Astral Pet Store

Back in the uptown area.

The Zhou family was exhausting every means to block the flow of information. However, since the assault and the battles had caught too much attention from too many witnesses, some information managed to leak out of the Zhou family estate.

The other major families, some men of wealth or power of the upper class had received this piece of news. The Zhou family was under attack.

They lost a titled battle pet warrior!

Those words alone were enough to frighten all the major forces.

Immediately, they sent out people to dig for more details, more inside information about the attack. Soon, another piece of news that was even more shocking reached them.

Only one person assaulted the Zhou family.

This piece of information alone had stirred up a huge sensation. All the major forces were on high alert!

A person able to attack the Zhou family all by himself had enough strength to disrupt the current situation in the Longjiang Base City.

The quietness and serenity that had always reigned over the uptown area were destroyed at this moment.

At the Liu family mansion.

All the founding members and leaders of the Liu family were seated in a conference room. Everyone’s faces were overcast with seriousness. When the Liu family received the information from the “mole” they planted in the Zhou family, the entire Liu family was sunken into disbelief.

The information they received covered more details. They not only knew that there was only one attack but also the identity of the attacker… This attack was related to the pet store!

That pet store was an emerging business. Because of its competition against the Liu family, including the crazy slogans and the dragon, that pet store had attracted quite a bit of attention.

It was a known fact that the Liu family and that store were rivals.

The fact that halfway into this game, their opponent suddenly ran off and beat up an onlooker had surprised the Liu family.

Was he going after the wrong target by accident?

Naturally, this couldn’t have happened without reason. The Liu family was eager to find out why that store had attacked the Zhou family and the specifics of the battle.

“You’ve all heard about this, right?”

Liu Tianzong, the family head, stood up and looked around the room. “Half an hour ago, the Zhou family was under attack. The deceased was Zhou Feng, the one that had just become a titled battle pet warrior a few years back.

“You must know him. Although he had not been a titled battle pet warrior for long, he was a genius in the Zhou family. His most glorious moment was when he was still at the eighth-rank, he fled the capture of a titled battle pet warrior from another base city. It was said that he could fight people who were of higher ranks.

“Also, throughout the years, he had always behaved in a low-key manner. If he hadn’t been sacrificed, he would have grown to be a leading warrior, a tiger in the Zhou family!”

The room was as silent as a grave. Liu Tianzong continued, but he kept his voice low, “The tiger who was on his steady rise to the peak was killed within the bounds of the Zhou family residence. What rank do you suppose the killer has?”

The others avoided making eye contact with Liu Tianzong. The answer they thought of was stressing themselves out.

To be able to kill a title battle pet warrior of the Zhou family in their own residence, one who was able to fight across ranks, the killer must be… at least at the upper position of the titled level!

Since no one said anything, Liu Tianzong continued, “According to the source of intelligence, Zhou Feng was killed because he was alone and he had underestimated his opponent. “However, after that person murdered Zhou Feng, he then fought against several others who were leaders of higher seniority, as well as the family head, Zhou Tianlin. Still, that person managed to swagger off. No one could make him stay.

“That is to say, this person should be at the peak, or is someone incredibly talented!”

His voice was full of worry, which deepened the silence in the room.

A moment later, an elderly man interposed, “Sir, why did that man attack the Zhou family? If that person was related to the pet store, why would they offend the Zhou family when they already had us as opponents? Wouldn’t that be foolish? Or, did the Zhou family commit a heinous act?”

The others turned to Liu Tianzong because they, too, wondered about the same thing.

They once thought that this store was most likely from another base city and was trying to gain a foothold in the Longjiang Base City. They chose to target the Liu family with the aim to take their place.

But after the attack, the Liu family no longer had this speculation.

To be as bold as to provoke the Liu family was already unimaginable. However, that store went to anger another major family before the disputes with the Liu family were settled. That store had two major enemies at the moment!

The Zhou family must have done something so vicious that drove the store owner out of his mind!

That was the conjecture on everyone’s minds.

Liu Tianzong noticed the looks on the attendees. He curled his lips. He had learned about the reason for the attack on the Zhou family from another spy he had planted in the Zhou family.

That spy had been working with the Zhou family for over twenty years and would only contact Liu Tianzong in person.

When Liu Tianzong was informed of the reason, he wondered for a moment if he had heard it wrong. The reason that the Zhou family was attacked was nothing like what he had imagined…

was

Liu Tianzong took a deep breath.

Then, he slowly began his explanation, “The Zhou family was targeted because they bribed a person that bought the Top 100 service in that store. They told that person to shame that store and tarnish its reputation. They also told that person to pretend that he was acting under the Liu family’s orders to aggravate the situation between us.”

Those words stunned everyone into stillness.

Someone was still gazing at Liu Tianzong in confusion, waiting for him to go on, but he stopped talking altogether. Clearly enough, he had finished explaining.

That was it?

Seriously?

That person went to attack the Zhou family just because they sent a person to smear his reputation?

He killed a titled battle pet warrior over that?!

Everyone stared at each other aghast, loudly expressing their disbelief. They had thought something grave must have occurred, something more serious than having one’s parents murdered. How could they ever imagine that it was merely over such a trivial matter?

Smearing the reputation of the store?

That was something they did online every day!

Shaming the opponents is a basic means employed in commercial competition, all right?!

Yes, the Zhou family directed one person to make an unreasonable scene at the store. At best, this could be called a staged crisis!

That was the underlying cause for the attack against the Zhou family?

No one knew what to say about this matter. Of course, the Zhou family had angered the Liu family by employing such a tactic, and they all somehow felt sorry for the Zhou family deep down.

But.

The Zhou family didn’t deserve their sympathy. Serves you right!

This is what you get by trying to intensify our disputes!

Now, look at what happened. You angered a psycho and utterly lost grace because of it!

“The Zhou family… can’t they find anything better to do?” someone commented. The others nodded in agreement.

You were onlookers and you should have stayed that way. Why would you get involved?

Had fun?

That fun came at the cost of a family member.

On the other hand, the Liu family had to be grateful for the Zhou family. At the very least, the Zhou family had dug out some hidden information about the store for them.

First of all, it seemed that there was a titled battle pet warrior at the peak in the store.

Also, this store was a bit strange. You couldn’t even determine when the store owner would get angry. Last but not least, because of what the Zhou family did, the Liu family could win through another alley.

Naturally, the alley was the foolish and unlucky Zhou family.

In the course of this event, the Zhou family did try to drag the Liu family down, for sure. That being said, based on the current situation, the store was a much bigger problem than the Zhou family. After all, no one had a complete idea about this store yet. On the other hand, they were very familiar with the Zhou family.

The enemy of an enemy was a friend.

The Zhou family had suffered a loss. They would not say no if the Liu family went to propose cooperating with them.

“Sir, should we continue to prepare what we’ve been preparing to hinder that store on tomorrow’s final?” a man asked nervously. He was worried that they would provoke this strange store again.

Liu Tianzong raised his eyebrows. “Yes, of course. We are not the Zhou family. If that person dares to come and attack us, I would make sure that he never makes it back!” He sounded confident.

“Yes!”

“That’s right. The Zhou family is not like us. I’m actually eager at the prospect of him trying!”

“This is our place. Coming here would spell doom for him. He would accomplish nothing here!”

Everyone chimed in.

Liu Tianzong raised his hand to hush the others. The silence was restored in the conference room. Then, he started another round of discussion about the follow-up arrangement. At the same time, he assigned someone to continue digging out more about the attack on the Zhou family.

Somehow, he felt there was more to the story.

At the Qin family mansion.

In a secluded bamboo garden, an elderly man was sitting in the pavilion, sipping tea and resting

“Father, that is all,” said a burly middle-aged man sitting by the tea pavilion. He was the Qin family head’s son. He was once designated to become the next family head of the Qin family.

However, his talent was mediocre. Before the Qin family was passed onto him, his son, Qin Shaotian was born. His strength had awakened as soon as he came to this world. Later on, he demonstrated great talent in cultivation. Then, he took his father’s place and was appointed the next family head of the Qin family. If everything went well, he would take over the Qin family in the future.

The middle-aged man was glad that it was his son who had taken over his place.

“I see.” The elderly man sat on the rocking chair and gently waved the cattail leaf fan. He had his eyes closed as he rested comfortably. On the table, the steam from the teacup wafted into his nose. The scent was soothing.

“I have asked Zhao about the store but he said little to me. He did warn me, however, not to provoke this store.”

The elderly man opened his eyes slowly. “In all these years, Zhao has never been afraid of someone to a degree that he would rather not leak any information. Stay away… from this store.”

The burly middle-aged man was shocked. Zhao wouldn’t reveal secrets about this store to them just because he was afraid he could displease the owner?

How strong could that owner be?

In a sense, this implied the municipal government was in the know of something and this secret was terrifying!

“Besides, in regards to the Zhou family, that person wasn’t scared away by them. Rather, he was very close to destroying them entirely and actually forced them to surrender…” The elderly man went on. A meaningful look appeared in his eyes.

“What!”

The middle-aged man stood up all of a sudden, almost knocking the stone table over. He could not help but shout in astonishment.

One person overpowered an entire family?!

How was that even possible!!

Of the five major families, the Zhou family was the weakest. That being said, they were still a major family. Throughout the years, the Zhou family still managed to maintain its position. They were an impressive force.

The elderly man frowned at the impulsive behavior of the middle-aged man. He darted a look at the ripples in the teacup and ordered the middle-aged man, “Sit down.”

The middle-aged man realized that he was forgetting himself. Embarrassed, he sat down obediently. “Father, is that true? If so, then, this person should be a peak titled battle pet warrior or even… a legendary battle pet warrior, right?”

When he approached the end of his sentence, his voice began to tremble.

Legendary..

In the entire continent, across dozens of base cities, there were merely two legendary battle pet warriors!

Any legendary battle pet warrior could impact the entire continent. Would someone like that pay a visit to the Longjiang Base City and stay in that small store?!

The middle-aged man was afraid to let his train of thought go further.

“Do not overthink. Let’s just wait for the cat to jump,” said the elderly man and then closed his eyes again.

More and more pieces of news came out from the Zhou family, spreading across the major families and other influential forces. All of them were different. As more information got out, the truth became twisted. Some information was exaggerated, some added some twists and turns in the actual course of events and some people would even give a lively description of the battles but it all sounded unbelievable and surreal.

Only the higher-ups in the major families were aware of the truth.

They were still digging for more information because the Zhou family was doing everything they could to prevent the information from getting out. What all the major families were sure of was that the Zhou family had suffered a great loss and the attack was related to that pet store.

Anyways, that pet store had been marked as “dangerous” and “strange” by people.

While at the Pixie Pet Store – Su Ping called Joanna over and told her to accompany him on a trip to the cultivation sites.

He had just picked up a new skill for the Little Skeleton. Joanna was informed and had more extensive knowledge. She could be there as another pair of fresh eyes and analyze the skill for him.

Su Ping randomly chose an unpopulated elementary cultivation site that would only cost one energy point for the admission.

That was an uninhabited and desolate planet. Standing on the ground, Su Ping could see other planets of various sizes nearby and gaze into the vast, starry sky.

But Su Ping had no idea which galaxy that was.

Joanna looked around. Every time she entered a strange world, she would try her best to sense the aura of her hometown from that vantage point so that she could locate it. Still, as always, this effort would be futile.

The cultivation sites Su Ping chose seemed to be all across the universe. For the first time in her life, she learned how boundless the universe was outside the Central Divinity she was from.

Su Ping summoned the Little Skeleton.

The Little Skeleton stood by Su Ping’s feet and looked up at him.

Su Ping smiled and patted its head. He told the Little Skeleton to step forward and unleash the legendary skill.

The Little Skeleton nodded. With a flash, the Little Skeleton re-appeared in a point a hundred meters in the sky.

Joanna took her gaze away from the sky and focused on the Little Skeleton. She had been in contact with the skeleton many times recently. She could tell that this was not a common skeleton, but one with a noble and rare bloodline.

Soon, dark energy emerged from the body of the Little Skeleton and formed masses of demonic energy. With a low growl, the Little Skeleton suddenly burst out of a strong gust of flame. Behind the flame, a huge illusionary image of the Skeleton King appeared faintly from mid-air, overlooking the ground.

At the same time, the image of the Skeleton King did what the Little Skeleton did. They put their hands together and then made a pulling gesture.

It was as if they were pulling open an invisible door.

The void suddenly collapsed, and an unfathomable crack appeared. In an instant, the light in the surrounding area dimmed down. A cold, undead aura gushed out, and the groan of ghosts and wolves were faintly heard around them. This noise wasn’t picked up by the ears but directly felt by the spirit.

The crack widened further as space was torn open by the Skeleton King.

A large mass of dense black mist suddenly poured out from the inside!

While standing next to Su Ping, Joanna was actually frightened. She shouted, “This is the World of the Dead Demons!!”

Su Ping did not understand. “The what now?”

A golden hue enveloped Joanna. She was ready for combat. Out of instinct, she wanted to protect herself.

Su Ping told her that her death would not be real while in the cultivation site. But she had never lost her life in a cultivation site before and she wouldn’t want to try it.

Su Ping was surprised by Joanna’s reaction. He didn’t expect that the Little Skeleton’s new skill would stress her out. Of course, he himself had noticed something. It seemed that this wasn’t a simple skill. The crack was like a portal and behind it was another world!

“World of the Dead Demons…” Su Ping murmured. He wondered if he could find the name on the list of cultivation sites.

At this time, the black mist that emerged from the door of the dead suddenly solidified. Behind the Little Skeleton, under its feet, the black mist turned into dark monsters exuding a strong demonic aura, some carrying eight wings on their backs like demon angels, some covered with strange claws and sharp blades, and some were just hideous masses of flesh.

Every monster that was transformed from the dark devil mist was exuding an extremely violent aura.

Staring at the Little Skeleton that was standing in front of the crack while surrounded by the monsters, Su Ping suddenly had a feeling that the Little Skeleton had become their king.

The king of the devils!

The king of all that was evil and demonic!

“Wanna give it a try?” Su Ping asked Joanna.

Joanna glared at Su Ping. She was offended by his words.

A Try?

Huh, you just brought me here as a sparring partner. I knew it!

“Don’t worry. You’re strong. Besides, you won’t die,” Su Ping comforted her.

Joanna was grinding her teeth.

“So be it. It’s just some demons. I shan’t be afraid of them!”

With a cold snort, golden light surged around Joanna and from her palms a dazzling golden glow was condensed, just like lightning, which was quickly solidified, turning into the sharp spear that almost killed Yuan Tianchen.

Before she took action, Joanna added proudly, “If I won’t die here, then don’t blame me for…”

Su Ping smiled. “Attack,” he ordered the Little Skeleton.

The Little Skeleton tilted its head in confusion but it did obey. The next second, the countless monsters around it began to press forward to attack Joanna.

In an instant, a terrifying war broke out on this desolate planet that had been quiet for countless years. The golden light and the evil aura bumped into each other and tore the ground open. The monster’s growls and cries could be heard everywhere.

The battle lasted for merely five minutes. Joanna penetrated the Little Skeleton with her spear. The Little Skeleton turned into a pile of dust and managed to come back to life. However, most of the Little Skeleton’s energy had been drained. With a few more deaths like this, the Little Skeleton would no longer be able to bring itself back to life!

Of course, even when that came to pass, Su Ping would be able to revive the Little Skeleton since this was a cultivation site.