Astral Pet Store (WN)

Whoosh!

All of a sudden, the sword aura that could have cut a planet apart was dissected as if it were a gentle breeze!

"Huh?"

Su Ping narrowed his eyes upon seeing that.

A majestic man slowly descended at that moment to hover in front of Six Lives Buddha. It was none other than the Ascendant expert who created the void battlefield.

The Ascendant State expert looked at the Six Lives Buddha and whispered, "You've lost."

Six Lives Buddha came back to himself, then gave a bitter smile. Indeed, he didn't have any other skills, so he neither regretted nor complained after the Ascendant helped him dispel Su Ping's attack.

He could have died otherwise!

He could have transferred himself to another time. However, Su Ping's attack had already broken the temporal barricade, not to mention that he could still pursue him since he also delved in time and space.

"I lost…" Six Lives Buddha chewed on the words. The way he felt at the moment was really strange, since he had never lost to anyone, except when fighting experts whose levels were much higher than his own.

Is this how it feels like? To fail even after trying your best?

The monk's lips pursed. He stared ahead, where the darkness began to fade, revealing Su Ping; his dragon-like body had a powerful and daunting appearance.

"Did you use your future self?" asked the monk.

Su Ping didn't respond. He simply kept a casual posture.

Six Lives Buddha realized that Su Ping would not answer the question; after all, the man was still contending for the championship.

He put on a bitter smile and heaved a sigh. He had ultimately lost, regardless of whether Su Ping had used his future self or not, even after having summoned two future selves.

"We'll probably be Star Lords the next time we compete," said Six Lives Buddha with eagerness, "I hope we can fight again someday!"

"Sure," said Su Ping with a nod.

The monk smiled and left the battlefield.

Everyone recovered from their stupor after seeing the end of the battle. No one had expected to see such an ending, with Su Ping being the victor.

The two future selves had left them in shock. However, before anyone could react, they were crushed despite being the true ultimate technique!

All eyes were fixed on the man still standing on the battlefield, wondering how strong he really was.

The eliminated geniuses also wore their share of troubled expressions.

Some of them had been fuming, thinking that their failures were caused by bad luck. However, they then realized how the ones able to advance were real geniuses.

They ran into certain problems and they attributed them to luck not being on their side that day, when similar problems were tackled by the winners; the difference was that those people were strong enough to overcome them!

"He lost…"

Dragon Shepard stared at the scene while he felt that his heart was racing. He felt regret, while at the same time he was angry at Six Lives Buddha.

He wouldn't have detonated his dragons if he knew that the monk was still hiding all those trump cards.

All those dragons used to be partners who had gone through thick and thin with him!

He thought that he could fight the guy with his ultimate methods, but the latter had not even tried his best!

"He's that strong?"

Diaz was definitely stunned. His original estimate was that Su Ping had shown at least 90% of his strength in their earlier battle. However, the latter turned out to also have control over the path of time and space, and a power that could go head to head against two high performing Star State experts!

To top it off, they were in fact two future instances of the super genius Six Lives Buddha. Such compounded power was equal to dozens of normal Star State experts!

Su Ping was still just a Fate State warrior!

The news would probably be an eye opener for all the Star State experts throughout the universe.

There's always someone stronger in the universe. Diaz dropped all his arrogant stance right then.

Inside the palace—an old man keenly saw the changes inside Su Ping's body, which shocked him.

"What an extraordinary amount of astral power he has, which seems to be related to his cultivation technique. However, as far as I know, nothing can give you that much astral power when in the Fate State realm, not even the Whale God Technique."

Being a Lord Supreme in his own right, for years and years he had seen countless techniques and geniuses. However, he had never seen anyone in the Fate State like Su Ping, with such a colossal amount of astral power.

"He's my disciple," replied Shen Huang, and his face turned cold, "The universe is a big place. There are still a lot of unexplored remains from ancient times. Everybody who has made it to this point has their own fortune and secrets."

The other Celestials looked at him, knowing that he was issuing a warning to keep them away from Su Ping.

The old man chuckled. "Shen Huang, I'm too proud to rob a kid. Besides, only the best cultivation techniques are necessary; our Celestial cultivation techniques are much better than his. Indeed he has extraordinary astral power, but nobody knows whether or not the technique would bring about any ramifications, or what height he can reach. So, don't worry."

"Exactly. You're overthinking, Shen Huang."

A female Celestial said casually, "Don't be too astonished, but the champion from three thousand years ago, who's my disciple by the way, is just as talented. It's a shame that they weren't born in the same era. I wonder who would be stronger if they fought."

"That's true. I heard that he's already a Heavenly Lord; as expected of an extraordinary genius. He'll probably catch up with us in a few thousand years," remarked a young Celestial.

Shen Huang looked as casual as before; Su Ping could become a Heavenly Lord too, given enough time. After all, such a genius could naturally crush other Ascendants the moment he broke through to that realm.

…

Su Ping left the battlefield moments after the battle; he was back in the outside world.

He felt how his astral power reserves had been spent to a considerable degree, but his Chaos Star Chart was circulating and replenishing them. His previous attack had left him exhausted. It was his strongest move thus far.

Had the battle continued, he would have had to use his last resort.

"What did you eat when you grew up? You're so strong it's scary," Su Jin'er couldn't help but ask Su Ping via telepathy.

Su Ping's strength made her heart beat faster. It was very likely that she couldn't even withstand his Ultimate Annihilation.

"My mom's rice," Su Ping answered casually.

"…"

There was a moment of silence before Su Jin'er said, "Seems like you're going to be the champion. Six Lives Buddha could have reached the top three with one future self; he certainly would have become the champion with two future selves if you weren't here. It's impossible for Luo Ying and Lilian to defeat him."

Su Ping looked at her, not knowing what to say. "Do you know what 'jinx' means?"

"?"

Su Jin'er looked back at him with confused eyes.

He snorted and said, "I think you've spent too much time cultivating; you're behind the times, grandma."

"G-Grandma?"

Su Jin'er widened her eyes. I have a young girl's looks, yet the guy calls me grandma?

"You…"

She was about to burst into fury, but she suddenly realized that—counting the age of her original self—she was practically an ancestor in Su Ping's perspective, not just a grandma.

She stared at Su Ping. Has he always been aware of my identity?

"Looks like you're really good at playing dumb!" Su Jin'er sneered.

Su Ping snapped back, "I simply didn't want to expose you. Does that count as playing dumb?"

"All men are liars. You and your innocent attitude… I thought you didn't know anything!" Su Jin'er was angry.

Su Ping rolled his eyes and said, "Don't be sexist. Your father is a man too, isn't he? Besides, what can I get by lying to you? Money? Your body?"

When he said "your body", he glanced at her breasts in disdain.

Su Jin'er was shaking with fury. She almost stomped the ground, but there were other people nearby and she couldn't make a scene.

"I'm heading back to cultivate some more." Su Ping ended the conversation. The day's battles were already over; it was pointless to stay there. He waited for You Long to arrive, then he followed the ladder to the training room.

You Long smiled and said as they made their way over, "Junior brother, your performance today was truly amazing."

Su Ping glanced at him. Even though You Long had never shown dislike toward him before, he was obviously thinking more highly of him at the moment; he was addressing the young man as an equal.

"I couldn't have made it without your training room, senior brother," said Su Ping humbly.

You Long laughed and said, "Cut the crap. How much could you have gained in such a short amount of time? Once the competition ends you'll be able to become a Star Lord at any time; you'll be free to travel anywhere in the universe after you break through. I'll be recommending mysterious realms suitable for you; you may find a lot of treasures there with any luck."

"Okay. Thank you, senior brother."

Su Ping nodded.

It was too soon to talk about that yet, but he could start drafting some plans.

"Why can I only travel until I become a Star Lord?" asked Su Ping curiously.

You Long smiled and said, "Master won't let you run loose if you're only a Star State warrior. Although his purple bracelet can protect you, its signals may get blocked in some special places, and Master will be unable to rescue you in time. Besides, the bracelet can't protect you for long if you're facing multiple attackers.

"Geniuses like you are at the center of everyone's attention. People can hire Star Lords to assassinate you if they grow jealous, or if you accidentally ruin their businesses.

"A mere Star Lord in exchange for a genius who may rise to become an Ascendant is definitely a fair deal. It wouldn't be easy for Master to investigate if something happens. After all, some assassins' identities can never be found out.

"However, things will be different when you become a Star Lord. It would hardly be possible for your peers to kill you. You'll basically become invincible at your level.

"If they send Ascendants to do the work, it would be easy to investigate. After all, no self-respecting Ascendant would be willing to live as an unknown assassin."

Su Ping was greatly enlightened.

He was already a Celestial expert's disciple, but it was still possible that his master's enemies would try to make a move.

That'll be great. I need to consolidate my cultivation once the championship ends so I can rise to the Star Lord State! Su Ping thought.

It was possible for him to break through to that realm at any time, given his cultivation. After all, he had mastered laws and flawless paths; he had even started to condense a small world.

Given enough time, he would be able to gather the power of faith in his condensed small world while still being in the Fate State, making him strong enough to kill a Star Lord!

However, the small world plan was his ultimate trump card; he wouldn't expose it that easily.

He was the main focus of public attention at the moment. Being overly prudent was not an issue.

Soon—

The two men returned to the palace; Su Ping thanked his senior brother and then entered the training room.

You Long didn't know what to say about Su Ping's devotion to cultivating. He was actually impressed; after all, it wasn't easy to endure boring and long cultivation periods.

There were actually a lot of geniuses in the world who were as talented as Su Ping and Six Lives Buddha; however, most of them had already lost their brilliance, or were no longer among the living.

Some of them were lazy and arrogant, some were imprudent, and some had been killed because of women or familial grudges.

Very few geniuses were diligent and sensible enough to rise and reach a high altitude where they could receive the protection of top experts.

Inside the training room—

Su Ping focused his attention on condensing his small world again.

As for the outside world—everybody was excited because of the last match.

Hai Tuo, Ciro, Xingyue Shen'er and the others who had made the trip over to support Su Ping were in shock due to his dazzling performance.

They had been concerned for him when they learned that Six Lives Buddha was his next opponent, thinking that it was very likely that he would be defeated. However, completely out of the blue, the monk was suppressed, even though he had summoned two of his future selves, a nigh invincible move.

Nevertheless, he was defeated by Su Ping in the end.

"Strong! He's so strong!"

Hai Tuo was so excited that he didn't know what to say. A real genius had emerged from Silvy; the galaxy would become famous because of him!

Ciro was shocked to see the boy unleash such great power while being in the Fate State. That attack was so destructive that it wouldn't fall short when compared to what a Star Lord could muster!

There was no doubt: Su Ping would become a brilliant Heavenly Lord once he reached the Ascendant State!

It was even possible for him to rise to the Celestial State.

After all, if a genius of that caliber didn't have a shot to reach the Celestial level, who would?

In the general vicinity—Luo Ying lowered his head and worriedly heaved a sigh as he stood next to an Ascendant expert.

"It seems that a fierce battle awaits."