Astral Pet Store (WN)

Su Ping opened the bottle of wine and filled the cups of his companions.

"So delicious!"

Claesabe drank the wine and enjoyed it.

Ibetaluna, however, looked at Su Ping; her smile became even brighter when she saw the satisfaction on his face.

The audience who saw them via the live stream were dumbfounded to see them enjoying the food and wine on the hill.

It was a survival battle. Even if that trio had gathered enough badges, they should still hide themselves carefully!

"Do they consider themselves sure winners?"

"They're too bold. Look, someone is moving towards them from the east. They haven't noticed it yet!"

"Someone's on the west side too. They'll be meeting them soon!"

The audience had a general view of the entire void continent; they were able to see that Su Ping's team was about to be caught in danger. And yet, they were still unaware, and merely focused on talking and laughing. The audience was worried about them.

"Huh?"

Su Ping raised his eyebrows and looked at his west side, only to see a dozen men running in his direction. Two of them seemed wounded; they had obviously just gotten out of a fight.

"Enemies!"

Claesabe and Ibetaluna quickly drew their weapons and looked at the west warily.

The strangers then saw Su Ping's team, too; one of them recognized Su Ping and quickly waved his hand to stop his companions.

"That guy is Fist King, from the popularity rank!"

"I didn't expect to run into a bada** here. Boss, what do we do?"

"They're outnumbered. No need to fear if we have to fight!"

"Look! They're having a picnic! Who are the other two guys? Do they have a death wish?"

"They're too arrogant. Those who only have brawn but no brains like them die very quickly in this survival battle!"

The dozen strangers gazed at Su Ping's team coldly; some were vigilant, while others were eager to fight them.

The young man leading the team frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Don't bother. The survival match has just begun. Those guys definitely have trump cards, or they wouldn't be eating and drinking there. It wouldn't be worth the effort to get their badges!"

"Indeed."

"Even if we beat them, we'd only get three badges. That's too few."

The others considered and quickly agreed with what the young man said.

They preferred to look for easier targets, instead of fighting against Fist King who was on the popularity rank. Nobody had seen his real strength in the earlier matches. It wasn't wise to rob such a guy.

The dozen men turned around and flew in another direction after their discussion.

This came as a shock to the audience; none of them had expected that the team would back out when they had the advantage in numbers!

Wow!

Fist King's newfound fans—attracted to him because of his impressive performances—were letting out cheers of excitement.

That was exactly the intimidation mustered by Fist King!

Very soon, some people flew over from the east side; they also saw and recognized Su Ping.

All the contestants remembered the faces of the top ten of the popularity rank, and regarded them as their greatest enemies.

"That's Fist King!"

"He's so arrogant, to be eating and drinking here!"

"Have they gathered enough identity badges?"

"Probably. Otherwise, they would've attacked us the moment they saw us. So to speak, each of them is carrying at least ten identity badges…"

"Let's rob them!"

"Whether or not he's Fist King, we outnumber them and we're all Fate State warriors. I don't believe that we're any weaker than them!"

Soon after, the team of thirty men coming from the east side marched toward Su Ping.

Su Ping raised his eyebrows and swallowed the succulent dragon meant in his mouth, before he said, "We have a problem."

Claesabe and Ibetaluna saw the strangers in the east too and stood up nervously. Their hearts were heavy when they heard the word "problem." They wondered if they had been too careless.

"Stay here. Don't let the dust get on the food," Su Ping said to Claesabe.

Claesabe, who was about to ask if they should run away, was stunned. He asked, "I—I'm going to stay here?"

I'm being asked to defend the food and drinks in such an emergency?

"I'll be right back," said Su Ping.

He didn't want to act. After all, he had gathered enough identity badges, and he wouldn't get any bonuses from the additional ones he could gather.

But, since there was a problem, he had to take care of it.

Roar!!

The Inferno Dragon rushed out of the vortex next to Su Ping and roared.

The power of laws surfaced on its body, forming shields and golden scales to protect it.

The defensive laws had been cast by the Dark Dragon Hound that had stepped out of a vortex right after the dragon.

Su Ping summoned the Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon and merged with it, then charged at the strangers.

Su Ping already had much more astral power than any other Fate State being after condensing the first Astral Painting. The astral power's force field gave him a rough idea about how strong those people were.

The astral power of those thirty opponents combined couldn't compare to his.

That was the ghastly evolution brought forth by the Astral Painting!

"Sword!"

Su Ping stepped out and broke into the fourth space. Torrents instantly surged toward him, but they seemed to have been deviated by spatial powers, brushing past him when they approached him.

Su Ping rushed to the strangers after only one instant in the fourth space.

He broke out of the fourth space and slashed with a sword made of astral power and the power of laws.

Bang!!

The sword aura swept out and eclipsed the sun. The daunting power of laws flooded out, tearing space apart and causing lightning, tornadoes and holy light. Twenty laws had been combined in the attack!

One move and ghosts cried!

The strangers were going to attack. They were caught unprepared when Su Ping suddenly emerged in front of them and drew his sword.

The man known as Fist King is actually a swordsman?

When his sword slashed out, the eight men in the lead instantly had the premonition of death. With hair standing on end, their blood seemed to be frozen. They were completely unable to react.

Whoosh!

Following the sword's wake, the air was cut apart and the fourth space was revealed; streaming cameras had also been set up there.

It could be seen that the wandering spatial power in the fourth space had been destroyed, and a dark vacuum was left in the place where the sword had cut.

The dozen men on the two sides of the sword aura disappeared; they weren't killed, only relocated, leaving a dozen jittering identity badges behind.

"Well…"

"W-What the heck?"

The remaining strangers were in shock, eyes almost popping out. That single attack had the power to kill a dozen people?

His one attack could have instantly killed a dozen of the top geniuses who had secured ten victories!

That level of geniuses would have been popular in any organization in the outside world. They were destined to become Star Lords someday!

"!!"

Ibetaluna—who had been gritting her teeth at the moment—was so shocked at what she saw that she had no idea what to say.

Am I hallucinating because of a mental attack from the enemy?

She was stunned, suspecting that her mind had been invaded.

In the outside world—the billions of stream viewers fell quiet.

They knew that Su Ping was very strong. He had defeated his opponents and secured ten victories while using no weapons, only one mysterious fist technique.

They didn't expect that Su Ping's sword would actually be even more terrifying!

Or maybe, is he actually a swordsman?

"Huh?"

Above the void continent—Hai Tuo turned his head to one particular direction and was surprised by what he saw. "That sword attack was quite good!"

"Indeed. Although the combination of laws was riddled with flaws, it's quite impressive that he managed to grasp and combine that many rules when he's only in the Fate State!"

Nearby, the taciturn You Ying narrowed his eyes solemnly and looked in the same direction.

They hadn't been paying attention to that place, but Ascendants had extremely keen senses, so they noticed Su Ping's outburst the moment he launched it.

You Ying had just realized his judgement oversight.

However, it wasn't exactly his fault; it was only because that brat had hidden himself all too well.

Compared to his sword arts, his fist techniques were obviously secondary.

"We can rule out that he's the Old Boxer's student."

"The Old Boxer would never allow his students to be distracted. He would have killed them if he found that they were practicing sword or saber techniques."

"I didn't expect to see such an interesting little guy. He has the potential to rank at the top in the Golden Star Zone."

Both Hai Tuo and You Ying were praising Su Ping's performance.

It was a remarkable accomplishment for a Fate State warrior. If taught well, he could grow into a strong Star Lord. With any luck, he might even reach the Ascendant State!

Next to them, Huan Lieshen frowned ever so slightly, although he tried to remain calm. He secretly heaved a sigh, knowing it was impossible to keep the secret forever. That little guy was so brilliant that he would garner a lot of attention even by merely showing some of his strength.

He flashed a smile upon hearing Hai Tuo's and You Ying's praises. If those two guys ever found out that the kid was much more capable than that, would they run to him right away to make him a disciple?

No, I need to promise him something better. Right, I heard that he was collecting some sort of cultivation materials… Huan Lieshen's eyes flashed as the idea popped up.

In the meantime…

On the void continent—Su Ping slashed with his sword and stepped forward again.

He moved swiftly as he waded through laws. He approached a young man in a brutal manner and crushed his laws, then slashed again, now going for the young man's head.

The young man narrowed his eyes, not even having the time to summon his pets. He also thought that it would be pointless to summon them. The pressure he felt was such that he thought he was facing a peak Star State expert!

Whoosh!

The young man disappeared, leaving an identity badge behind.

Su Ping raised his eyebrows but didn't think much about it. He moved on to the next target.

The others were terrified. They had every reason to feel that way after seeing him eliminate a dozen of their companions with one attack.

Still, they were top geniuses anyway, not only strong but also determined. Someone roared, "We can't run! Let's attack together and kill him!"

The others reached the same conclusion. Failure would be much more brutal if they chose to retreat at that point. They had to fight!

Their only hope is that Su Ping's previous attack was his ultimate skill, a move he couldn't use again in a while.

But they fell into despair. Su Ping waved his sword; the weapon shone like golden flames and a sky-piercing lightning bolt, illuminating the sky within a radius of a hundred kilometers.

Eight more men were relocated after the flash, leaving their identity badges behind.

The Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound moved closer to him at that moment. Su Ping then marched onward with them.

"Run!"

The rest of the strangers collapsed and fled in panic, each running in different directions.

Su Ping casually stepped into the fourth space, which was deeper and darker. After walking dozens of meters, he stepped out and appeared in front of a young man who had dashed for hundreds of meters in the tertiary space.

Seeing Su Ping emerging from a deeper space, the young man begged desperately, "I'm willing to surrender. I'll fight for you until the match is over. Please spare me…"

"I don't need you."

Su Ping simply turned him down and his sword slash fell.

The young man was gone, a shaking identity badge was the only item left behind.

Su Ping took the identity badge out of the tertiary space and continued the hunt.

Soon, the others were finished off one after the other.

With the Inferno Dragon, the Dark Dragon Hound and Ibetaluna stopping them, none of them was able to flee.

The team collapsed in only five minutes, leaving no survivors. Su Ping waved his hand and gathered their identity badges, being thirty-two in total.

Su Ping looked at them and tossed them to the foot of the hill casually.

"Let's head back to the party," Su Ping said and retrieved the Dark Dragon Hound and the Inferno Dragon.

Ibetaluna was completely stunned. She couldn't help but ask as she looked at the identity badges, which had been stabbed to the foot of the hill like nails, "You're not keeping those?"

"Haven't we already gathered enough?"

"Well…"

Ibetaluna didn't know what to say. Indeed, they had gathered enough. But wouldn't it be a sign of his strength if he gathered more identity badges?