Astral Pet Store (WN)

The intense battle continued, and all the void shook.

A moment later, Dragon Shepard reappeared. His hair was messy as if he were a raving maniac; he gazed at Six Lives Buddha with anger and regret.

"You're quite strong, to actually fight me this long."

Six Lives Buddha kept a cold look.

Bang!

There was no sign when Dragon Shepard's chest collapsed; he was flung back with blood in his mouth.

Six Lives Buddha quickly moved forward. A purple dagger appeared in his hand and pierced the other man's chest like a condensed lightning bolt.

Roar!!

Dragon Shepard roared and unleashed his power, waving hundreds of claws.

But then blood burst out of his body the next moment. The monk's dagger had caused wounds before it even reached him; then, Dragon Shepard's chest was stabbed through and ripped apart.

"It's over!"

Six Lives Buddha stuck his dagger close to Dragon Shepard's neck. The battle was over.

The latter seemed upset, humiliated, and mad. He gritted his teeth while he gazed at his opponent, unwilling to admit defeat.

A majestic shadow arrived right above their heads; it was the Ascendant State referee.

The Ascendant State expert looked at them and announced peacefully, "The victor of the first battle is Six Lives Buddha from the Light Dust Star Zone."

"Good…"

The dagger in the monk's hand was gone. He recited sutra and then became fuzzy; he became solid again a few seconds later, returning to the Fate State as he used to be.

"Why do I feel that his face looks different?" someone whispered in confusion.

Su Jin'er—who had been standing next to Su Ping, deep in thought—suddenly exclaimed, "I got it!"

Then, she looked at Su Ping and said, "I know what he just did. He didn't cheat, it was only a clever use of the time and space path!"

"Huh?"

Su Ping's guess was along those lines, but he had yet to confirm this.

"If my guess is correct, he must have summoned his future self with the path of time and space! It means that the person who fought against Dragon Shepard wasn't his current self, but his future peak-Star State self!" Su Jin'er said telepathically, "No wonder none of the Celestials made a move. He summoned his future self with his current power, so it didn't violate any rule. How horrifying. If he could summon his Star Lord self…"

Su Ping's eyes glittered, as Su Jin'er's theory was the same as his own.

The man had indeed borrowed power from his future self.

His future version had a more mature face, and an even balder head.

"I don't think he's capable of summoning himself as a Star Lord," Su Ping ventured, "There must be a limit to such power. Even if he can summon himself, he would probably have to pay a high price. There are bound to be some restrictions—

"Otherwise, he would have easily steamrolled his way to become the champion by only using that technique."

Su Jin'er put on a bitter smile after seeing how calm Su Ping was, then replied telepathically, "Indeed. It would have been too horrifying if he could summon his Star Lord self, with authentic power of faith, not to mention that he would be one of the top Star Lords given his genius, even without the power of faith.

"However, even if he's not able to do that, he's still very strong!

"Speaking of which, the real horrifying person in that match should be Dragon Shepard."

Su Jin'er changed the topic; she then remarked, "He's lasted a long time fighting a peak Star State genius. He would have won the battle if he were also in the Star State!"

Once she made such a declaration, she patted her head and said, "Oh, wait. The baldy will also be in the Star State too when Dragon Shepard breaks through; he would then be able to summon his Star Lord self. That is truly cheating!"

Su Ping was amused. That was indeed cheating; how could he defeat an opponent who was always one realm higher?

Besides, the ability to summon his future self proved that he was strong enough in his level even without it. Adding that ability, anyone who ran into him would have to pray.

Su Jin'er shook her head and said, "You'll encounter him sooner or later if you want to become the champion. I feel sorry for you."

Her goal was only the top ten; she would not dare to win the championship even if she could.

After all, for Ascendant reincarnations to participate in the contest was already a partial violation. There was a chance that Celestial experts would punish them if they shamelessly claimed the championship.

The Universe Geniuses' Contest was meant to choose the real geniuses of the universe.

It was already benevolent enough that experts such as her were allowed to make it to the top ten.

"Indeed. I'm feeling sorry for myself too." Su Ping also heaved a sigh. The universe was too big. He had previously thought that Diaz was already one of the top geniuses, but Dragon Shepard and Six Lives Buddha turned out to be even stronger.

Good thing he was going to fight Diaz in the first round.

Su Ping could not help but look at Diaz when the thought crossed his mind; the latter sensed something and turned his head to sneer at him. The obvious message conveyed was that it would soon be Su Ping's turn to fail!

Su Ping smiled too.

He found his junior brother rather adorable.

…

"You must have been using your future self; the Sakya Path of Time and Space deserves its fame!"

On the battlefield—Dragon Shepard lost his strength and gnashed his teeth at Six Lives Buddha after the Ascendant expert announced the end of the battle.

He'd be an idiot if he didn't know what technique the guy had used after having fought the man for such a long time!

"You're very strong, since you forced me to borrow power from the future. To be honest, the battle was quite unfair," Six Lives Buddha shook his head.

"Get lost!" Dragon Shepard roared.

He wasn't weak enough to need his opponent's sympathy.

Six Lives Buddha nodded solemnly after being stunned for a moment. "Sorry; you are a worthy opponent. I would have admired you if you had cherished your pets. However, it's not bravery, but stupidity, to blindly pursue what you can't reach. A wise man knows when to bow depending on the circumstances!"

Dragon Shepard became gloomy, seemingly in pain at the mention of his pets.

He had detonated seven of his twelve pets; that was the maximum number of pets that any Fate State warrior could establish contracts with.

Only five of his precious and beloved ones remained.

The seven sacrificed dragons were rare; any would have caught the attention of countless Star Lords in the outside world!

And yet, he still failed in the end!

Perhaps he would have won had he detonated more of his pets, but what about the future matches?

He would be significantly weakened. It wouldn't be a problem to suppress other geniuses, but none of the top ten candidates were easy to deal with. He might not have been able to even advance to the top three!

"The Sakya Path of Time and Space, I will remember this!

"It will be a bad memory!"

A cold faced Dragon Shepard flew out of the void battlefield without saying another word.

An Ascendant expert flew over from a distance and took him away. He cupped his hands before all the people present and said, "I'll go and treat him first."

Then, both of them vanished in the void.

Everyone withdrew their gazes and looked at the bald monk.

Nobody expected that plain-looking fellow to be that terrifying.

"The Sakya Path of Time and Space… Interesting."

In the crowd—a solemn and cold Luo Ying narrowed his eyes.

A few others were also staring at Six Lives Buddha, as if considering their odds of winning against him.

I didn't expect that there would be this many monsters.

Diaz was quite grave; he had already figured out Six Lives Buddha's method, but that didn't mean he could crack it. Obviously, the man wasn't reluctant to show it to them.

All the contestants were in the Fate State, while he would be fighting with peak Star State power.

They would have laughed at and brutalized a normal guy at the peak of the Star State.

However, this man had mastered the path of time and space!

Even though he had been somehow weakened during the fight, he was still horrifying.

The first battle was over, yet the monk's name and appearance was deeply etched in everyone's memory; all of them believed that he was bound to be a warrior that would stand out in the future.

The second battle would begin moments after Six Lives Buddha left the battlefield.

It was Su Ping and Diaz.

"It's his turn now."

On one of the warships—Xingyue Shen'er's eyes glittered, nervous and hopeful.

In another place, Ciro and Hai Tuo were also excited. Hai Tuo said in a low voice, "The junior who used a full dragon lineup lost seven of them. Even if he finds replacements, he would still be too weakened to be a worthy opponent now. That bald monk, on the other hand, could be a potential champion.

"I wonder if he can make it to the top three. It'll depend on whether or not he can win this battle!"

Ciro narrowed his eyes and said, "His odds of winning should be at around sixty percent. His opponent has one of the nine top divine constitutions of the universe, but our little friend has performed better than his opponent's so far. I wonder how the clash between them will turn out."

Hai Tuo became nervous and hopeful after hearing that.

"It's our turn now."

Diaz turned his head and grinned at Su Ping.

Su Ping smiled too.

Without further ado, they flew towards the void battlefield.

"Finally, we have the chance of clashing head-on."

Diaz took a deep breath and examined the aftermath of the previous battle the moment he arrived. Leaving that matter aside, he stared at Su Ping solemnly.

Su Ping said with a smile, "Will you grant me ten attacks first?"

Diaz changed his expression and snapped, "Are you done? How petty of you, to be holding that grudge for so long!"

Su Ping smiled and replied, "I thought you'd go easy on me."

Diaz rolled his eyes and said impatiently, "Cut the crap and let's begin. We shouldn't try killing each other since we have the same master, but this is a contest; I won't go for the kill, but don't blame me if you accidentally die!"

"You too." Su Ping nodded.

In the palace—a Celestial State old man asked, "Which of the two young disciples do you think will win?"

Shen Huang, who was seated elsewhere, replied with a smile, "I'm happy no matter who wins. Two of the top ten will be from the Golden Star Zone anyway!"

Some other Celestials smiled. One in the group glared at him, wondering why he wasn't ashamed since no one from the Golden Star Zone had made it to the top ten last time.

The Ascendant referee left the battlefield and the match began.

"Ten Square Ferocious Beast!" Diaz called out. A dark vortex appeared behind his back, and a cold and horrifying aura began to leak out. Then, a hideous pet that looked like the combination of an insect and a dragon emerged.

"It's a top demon pet!"

"Isn't that the legendary beast who serves the Lord of Hell? It's already extinct in our universe!"

"It's unbelievable, to think he has such a pet."

All the geniuses watching the battle were shocked.

Even though it was just a demon pet, it was one of the best ones, and was even stronger than many rare dragons!

"Merge!"

Diaz simply merged with the pet. Soon after, sharp wings grew on his back, and his arms were somewhat twisted. His overall body became weird, ending up looking like a ghoul.

"I know this is an ugly look, so let's get this over with!" said Diaz with an unusually pale face.

Su Ping smiled and said, "I find you rather cute."

The Little Skeleton emerged next to him while they spoke; it then turned into bones that soon covered up his skin.

"Is that… from the Skeleton King's family?"

"It is indeed rather weak."

"Skeleton Kings aren't weak among the skeleton type, but they're too weak when compared to the Ten Square Ferocious Beast. Any of Dragon Shepard's pets would be better."

"He's unwilling to expose his trump cards? Such an obvious move!"

Everybody was discussing the match. Nobody expected that Su Ping's pet would be the Skeleton King's descendant. It was also a demon pet, but it was clearly subpar for such a contest.

"You're planning to fight me with that thing?" Diaz saw it too, and became cold.

"Huh?"

Su Ping frowned and looked at him. "Do you want to die?"

"You…"

Diaz meant to say something else, but he paused when he had eye contact with Su Ping.

The latter's eyes were cold, as if determined to exterminate anything; he was definitely not kidding.

Su Ping wasn't wearing any smile at the moment.

Diaz recovered from a momentary shock, but then he burst into a fit of rage. "You'll regret this!"