Astral Pet Store (WN)

On the battlefield.

A man and a skeleton were quietly approaching a dilapidated city; the skeleton would look around every now and then to examine the environment.

Those zombies aren't equally strong when compared. The ones in armor seem to be city guards from the past, who are as strong as Star Lords; the other zombies are mostly in the Star State. I haven't seen many of them in the Fate State; they must have already been corrupted by that weird power.

Su Ping had gained a lot of experience after hunting more than thirty zombies.

He soon reached the city and asked the Little Skeleton to explore the area.

The city was desolate, with collapsed walls and buildings everywhere. Su Ping noticed a lot of zombies inside the houses, which were the most dangerous, as they could hardly be detected when they were as lifeless as rocks.

Blood!

Su Ping had already figured out a way to hunt them. The zombies were indeed dangerous, but they were even dumber than beasts and easy to hunt.

To allure the prey into a trap was the most primitive and effective way to hunt.

Su Ping smeared his blood on the inferior skeletons that the Little Skeleton had summoned; he would then let the inferior skeletons wobble forward. The zombies in the buildings would instantly flash over and shatter the inferior skeletons.

However, more inferior skeletons emerged close by, due to the aura that Su Ping deliberately released.

The zombies flashed over again and executed them.

More and more inferior skeletons crawled out and lured the zombies from further and further away into action. Once there were no more zombies around, Su Ping showed up and killed them in the deeper spaces.

Su Ping continued to collect more and more Divine Cores as the hunting proceeded.

The area was gradually cleared.

A lot of zombies in the sector outlined with Su Ping as the center had been destroyed.

"Huh?"

Su Ping suddenly had a premonition when he entered the city. He saw a zombie on the top of a dilapidated building.

The zombie wore a broken armor, seemingly having stood there for millions of years.

The creature seemed to be terrifyingly dangerous. Su Ping had goosebumps all over his body; he could not help but narrow his eyes and retreat in haste.

That zombie was absolutely daunting. It could have Ascendant level power.

It could easily shatter him with physical strength alone, even if it wasn't able to use any Ascendant techniques.

After evading that zombie, Su Ping continued exploring other places. He didn't even try figuring out the zombie's combat ability, as it would be unnecessary. He was moving in the real world, where death would mean 'game over.' He would have plenty of chances when he returned to the cultivation sites, where he could fight Ascendants or even stronger creatures.

However, such fighting was of little significance. Instant death would hardly bring him any improvement.

Soon, Su Ping cleared ninety percent of the city. He frowned, since the city was absolutely dead; there was not even a living rat in the place!

Are there no living creatures in this region? Su Ping thought.

He left the city and moved on.

He then found himself on a desolate plain; there were weird beasts on the plain, apart from zombies.

Su Ping had collected more than three thousand Divine Cores after hunting on the plain.

There was a river beyond the plain, but the river wasn't flowing; it was as dark as ink, seemingly frozen like black ice. However, black water splashed out when he tossed a stone over, and the river made ripples. Said ripples would quickly settle, and the river would go back to its dead state again.

Just like before, Su Ping sent out the inferior skeletons as scouts.

Horrifying creatures would quickly crawl out of the river and attack the inferior skeletons.

Su Ping lured them away from the river and ambushed them.

He looted more than twenty Divine Cores from the river. Finally, nothing else came out again; he flew across the river and continued searching for zombies.

Time went by quickly.

Su Ping ran into other cities very quickly after going past the river. The cities were crumbling, and were actually built close together; he cleared them carefully.

He no longer dared to be careless after seeing that intimidating zombie. After all, he would have to use up his master's armor to save his life if he caught the attention of an Ascendant State zombie.

The second city was even more badly destroyed. It was cleared after Su Ping took down more than 1,800 zombies. The other areas were too dangerous for him to approach, so he simply moved on to the next place.

…

9000 Divine Cores!

Su Ping had collected almost ten thousand Divine Cores by the time he cleared five cities.

He thought he was a fast hunter. After all, it wasn't easy to deal with the zombies; he had to lure them over and kill them quickly.

He was almost surrounded by zombies once, during the hunting; all the zombies had flashed over. He was horrified, as he had realized that the black air lingering on the zombies' teeth and fingernails could quickly contaminate his flesh.

He would simply cut off the wounded parts whenever he was hurt in battle.

Fortunately, with his cultivation and control over his body, he could easily regenerate his arm if he ever needed to cut it off.

This is…

Suddenly, Su Ping saw a mountain in a city.

The mountain seemed to have been destroyed in a violent manner; there were multiple pits at its base. Some buildings had also been reduced to smithereens.

Su Ping had a weird feeling when he saw the mountain for some reason.

Some memories seemed to be flashing back. He found that the mountain felt familiar, as if he would have seen it somewhere before.

"Huh?"

Soon, Su Ping saw that a lot of zombies were standing still at the top of the mountain.

He instantly asked the Little Skeleton to summon the inferior skeletons to hunt them.

Some of the zombies were quickly attracted and executed.

Those zombies had been heavily wounded; some of them had ruined cheeks, while others had mutilated bodies. They must have gone through unimaginably brutal battles.

Su Ping's heart became heavy as he hunted them down.

All those zombies had been gods when they were alive.

What happened here? What were the gods fighting against in such a brutal way?

He remembered the Twilight Deity King, Green Lady's master. What was hidden in the sky that the man tried to hold back?

The zombies on the mountain were generally strong; a couple of them were Star Lords. Su Ping was truly astonished. Obviously, the mountain used to be some sort of holy land, which was why so many strong gods were there.

Su Ping slowly approached the mountain after hunting a dozen zombies, and the inferior skeletons moved on.

A zombie suddenly came out right then.

The zombie flashed to meet the inferior skeletons and squeeze them. Afterwards, it returned to its motionless stance.

Su Ping found that the zombie was well preserved. The other zombies' skin was purple, wrinkled, and covered in dust. Even so, that one was quite clean; it was obviously a girl when it was alive, its hair still fluttering in the breeze.

Su Ping had goosebumps, as this zombie felt even more horrifying than the one he met earlier.

Fall back!

Su Ping made the decision to make a quick retreat.

He suddenly saw that the zombie moved as he made his escape. However, it didn't flash to reach him. Rather, it slowly turned its head to look in the direction he was retreating to.

Su Ping had a chance to see the zombie clearly. Its cheeks were rather dirty too, but still, they were much cleaner when compared to other zombies; there were two fatal holes on its throat and chest.

A divine seal was glowing bright with a passion on its forehead.

Su Ping saw its face, which was so fascinatingly beautiful that not even dust could bury her impeccable beauty.

However, the face was numb and gray.

"Huh?"

Su Ping's heart shivered. He had a weird sense of familiarity.

He had never seen that face before, and he clearly didn't know her.

Still, her dead, gray eyes, which seemed to be staring at something, gave him an odd familiar feeling, as if he knew her from somewhere before!

Who is she?

Su Ping was quite perplexed. Did I see her in one of the cultivation sites?

However, on second thought, he had been to a few divine cultivation sites; he didn't remember seeing the woman in any of them.

Su Ping had not seen a lot of pretty women, either, even when exploring other cultivation sites. After all, his main targets were beasts.

The pretty, slim girl became distant and vague as he was retreating, but he had the feeling that she seemed to be staring at him too.

However, she was already dead.

She would have charged and attacked him if she would have indeed been gazing at him.

Who was she exactly?

Su Ping was at a loss; he didn't stop until the girl was nowhere to be seen. He frowned and thought hard on a high building for a moment; he then asked the system in his heart.

The system didn't respond after he waited for a long time.

Su Ping truly felt helpless. He thought for a moment longer, finally giving up the idea of returning to continue investigating.

The risk wouldn't be worth it, just to return because he had a certain sense of familiarity.

Odd. Considering my current cultivation and sensitivity, my instincts can't be wrong. If I feel in danger, dangers must indeed be lurking about. I must have seen her before if I found her familiar.

Su Ping frowned; he simply couldn't figure out why.

A long time passed, but he could only let the matter rest for the moment and focus on completing the trial.

Su Ping continued traveling after leaving the city.

…

In the palace, the old man said to Shen Huang with a smile, "That was a really close one. Your young disciple nearly ran into the zombie with nigh Celestial State power."

Shen Huang was relieved to see that Su Ping had retreated far away. He would have felt embarrassed if Su Ping were to be eliminated that early in the competition. Moreover, the armor he had given to Su Ping wouldn't only resist the zombie's attacks for a while; Mu Shen would have needed to take action in order to save him.

"That zombie seems capable of thinking," said Shen Huang, frowning.

The image showed how the zombie was staring in the direction Su Ping had left, still unmoving.

Mu Shen furrowed his brow in surprise too; he had already purged the remains and suppressed the Celestial State zombies found in that place. Some of them had indeed developed intelligence, but they were quite childish and bloodthirsty. Why did that zombie let Su Ping go after spotting him?

Weird. What secret does that kid have? Mu Shen became curious about Su Ping.

Considering the unrecorded divine constitution and the strange incident a moment earlier, that kid was definitely hiding great secrets.

"Mu Shen, did you control the zombie just now so it would let that kid escape?"

Someone chuckled and looked at Mu Shen, with vague dissatisfaction in his voice.

Mu Shen frowned and said casually, "That's beneath me."

Those four words had already indicated his attitude.

The Celestial who had questioned him slightly raised his eyebrows, but he didn't add any other comment. After all, Mu Shen had convinced all of those present that he hadn't done anything with his short remark.

"That kid is truly a bold and experienced hunter, a true talent. He currently has the most Divine Cores; some of the others have suffered losses because of their recklessness."

"Haha. Are you referring to the kid who's the reincarnation of a bird? He thought his fire could burn anything; he didn't know that it wouldn't be a solution when dealing with ancient poison!"

"I think it isn't bad. He is reckless, but his character befits his path of cultivation; he might be able to create a path of his own," remarked another Celestial State expert.

The others offered silent smiles; it was indeed a possibility. Everybody had their own standards, so there was no need to argue.

"How are you going to arrange the competition after this trial is over?

"Are you planning to send them to the void battlefield? That place is not a joke. We might not be able to rescue them in time if anything happens to them."

Since the trial was halfway done, they already had a rough speculation on the kids' performances.

Mu Shen said casually, "They can't be sharpened without weathering through storms. It's time they see the real appearance of the universe; they should be respectful of nature and the universe!"

"Still, all those kids seem decisive and relentless to me; none of them seems immature," someone disagreed.

Mu Shen replied, "They've only killed beasts and a few enemies of humankind. However, they won't be facing beasts in the void battlefield."

"Is there any difference? Those enemies might look and feel different. But any man with blood-hardened hearts can kill them!"

"I, for one, agree with Mu Shen's arrangements. The void battlefield hasn't been very peaceful as of late. Those kids are supposed to train there at the end of the contest, which will be a good thing for them. But now the training will be conducted in advance. We should shorten the unnecessary processes now that the universe is about to merge."