Astral Pet Store (WN)

Su Ping felt a mountainous force pushing towards him when they collided; the zombie fell on top of him like a small world.

Su Ping's arm felt heavy. He could not help but tear the void and retreat to the fourth space.

However, the zombie followed him and approached him from an even deeper space at an astonishing speed.

Su Ping was shocked; he instantly unleashed his full strength.

He gathered a hundred laws into a sword and activated the Solar Bulwark. The Astral Painting inside his body was also used; he then attacked the zombie's forehead.

The zombie seemed to have seen that move coming, so it raised its head to block it.

Su Ping was really surprised, since the previous zombies were incapable of defending.

It seemed that the current zombie was indeed extraordinary, since it had an instinct to protect its fatal weakness.

The sword cut deeply into the zombie's arm, breaking its armor and then lodging itself in its bones.

The sword vanished; it was then reconstituted in Su Ping's hand, before he used it to attempt another stab at the zombie's forehead.

The zombie blocked the attacks consecutively, while more cracks appeared on its arm. It roared furiously and charged at Su Ping when he paused, seemingly trying to tackle him.

Su Ping punched; both of them were forced back, but Su Ping retreated further. His hands were numb, but his eyes were glittering. Is that the strength of a Star Lord without using the power of faith?

He had never fought against God Warriors—who were equal to Star Lords—in the Demigod Burial.

After all, he had been too weak back then; it would have been pointless to fight a Star Lord.

Those God Warriors had also learned sophisticated secret techniques from Joanna. They could beat him easily, even without the power of faith.

I haven't merged with the Little Skeleton. I can suppress the zombie easily if I do!

Su Ping was quite satisfied with the result of the test.

It was beyond unbelievable that he was as physically strong as a Star Lord when he was only in the Fate State!

"Let's get it over with."

Su Ping would never dare to delay in such a situation. He wasn't intending on hiding anymore, even though a Celestial State was surely watching. After all, the man was already his master; there was a chance that the former would give him more benefits if he showed strength.

Besides, he would train in seclusion after the competition ended. Nobody had been able to do anything about him.

Phew!

A torrent of black air was spread out of Su Ping's body. His pupils became dark, and his skin emitted black air too. With him at the end, the dark deep space seemed to be turning dirtier. It was exactly the Sorcerer's Divine Constitution he had activated during his visit to the Golden Crows!

The zombie was swallowed when the field of the divine constitution was unfolded.

The darkness was gone a few seconds later. Su Ping stood where he was, and the mark on the zombie's forehead was broken.

Once things were taken care of, Su Ping instantly returned to the outside world; then he saw the Little Skeleton fighting against a few zombies. He had to admit that the Skeleton Kings' bloodline ability was awesome; the Little Skeleton had recovered over and over, even though its bones were cracked.

Su Ping didn't hesitate to offer help.

The battle soon came to an end in the fourth space, and Su Ping reaped five Divine Cores.

Su Ping and the Little Skeleton returned to the outside world and saw that there was no one on the city wall. He prudently drew closer and saw dozens of zombies in the dilapidated buildings behind the wall.

He then immediately asked the Little Skeleton to lure them.

The Little Skeleton had always been responsible for reconnaissance in the cultivation sites.

Therefore, it was quite good at disguising, detecting and luring. Making use of its abilities, it soon figured out the sensitivity of those zombies.

Right at the edge of their perception range, the Little Skeleton released its aura and attracted six zombies; Su Ping would quickly finish them off in the fourth space after they left the crowd.

Su Ping looted more and more Divine Cores as he cleared the city.

…

Inside the Divine Sea Mysterious Realm—

In the middle of a large area with buildings, on one of the grass leaves.

A couple of people were seated and observing. They were hazy, enshrouded in a sort of light; it seemed that they had hidden themselves in the river of time. They were right there, and yet they couldn't be detected at all, unless they wanted to be detected.

At the center of the temple was a miniaturized illusion of a certain world.

"I didn't expect that you would purge this mysterious realm. Have you taken care of the two Celestial State zombies lurking the place?" asked a tall and brawny man indifferently.

Up above, Mu Shen—who wore a white robe and seemed like the gentle and approachable sort—said, "They're dead anyway, and only their battle instincts remain. They were indeed smart and strong when they were alive, but they have already died."

"You didn't summon us here just to check up on those kids, right? I heard that peace in the universe is being lost again, that there's something about to come out. Is that true?" asked an old man in a low voice.

Mu Shen nodded and said, "You know that the Divine Sea Mysterious Realm is the closest to the core of the universe. I heard a rumbling noise when I was training in seclusion not long ago."

"A rumbling noise?"

"Exactly." Mu Shen narrowed his eyes and said solemnly, "It's the noise of a heartbeat. It came from the depths of the universe. My rough speculation is that it came from the ninth space; the heart penetrated many spaces and contained the rhythm of paths. I suspect that it may have been what's recorded in the ancient classics."

"Do you mean… the Heavenly Path?"

"I heard that there's another level above us, the Heavenly Path State!"

"It's indeed in the records; there were Heavenly Path State experts In the primordial times, who mastered the laws and everything else in the universe. They were like supercomputers that managed all the issues in the universe, including advancement, reproduction, birth, death, and so on."

All Celestial State cultivators narrowed their eyes; they had lived too long, so they were cognizant of many secrets.

The entire universe would be shocked if word was spread out.

The Celestial State was the highest level in most people's eyes.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been called "Celestial."

"Have you summoned us here because you want us to track the noise down in the ninth space together?" asked Shen Huang, who was Su Ping's master.

He was courteous and elegant in a golden robe, as if ensconced in a throne.

Mu Shen shook his head and said, "I've asked one of my reincarnations to look into it. I've called you over because of another matter; Elder Gu asked me to inform you."

"Elder Gu?"

Everybody seemed grave when they heard that; such a name was a real taboo in the Federation.

"He said that the deeper spaces in the universe were starting to merge. Judging from the trend, all the deeper spaces will soon combine. We won't be able to tear the void open by then, and all the objects located in deeper spaces will be squeezed out too!"

Mu Shen added solemnly, "You must know about the many items left from the primordial times that are hidden in deeper spaces, and how dangerous they are!"

"Is the merging real?" asked someone in shock.

He could not help but continue, "I thought it was my imagination. I visited a place in the ninth space earlier, and found that it had connected to the eighth space; I thought it was a special case. If all the spaces are combined, won't all the primordial relics and beasts appear in the Federation?"

Everybody's expressions changed.

They were the strongest beings in the Federation, entities who were more respected than actual emperors, but all of them felt chills at the possibility of the universe merging.

They had explored too many places in the deeper spaces; they knew how many horrifying things were hidden in the universe.

"Has Elder Gu inferred how long it'll take until the spaces are combined?" asked one of them.

After a moment of silence, Mu Shen said, "Ten thousand years at most!"

Everybody in the temple was silent.

Ten thousand years was a long time for ordinary people; for them, it was just the length of a training session.

"No wonder the center of the Federation has been pooling in resources and developing technologies; they must be making preparations for this."

"If the spaces indeed merge, our territory will be seriously destroyed; humankind might be in danger too. Has Elder Gu summoned us here because he has a solution?"

Mu Shen said, "No, but he has a way of slowing it down. He has made twelve Sky Fixation Divine Sticks. We need to send them to twelve places in the ninth space, which aid in extending the merger of the universe to a hundred thousand years, giving us more time to think."

"Sky Fixation Divine Sticks?" asked someone in astonishment, "They must be ultimate treasures if they are able to slow down such a grand merging, right?"

"Why? Are you interested in those treasures too? You can't steal them," said a female Celestial and sneered.

"Junior sister, it's been a million years since that incident. Why are you still holding grudges? I'm a Celestial now; I don't need to steal anything," said the man helplessly.

The woman was still sneering. "I know fully well what you've been doing these days. And mind you, we are not related, at all. We did learn from the same master, but we walk on different paths. Don't call me junior sister."

The other Celestials glanced at them; only them shared the same master. However, their master had died a long time before, and they had advanced to the Celestial State with the combination of loot from relics and their own hard work. After all, reaching the Celestial State had a lot to do with relying on one's effort!

"Each of you will take care of one of the Sky Fixation Divine Sticks. Do not lose them; they are of critical importance to our universe!" said Mu Shen indifferently.

"That's true," an old man nodded and remarked, "Elder Gu is truly awesome. We wouldn't be able to prepare anything if we only have ten thousand years. A hundred thousand years is still a short span of time, but we should be able to groom many Ascendant State students to deal with the catastrophe."

"No wonder you've summoned us to this contest. Do you want us to recruit more disciples?"

Mu Shen nodded and said, "Exactly. Talents with Ascendant potential emerge in every Universe Geniuses' Contest; they can easily reach the Ascendant State with proper training. We will need to train more of them in the future. It would be even better if one or two of them reach the Celestial State."

"One or two Celestials, in a hundred thousand years… Well, it's challenging, but not entirely impossible."

"It's been almost eighty thousand years since Xue Ying reached the Celestial State, right? As far as I know, a Celestial emerges every hundred thousand to three hundred thousand years." A seemingly young man chuckled, but everybody knew he had been a Celestial for a long time.

He was an intimidating being, even among Celestials.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, the brawny middle-aged man raised his eyebrows and looked at the miniaturized illusion of the world at the center, where a battle was in progress.

He asked in surprise, "What's the constitution used by that kid? It doesn't seem to be one of the divine kind, but it's still very powerful."

Everybody looked at the battle too, and were also shocked by what they saw.

Shen Huang was stunned for a moment, then put on a big smile. "Just let it be, everybody. He's my new disciple. He seems to have hidden himself really well."

He was also stunned by this.

He had originally thought that the Golden Crow Divine Constitution used by Su Ping was his main constitution.

He didn't know that Su Ping had another constitution, which was as good as the Golden Crow Divine Constitution!

Dual constitutions?

It wasn't unprecedented; there had been triple and even quadruple constitutions, which had been activated by hybrid bloodlines or artificial methods.

However, single constitutions were always stronger.

Multiple constitutions weren't strong because of their number. Rather, they would weaken each other, making it hard for an expert to reach the top.

Shen Huang was delighted because it was obvious that Su Ping didn't have dual constitutions. This meant that one of his constitutions was not an actual constitution, but his own physical build!

It was just like the orcs who had the build of beasts as well as constitutions that were activated by their genes; those were two different concepts.

That kid actually has the blood of Golden Crows, Shen Huang thought in delight. The Golden Crows had gone extinct since primordial times. They fed on dragons and would eventually attain Star Lord strength when they reached adulthood; they could easily reach the Ascendant State, and might even advance to the Celestial State if they were talented. Their cultivation was far easier than that of humans.