Astral Pet Store

Chapter 957: Advancement

Su Ping could have gone to the cultivation sites if he were at his store, to let his pets grasp unusual secret techniques through harsh training. However, the Blood Path Seeds accelerated the process, simply delivering the secret techniques to them; that was the privilege of a top genius.

Once the Little Skeleton and other pets digested the seeds and grasped the skills, Su Ping continued feeding them rare materials.

He could have collected the same materials in the cultivation sites, but it would have taken a lot of time. He was free to use any of them in the training site.

Roar!!

The Inferno Dragon bellowed; purple lightning and dark flames were surging from its skin. It had just swallowed the soul crystal of a ten-thousand-year Dark Devil Dragon, whose power transformed its body and darkened its scales, adding a terrifying aura to the creature.

“Use your willpower to hold back!” roared Su Ping, upon seeing that the Inferno Dragon was about to break through.

His words helped the dragon to snap out from a raging fit. It was soon able to suppress its urge to advance.

The torrent of power inside its body was also being constantly compressed and refined.

Su Ping wasn’t planning on letting them advance as easily. There were too many rare materials available; it would be a huge waste if they were left unabsorbed.

“Keep eating!”

Su Ping threw the rare materials at them. Normal pets could only eat tonics that matched their stats. Eating random stuff could be detrimental, possibly conflicting with their own power and weakening them. Sometimes, it wasn’t quantity but quality that mattered!

However, Su Ping’s pets were different.

They had become highly adaptive after having traveled and trained in many cultivation sites, thus mastering assorted secret techniques. The Dark Dragon Hound for instance, had mastered defense skills of all classes. The Little Skeleton, an undead creature, could even use holy light.

However, all of them had their favorite skills, given their unique personalities, although they had grasped a lot of things. The Dark Dragon Hound loved defense-type skills. It also knew a lot of offensive techniques, but it rarely used them.

The Little Skeleton was the same; it knew many types of skills, but loved slashing with its saber.

They were handed herbs that could strengthen their bodies and improve their power of understanding, which they ate nonstop.

“Eat, eat. Eat them all.”

“Burp. Eat…” the Inferno Dragon burped and replied to Su Ping with a silly voice while it swallowed the materials. Energy was bursting out of its body, seemingly about to explode at any time.

Su Ping monitored his pets closely through the contracts; he would refine their energy and stabilize the ceiling again whenever they were about to break through the bottleneck.

Outside the training room—

Elder Yan and Bernie were both waiting and watching.

“What is going on? I feel that something’s wrong with the energy of the three pets being trained.” Bernie frowned. Being an Ascendant expert, he had the ability to sense the energy outburst clearly, and even suspected that Su Ping’s pets were currently going through a Heavenly Tribulation. Still, there were no clouds to be seen.

While observing carefully, Elder Yan suddenly asked, “Did he ask for the right materials?”

Stunned for a moment, Bernie nodded. “Yes. Some of the materials don’t seem appropriate, but they’re generally fine. His pets need them. However…”

“However, what?”

Bernie replied weirdly, “However, he seems to be wanting a few more materials…”

Elder Yan was silent for a moment. He stared at the training room, with vortices appearing in his eyes, allowing him to see what was going on inside the training room.

Just a little bit more?

Inside the training room—Su Ping continued helping his three pets suppress their energy after they had their fill of materials. They took a brief pause, then continued eating.

After almost ten rounds of eating and suppressing, Su Ping finally felt it was impossible to contain their energy any further.

The Dark Dragon Hound was the second to get out of control; it had changed tremendously. It had previously received the Dragon King’s heritage and obtained the Star State bloodline. The bloodline was further optimized with herbs from cultivation sites. Its body then mutated again thanks to the rare materials, and its fur turned from golden to silver.

Underneath its silver coat were thick scales, as big as palms; they looked like turtle shells with weird patterns covering them.

The only thing that confused Su Ping was that the pet’s lazy eyes were now glittering and energetic.

They seemed intimidating at first look, but Su Ping knew that the Dark Dragon Hound was a timid dog; it shouldn’t be that aggressive.

“It’s impossible to suppress it any longer. Go ahead and break through.”

Su Ping stopped restraining the Dark Dragon Hound, allowing it to leave the training room.

The hound was finally freed from the pain; it immediately rushed out of the room. All the power stored in his body was combined, to then burst out, allowing it to break the ceiling with ease. It later created a new world inside its body.

Boom!

In the sky up above—clouds were gathering in all directions, coming from the depths of the void.

“It’s begun.”

At a distance, both Bernie and Elder Yan narrowed their eyes when they saw the signs up above.

The Dark Dragon Hound was flying high in the sky, with its silver mane fluttering in the wind. It looked impressive as it roared at the thunderclouds, seemingly warning them.

Inside the training room—Su Ping rolled his eyes after seeing that gesture. What a stupid dog.

He knew what the dog meant. It was saying… ‘Don’t come any closer, please!’

It can pass the test easily. Why is it so scared? Has it sensed the will of the heavens deep inside the clouds? Su Ping’s eyes flashed. He had already noticed that someone appeared to be controlling the clouds and staring from a place behind them.

He had the same feeling when he experienced other people’s Heavenly Tribulations. He didn’t know whether it was an illusion, or if there really was a creature named Heavens.

Soon, the first lightning bolt struck down.

The Dark Dragon Hound roared and covered itself with third-tier defense skills.

However, the first lightning strike had been dispersed before it broke through the outermost defense skill.

Su Ping’s lips twitched. This dog is too prudent for its own good.

The second lightning strike arrived soon after. The Dark Dragon Hound roared, as if terrified. It chose to cast thirty more defensive skills on top of the previous thirty it had cast.

However, the defense skill on the surface remained intact.

Farther away—Bernie looked at the scene in shock and suspicion. “What’s that dog doing?”

Elder Yan was also puzzled. Wasn’t it a waste of energy to cast so many skills at the beginning of a Heavenly Tribulation? However, the number and categories of the skills did surprise him. Is the dog an all-class pet?

It wasn’t too difficult to grasp elements of all classes. Many dragons could do that, but not all of them could reach the top.

The lightning bolts kept striking down, and the Dark Dragon Hound kept roaring in shock and fury. A shocking number of skills began to gradually envelop it.

The hound had more than 250 defense skills by the time the first level of the tribulation was over; they glowed so brilliantly that the dog had already been eclipsed by them.

Oddly enough, the skill cast at the very beginning was still intact.

Bernie and Elder Yan were both lost for words when they noticed that.

Su Ping knew his pet fully well, so he simply waited for it to pass the test.

Time flew.

The hound’s Heavenly Tribulation was soon over, altogether having nine levels. The two seniors were shocked by the gifted pet.

They knew that Diaz—who was one of the top ten geniuses—had only gone through nine levels.

A dog had accomplished more than Diaz did? Did it mean that the pet was even more talented?

They could not help but look at each other. Diaz would probably go crazy if he learned of this.

Su Ping, however, wasn’t too surprised. The Dark Dragon Hound didn’t have a great bloodline, but it wasn’t at all weak, which displayed its great talent. It had also been taught the paths of time and destruction; his pets knew all the laws he knew.

Similarly, he too could learn the secret techniques his pets had grasped.

Apart from Solar Bulwark and the Sorcerer’s Constitution that were based on his body, Su Ping had taught them everything he could.

Most people—unless their pets had Ascendant State bloodlines—would not bother teaching laws to their pets. After all, the majority of pets could only accompany them for a short period of time. They would get new pets once they rose to new levels.

But Su Ping wasn’t intending to replace any of his pets; that is why he never hesitated to train them.

Besides, normal people were unable to teach their pets, even if they wanted to. Su Ping had imparted his skills to them with the Energy Transmission Technique that the system had given him. Others had to conform themselves with lesser methods.

Roar!

The Dark Dragon Hound finally relaxed after the thunderclouds dispersed. After waiting for a few minutes, it canceled all defense skills and frolicked in the sky.

The hound felt much stronger after having risen to the Star State. The dragon’s inheritance in particular; the power previously suppressed by Su Ping had burst out, creating a new world inside its body which allowed it to accommodate even more astral power.

Su Ping ignored the relishing Dark Dragon Hound and continued feeding the Little Skeleton and the Inferno Dragon.

Soon after, the Inferno Dragon reached its limits too and began its Heavenly Tribulation.

The dragon was obviously different when compared to the Dark Dragon Hound. It didn’t do a thing when the first lightning struck.

The pet didn’t react either when the next lightning came crashing down.

It wasn’t until the thirtieth lightning strike that the Inferno Dragon began to take action. It simply sneezed and snuffed out the lightning strike.

The dragon soon passed the nine tribulation levels too.

Bernie and Elder Yan fell silent again; they didn’t expect Su Ping’s second pet to be as talented too. No wonder Su Ping took them to the arena when they were only in the Fate State.

“That dragon doesn’t have a great bloodline, and yet it’s incredibly gifted. The breath it just released contained laws of destruction…” Bernie was stunned.

Being a battle pet expert, he could easily tell that the Inferno Dragon had a poor build. Its bloodline had mutated, but not to a great extent. However, it released a horrifying amount of power of laws a moment earlier. He almost thought his eyes were deceiving him.

Elder Yan remained silent.

He noticed that the laws both of the pets had released were all Su Ping’s. He could not help but think of a possibility.

Just as they pondered, Su Ping didn’t waste any time and gave the rest of the materials to the Little Skeleton.

Right before all the materials were consumed, the Little Skeleton also reached its limits. Su Ping immediately allowed it to go through the Heavenly Tribulation.

The Little Skeleton stopped suppressing itself and flew to the high sky, attracting a huge number of thunderclouds.

The three consecutive Heavenly Tribulations caught a lot of attention; many people were watching from a distance.

The pet skeleton’s resistance was even simpler. It didn’t budge, unless the lightning strikes became threatening. If that were the case, it would cut them apart.

Soon after, the Little Skeleton also passed nine Heavenly Tribulation levels.

Even though it was the same number of levels, it took five more lightning strikes after the standard 81.

“It seems that he’s really good at training pets…” Bernie heaved a sigh full of conflicting feelings. He didn’t think that the young man had personally raised his pets to that degree. Furthermore, it would be a lifetime achievement that any trainer would be proud of.

Bernie found it hard to understand why a genius such as Su Ping could also be such an expert trainer.

Elder Yan was as silent as a tomb.

He was one of Shen Huang’s pets and knew trainers fully well; he understood the implications of having trained those three formidable pets.

“I would ask him to learn the trade under me if he weren’t already Lord Supreme’s disciple.” Bernie smiled at Elder Yan bitterly.

Elder Yan only gave him a glance, still silent. Learn after you? Do you really think you can teach him?

He could almost swear that Su Ping already had a training teacher.

His master had mentioned that Su Ping’s fate seemed to have been shadowed by someone. It was an entity no weaker than a Celestial.