing with Su Ping; the only thing that made her feel better was that she was still better than most, and that she had exceeded her instructor's expectations.

The fifteen rounds were over.

The fierce competitions in the ten regions reached a temporary end. Next up, those who had qualified would fight each other for the top hundred.

The top hundred would receive copious rewards and become famous throughout Silvy, all because they would later fight other top geniuses on behalf of their galaxy.

They would have a chance to fight in the finals if they distinguished themselves in the end; everyone in the Federation would be watching!

Even if they only showed up momentarily and only one percent of the audience remembered them, those watching would still be billions of people.

That was a horrifying popularity; no matter the era, popularity could be transformed into wealth.

If enough wealth was gathered, hiring and directing experts to fight for them was possible, including Star Lords!

After all, Star Lords also needed cultivation resources; wealth could be exchanged for rare resources. Even if a lot of money might be wasted, it wouldn't be a concern for those who were already rich enough.

If all the wealth in the Federation was gathered, it could even be used to hire an assassin and command him to kill an Ascendant State expert!

So, the first test in the upcoming match will be a survival test?

Su Ping woke up from his cultivation. He had been studying the second Astral Painting during his seclusion. He did learn a thing or two, but it was impossible for him to draw it out just yet.

Su Ping learned of the rules in the following match after browsing across the Internet.

At that moment—

A man appeared in the sky above the void continent; he was as dazzling as the sun and attracted everybody's attention.

He seemed to have a special charm that made everyone unconsciously look at him.

"First of all, congratulations to all the winners. Your performance was excellent; none of you disappointed me."

Standing to the right, Hai Tuo smiled and said, "The following selection will be held in three days. To ensure fairness, you can't leave this continent; use this time to take a good rest for the next three days."

A lot of people were in awe when they listened to the dominator of the galaxy.

They were already familiar with the rules; many of them weren't even listening.

They were only excited because they had the chance to look up at an Ascendant State expert.

"Now, the winners will leave their names on the Astral Peak; Your names will be sung over in Silvy!"

"Your legends will continue as long as the Astral Peak stands!"

Hai Tuo pointed his finger and a gap appeared on the land. A magnificent mountain slowly emerged.

The mountain was so high that it looked like a pyramid that pierced into the sky.

Names had been engraved on the smooth wall of the peak. Every name contained special power that could display their picture when scanned.

All the contestants had glittering eyes when they saw the mountain that recorded countless geniuses.

Those who failed could only look at them with jealous eyes.

Those who had only managed to get nine victories, however, were moaning in regret.

"Let's begin."

Hai Tuo gently pushed the Astral Peak to the center of the continent. The boundaries between regions were loosened at this moment, and the winners could fly out freely.

Those who had failed could also fly out, but nobody dared to leave their names on the Astral Peak.

They didn't have the guts to cheat right under the nose of an Ascendant State expert.

Su Ping wasn't really interested in the ceremony, but it was normal that such a gala had a celebration ritual. He then flew towards the Astral Peak.

Countless people in Silvy had dreamed about leaving their names on the Astral Peak. They were thrilled to watch the winners carve their names, as if they were somehow them.

There were portals in every region to teleport the contestants to the Astral Peak.

Su Ping engraved his name on a random wall on the mountain; he felt that the Astral Peak contained Ascendant State power.

Chances are that the mountain was immortal. Or rather, it was some sort of secret treasure.

Su Ping returned to his region and continued his cultivation after that.

The others weren't as calm as Su Ping. They were excited as they searched for the best spots to leave their names; even Oasis Dragon King and Dragon Emperor were smiling and glittery-eyed after the deed.

The Astral Peak glowed after everyone carved their names and was eventually put away by Hai Tuo.

There was a three-day rest afterwards.

The three days were counted according to the federal calendar, Although the void continent remained bright, although the void continent remained bright throughout.

The audience outside could only watch the highlights of the winners during the three days.

On the other hand, many platforms were inferring and analyzing to propose who was going to be the next champion.

Su Ping wasn't interested in any of that. He only wanted to return to his own store and train, but the continent was blocked, so he had to stay in his region for the time being.

The rest of the contestants—both winners and losers—were mostly gathered in groups talking to each other.

Some were tending to their wounds.

"It's finally over. I failed, but now I feel that a load was taken off my shoulders."

"Were you pressured, at all? You only got five victories. Didn't you already know that you were going to be eliminated?"

"I wonder who's going to become the champion. Let's place bets already. My gut feel is that the guys from our region have a huge potential. None of them showed their real strength. They were even forgotten in the popularity ranking."

"We can only be part of the audience in the following match."

The contestants who failed to pass were then teleported away from the void continent by the respective Star Lords in charge of their regions.

All of them returned to their groups.

Only the winners were left behind in the void continent.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. On the third day, Hai Tuo soared in the continent's sky, raised his hand and waved it. The entire continent immediately began to shake, just like an earthquake.

Su Ping stopped cultivating and looked outside. He instantly noticed that the fifth region underneath his feet was moving!