Astral Pet Store

Without wasting time playing around with words, Su Ping gave his pets the order to kill.

Sensing Su Ping’s killing intent, the Inferno Dragon took a step forward while fully exposing its aura. It had spent too much time in “stealth mode” so it was raring to go.

The dragon had reached adulthood not long before, but right then, the eagerness for blood emanating from its form was just as strong as that of an experienced dragon who had gone through countless battles.

Similarly, the Dark Dragon Hound also went into full concentration. Without Su Ping telling it to, it applied five protective barriers on the Inferno Dragon.

These, added to the Inferno Dragon’s own scales and flame coat, produced a similar level of defense found on upper ninth-rank dragon-type pets.

Zhuo Fengqun and Senior Feng faltered slightly after seeing the Inferno Dragon’s body almost shining like a rainbow.

Pet warriors usually didn’t teach their pets too many defensive skills, unless a pet worked as a defender in the team. Defender pets couldn’t even spit out five different types of barriers at the same time. They would have a difficult time getting through the dragon’s protection, that much was certain. “What’s the deal with that dog??” someone yelled in protest. “I’ve never heard of a Dark Dragon Hound going on the defense!”

The Inferno Dragon bellowed, sending its threatening will against its enemies; this could instantly knock out any creatures with weaker mentalities.

Senior Feng and Zhuo Fengqun flinched yet again as they were both shocked by the dragon’s roar. They had previously believed that this dragon had not grown enough to scare true battle pet warriors yet.

Tang Ruyan had always been a brave child in the family who had received much specialized training during which she would deal with dragon-type opponents or even Beast Kings up close. And yet, she also felt dangerously affected by the Inferno Dragon’s intimidation.

Some of their guards were spacing out with trembling legs as they could no longer think clearly.

“The dragon tower… That felt almost exactly like the will inside the dragon tower,” a man uttered.

Of course it did. Thanks to Su Ping, the Inferno Dragon had spent most of its childhood right inside the dragon tower while constantly being frightened by the ancient dragon king’s soul. It could not fully copy the dragon king’s aura, but it was close.

The Inferno Dragon belched out a fire beam while its enemies were left wide open for an attack.

Senior Feng immediately unleashed a spirit shock around him.

“Wake up and move!”

The spirit shock successfully snapped people out of their stunned state.

Zhuo Fengqun quickly stepped in front of Tang Ruyan to protect her. But as soon as he moved, he saw something black flashing past his eyes.

“What is—”

His astral perception was constantly monitoring the area, which meant that nothing making an approach would escape his detection. However…

“This thing can teleport!”

Zhuo Fengqun felt cold sweat all over his skin when he saw a small skeleton close to his face. Out of instinct, he coated his body under a sturdy astral power barrier, while at the same time he unsheathed his sword. But Little Skeleton was faster. Enchanted with dark energy, its bone blade easily tore through Zhuo Fengqun’s personal weapon like a knife through butter.

Zhuo Fengqun watched with widened eyes as the black blade loomed closer.

His astral barrier had zero effect. The bone blade sank into his skull and split his head into two halves without slowing down in the least.

Everyone around him stared agape as a giant splash of blood announced the death of one of their strongest members.

A titled battle pet warrior, killed in a second.

Zhuo Fengqun was only a lower ninth-rank warrior, but he was still at the ninth rank. People thought he should at least put up some resistance.

Tang Ruyan saw the split head falling at her feet and her legs failed her, sitting down due to fear. Though she still managed to force herself to stay calm.

Without a second thought, she immediately brought up her pet space and summoned all the pets she had brought with her, which included two upper eighth-rank pets and a lower ninth-rank one. These were all rare pets given by her family, with the ninth-rank pet being her main attacker.

Fallen Angel. Demon-type.

The creature sure looked like an angel if one didn’t mind the dark-violet mist drifting around its black form, and those black wings.

The Fallen Angel flapped its four pairs of wings and slowly descended in front of Tang Ruyan, while carefully gazing at the Inferno Dragon with its pitch black eyes. It held two weapons in its hands—an antique-looking sword and a chain made from dark, heavy metal, both of which had been found in a space fracture.

Each of these treasures was as valuable as a ninth-rank dragon-type Astral Pet. The Fallen Angel had cost Tang Ruyan greatly to gear up and care for. Naturally, it was her best partner. By using the available treasures, this Astral Pet could easily fend off intermediate ninth-rank enemies. Or it could simply run away, as long as it wasn’t going up against a Beast King.

Owning such a pet was the reason why Tang Ruyan remained confident and proud among her peers. The Fallen Angel was strong enough to assassinate titled battle pet warriors if necessary. It was all thanks to her superior spirit level that allowed her to control a pet two ranks higher than herself. Everyone in her family had recognized her as a true genius because of it.

Next to her, Senior Feng had also recovered from his shock and quickly summoned three giant pets, including a ninth-rank, sub-dragon-type Wyrm Worm that looked like a monster earthworm over a hundred meters in length.

The worm sank into the ground, moved under Tang Ruyan’s position and swallowed her.

Seeing Tang Ruyan protected, Senior Feng ordered his two remaining pets-an upper ninth-rank Tempest Dryad and an apex ninth-rank Hell Marauder—to engage the Inferno Dragon.

As soon as the Tempest Dryad reached the ground, it created countless vines and whips to ensnare the Inferno Dragon.

The Hell Marauder was a humanoid, demon-type pet adept at raw strength attacks. While covered under intense hellfire, it charged at the Inferno Dragon holding a sharp lance.

The Dark Dragon Hound raised several barriers around itself and lunged against the incoming plants. The dark flames around its body and several fireballs it summoned made quick work of the greens.

Plants were naturally vulnerable to fire, not to mention that the hound had learned how to unleash black hellfire, which was several times deadlier than common fire. The Tempest Dryad’s traps were of no use.

Senior Feng grimaced as he had just recognized the fireballs; it was an extremely rare fire-type skill only available to highly-trained fire-type pets. But as far as he could see, that hound was of the demon-type.

“His pets are way too strange. Kill their owner first!” Senior Feng quickly thought of the better option and gave the order to his Devil Shadow.

The Devil Shadow acknowledged the command and disappeared into its own shadow to prepare the assassination. By doing this, it could approach its target undetected and destroy the enemy leader in an instant, which was a very common tactic Senior Feng often used in battles.

However, as its shadow reached the Purple Python, a smaller shadow suddenly appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the ground.

The point of impact exploded, after which the Devil Shadow was forced to escape from its hiding place. There was a large, bleeding gash behind his back.

Little Skeleton’s jaw creaked open as if it were grinning. The air around its body became blurry as an indistinct but large silhouette appeared behind its back.

Roar!

It was the Deadly Roar skill, which had been amplified by Little Skeleton’s double.

Those present sensed an even worse will invading their minds, one that appeared to be more forceful than the Inferno Dragon’s. Even Su Ping’s Purple Python flinched slightly upon hearing Little Skeleton’s sonic attack. It had spent quite some time with Little Skeleton during its training, and yet, it could never get used to it.

The Devil Shadow almost felt its very soul shivering in fear upon seeing Little Skeleton’s projection. It immediately turned tail and ran.

Before the Devil Shadow could hide into its own shadow again, Little Skeleton teleported next to it and slashed again. This time, the giant shadow behind Little Skeleton also moved in sync and unleashed a powerful blade aura that seemed to be cutting through time and space.

The Devil Shadow was frozen in place upon seeing the attack coming.

Crash!

Its entire shoulder was sent flying by the blade attack. The great pain snapped it out of its daze, as it scrambled back to Senior Feng’s side, shrieking in fear.

Senior Feng wasn’t showing any particular reaction after seeing his pet escaping in defeat, because he was too shocked to do so. Seeing Su Ping’s skeleton had reminded him of the day when he encountered a Beast King for the first time.

No. This was worse than that.

“What on earth is that thing…?”

Little Skeleton didn’t give Senior Feng any time to ask questions. In the next second, it teleported next to him and raised its bone blade.

The tingling sensation on his forehead reminded Senior Feng to quickly do something. Desperate, he asked his Devil Shadow to carry him and evade the attack.

Senior Feng could no longer persuade himself into looking at Little Skeleton again, for he feared that the strange shadow would keep making him lose spirit.

That “teleport attack” reminded him of a deadly assassination skill wielded by certain Beast Kings. Although, he knew that the strange skeleton was not a Beast King, or he’d be dead already.

Across the distance, Senior Feng gazed at the place where Su Ping was staying while his mind swelled with fear, anger and hatred.

“I don’t know where you came from… But I can’t let you live. It’s either you or me today!”

Using his astral power, he unleashed a sharp energy spike and hurled it at Su Ping.

Su Ping was hiding behind the python’s scales. He had moved to a safer spot as soon as the battle started.

The spike crashed into a scale and successfully punched a small hole in it. But it had lost most of its momentum in the process. Upon reaching Su Ping, it was stopped by the barriers cast by the Dark Dragon Hound.

Senior Feng grimaced as he sensed the feedback of his attack. He just realized that he had underestimated the hardness of the python’s scales. Without them, Su Ping would have been badly wounded.

After a quick decision, Senior Feng prepared a secret art only known by the direct descendants of the Tang Family.

“Soul Siphon!”

From his eyes, a puff of black smoke emerged and headed Su Ping’s way.

“You’re going down today!” Senior Feng yelled madly as he controlled the spiritual assault remotely. “You can’t be an upper ninth-rank battle pet warrior, or the whole world would have already heard about it. And if you’re below that level, I can kill your spirit!”

The smoke passed through the Purple Python’s scales and the hound’s barriers, before it sank into Su Ping’s head.

But as soon as it went inside, it crashed into another golden barrier. By spending a large portion of its energy, the smoke charged through the barrier, only to get trapped inside a strange lantern, which rapidly drained it.

After that, the smoke successfully slipped out of the lantern and saw the core of Su Ping’s spirit just ahead.

However, before it could go for Su Ping’s spirit, the bright image of a golden bird suddenly came up and howled.

The deafening bird call combined with the blinding light dissipated what remained of the smoke.

“*Cough* ARRRRRGH—”.

Outside, Senior Feng began bleeding through his eyes and nostrils. He madly clawed at his face uncontrollably.

Meanwhile, Little Skeleton was already upon him again. While his pet—the Devil Shadow —was too scared to act.

Poof!

A quick and simple cut removed Senior Feng’s head from his body.

Losing their pet contract, the Devil Shadow’s survival instinct got the better of it as it escaped into the distance.

The Tempest Dryad saw its master’s corpse. It let out a saddening cry, then it created a flowerbed that engulfed Senior Feng’s body before it sank into the ground and disappeared.

The Dark Dragon Hound joined the Inferno Dragon to fight against the Hell Marauder together, while Little Skeleton turned to face the remaining guards of the Tang Family.