Astral Pet Store (WN)

Those Ascendant State experts went to the continent in the deeper space and raised their hands, to pave channels. Although the continent was high above them, the space channels went all the way to the temples, allowing the contestants to be teleported over.

"Go."

Ciro looked at the channels and glanced at Su Ping and Su Jin'er, before he reminded them, "Remember to help each other, but don't hesitate to abandon any liabilities if you must!"

Those who were counting on their help felt alarmed after hearing that.

Su Ping and Su Jin'er nodded; they would have done the same without Ciro's reminder. The latter would not hold them accountable for ignoring his order as long as they made it to the top hundred.

Not even Ascendants would punish a top hundred genius in a star zone ranking unless they committed serious crimes!

"Boss Su!"

"Brother Su!"

"Brother!"

"Sister Su."

In front of the portal—everybody looked at Su Ping and Su Jin'er affectionately.

Both of them remained calm. Everybody was standing behind them as if they were their leaders. They immediately entered the channel.

Soon after, they found themselves right before the deep-space continent.

Not far from them stood an Ascendant expert whose aura was as daunting as an abyss. Merely looking at him would inspire awe and intimidation, as if he were a glittering sun.

"You know the rules, right? Get inside."

The Ascendant glanced at them. He didn't say anything out loud, but his voice echoed in their heads.

Su Ping looked at the continent further ahead. They were too close, so they could only see a small portion of it. He then took a deep breath and he flew over first.

The geniuses of the other galaxies were also gathered in front of their respective channels. When seeing them from a distance, they looked like a bunch of moths darting towards the continent.

The others were quick to follow after Su Ping.

They could get to know more about the environment if they went inside sooner; they might get hit the moment they entered if they took too long to make a move.

There was an invisible membrane outside the continent. Once he passed the membrane, Su Ping felt like he was falling straight into a bottomless abyss, beyond his control. The feeling was finally gone after several seconds passed, and the darkness before him was replaced by a green forest.

Su Ping's eyes changed, turning from calm and casual to cold, as if he had turned from a tame sheep into a top predator.

Rotten leaves, damp mud, a vague stink of blood in the air, and the smell of beasts' skins mixed with rainwater.

All those elements made Su Ping feel he had returned to the cultivation sites.

There are some demon beasts here.

A map was quickly formed in Su Ping's head. He had drawn it by collecting the smells in the environment, which required a lot of experience in wilderness survival.

He then looked at a certain tree found dozens of meters away; it looked absolutely normal, but a closer look would reveal a serpent whose skin was the same color as the trunk it was holding on to.

That sharp fanged reptile was several dozen meters long. It was definitely venomous.

Su Ping kicked a stone to make it land in his palm, to then throw it quickly. There was a bam; the lurking venomous serpent was hit in the head and died.

A Fate State beast… It must be only a beginner beast in this place. Su Ping's eyes flashed. Seems like I have to be wary of tough beasts, including some in the advanced Star State, besides the other contestants…

The trial was extremely dangerous; a regular Fate State cultivator would have been killed by the venomous serpent a moment earlier.

Su Ping quickly flew to the crown of a tree nearby; he deftly stood on one of the leaves and looked at the distance. All he could see was a boundless forest; there seemed to be a group of mountains on the horizon.

Su Ping remembered that the continent had seemed variegated when seen from outside; he had seen mountains, rivers and forests, the latter being suitable for hiding; both from contestants and ferocious beasts.

Once he got his bearings, Su Ping took out Ciro's special badge; it was black at the moment, indicating that no other badges were nearby.

The badge suddenly became hot right when Su Ping was examing it; there was also an orange hue on its edge.

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. Did someone come here via teleportation?

He realized that Ciro was surely observing the battle from the outside; he didn't mind helping other people as long as he could. A larger group would become a more obvious target, the competition was too fierce; only a hundred contestants would get to survive in the end.

The larger a group was, the more powerful it would be.

Whoosh!

Su Ping moved quickly and flashed in four different directions. Very soon, he detected that the target was in the east, going by the badge's reactions.

He rapidly flashed away.

The continent was located in the deep space's second layer. Participants would have to enter the third layer when they tore the void open and flash to another location from there.

The third layer of the deep space was extremely dangerous for normal Fate State cultivators; it could kill them at any moment.

Only Star State warriors would dare to travel in the third layer; on the other hand, they were scared of the fourth layer.

However, all the contestants were geniuses; entering the third layer was obviously not a problem for them.

…

At one part of the forest—

"The badge is glittering. Someone from our galaxy is nearby!"

Two pretty girls were leaping quickly as they stepped on tree branches. The girl further ahead was wearing a purple soft armor; she was currently holding a badge that was hot and red. The badge became redder as they moved forward, which indicated that the distance was being shortened. Both of them were delighted.

"I wish we could run into any of the top ten rankers." Fang Hanxue was quite hopeful.

The silver-armored woman behind her had been following in a silent and vigilant manner. She took out two vials and said, "This is the Forest Juice that can cover your smell. It's the best product in the market."

"What a great treasure!" Fang Hanxue was quite surprised. Although it sounded like a beverage, it was actually a potion for battle pet warriors in the wilderness, one that could prevent them from being detected by normal creatures.

"Thank you for your help." Fang Hanxue accepted a vial and quickly sprayed the liquid over herself; she also swallowed the rest of it.

Once they did that, a sharp arrow suddenly darted towards them!

Bang!

The sharp arrow was bound to powerful laws that propelled it helically, giving it high acceleration and penetration specs. It was at the moment aimed at Fang Hanxue's heart.

The silver-armored woman narrowed her eyes and roared. She pushed out an agile wind, which then deviated the arrow and allowed it to hit Fang Hanxue's shoulder instead.

The latter was instantly knocked away and impaled to a giant tree, all because of the force applied to the arrow.

A beast happened to be lurking on a tree nearby; it instantly stuck out its tongue, hoping to swallow Fang Hanxue.

Fang Hanxue was the top genius of a planetary system anyway, and she had slain the ambushing beast in time. She also plucked the arrow and looked around warily.

"Damn it, it's poisonous!"

She felt that her shoulder went numb the moment she plucked the arrow; black blood surged out of the wound. She took out a few antidote pills and blocked the wound with astral power to stop bleeding.

The silver-armored woman had reached her by then; she nervously looked around, wary about her surroundings.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Suddenly, three sharp arrows were shot towards them.

The silver-armored woman changed her expression and waved her whip, causing a wind-based shield that deviated the sharp arrows to the trees nearby.

Those trees exploded the moment the arrows made contact; a dozen trees in a row were pierced through before the arrows finally stopped.

On the top of a distant tree, a young man holding a bow was lurking among the leaves with a golden insect on his shoulder; he licked his lips with a weird smile.

"Such weaklings have also been selected? The other galaxies are getting lamer and lamer!"

He narrowed his eyes and stretched the bow with golden light flashing on his fingertips. Then, a golden string and several sharp arrows appeared out of nowhere.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The arrows were shot and disappeared as they traversed the air, suddenly reappearing a hundred kilometers away, next to the two girls.

The silver-armored woman changed her expression and roared, "Oh no! Dodge!"

Both of them flashed and vanished, tearing the fourth space open, which was already the best; the fifth space was too dangerous for them.

Sharp arrows flew towards them from the fifth space while they were hiding in the forth!

Both of them were horrified; that meant that the enemy was observing them from the fifth space, or that he had completely locked onto them through some sort of secret technique!

Since the guy had torn the fifth space open to shoot arrows at them, he was definitely stronger than them.

He had to be a top genius from another galaxy!

Both of the girls looked awful; they didn't expect to be eliminated within ten minutes of being in that place.

Fang Hanxue gritted her teeth and said to the silver-armored woman, "I'll distract him. Run!"

She was ready to repay the favor she owed.

The silver-armored woman hesitated for a moment, but she was a very decisive person; she quickly abandoned Fang Hanxue and went in another direction.

Fang Hanxue didn't blame her, at all; she was greatly relieved.

Being sentimental was the greatest enemy during a crisis.

She gritted her teeth and activated her constitution, knocking down a few arrows with her most powerful technique.

Even if she were to fail in the end, she had to show her full strength. Who knew whether or not Lord Supreme was looking at that place, or whether any of the Ascendant State experts would be interested in her performance?

She didn't want to be defeated like a loser!

The badge is getting hotter and hotter. Our partner is somewhere closeby. The silver-armored woman looked at her badge anxiously, wondering if the stranger was just like them, or a top genius; there was still a chance for her to march back if it was the latter.

They would have to flee together if he was just like them!

Exactly at that moment, the hot badge in her hand suddenly stopped reddening.

Huh? They've run away?

The silver-armored woman changed her expression. Has the stranger slipped away after sensing the danger?

It was possible. While Lord Ciro asked them to stick together, they would have to abandon each other if the situation called for it.

She heaved a sigh, knowing that Fang Hanxue would surely be eliminated; she quickly examined herself for possible marks.

Those geniuses came with various backgrounds, knowing assorted techniques; there was no telling what he was capable of.

At the same time—

The young man who was hiding in the branches was sneering; he was about to draw first blood by killing the exhausted woman.

Suddenly, he changed his expression and looked back; he saw a brawny young man staring at him coldly, several meters behind him.

When did he… The young man narrowed his eyes; he was about to flash away, when he realized that the space around him had been solidified. He was unable to tear into the fifth space, so he was forced to switch to the fourth space instead. However, such a delay was long enough for the stranger to grab him by the throat.

Su Ping was going to twist his neck, but then the young man suddenly disappeared.

He was stunned, being certain that it was impossible for the young man to break free from his cage that easily!

A mechanical voice echoed in his head right then. "Cloye has been eliminated!"

Was that the name of the guy?

Su Ping was dazed; he suddenly remembered that the void continent had been made by Hai Tuo as his small world. Was it possible that the deep-space continent was a world that belonged to Lord Supreme or an Ascendant State expert?

He suddenly realized that the geniuses who were competing alongside him would probably be teleported when the continent's creator believed that their death was inevitable, all to prevent their deaths.

After all, there were thousands of geniuses participating, and only a hundred would remain in the end. The losses would be too heavy if the rest of them were killed!

Su Ping shook his head and remained silent; he simply flew towards the woman in the fourth space.

The arrows have stopped?

Fang Hanxue breathed heavily; she became even more nervous when the arrows stopped; this would mean that the enemy would probably be preparing the ultimate skill.

A man suddenly appeared before her, completely out of the blue. "Are you still able to move?"