Astral Pet Store

“She’s right.”

Tang Ruyan’s words reminded Zhong Lingtong. She had learned from the conversation between Su Ping and the government agents that he was carrying heavy responsibilities on his shoulders, the Heavenly King being the most frightening of all. Su Ping not only had to stop it; he was also sending his battle pets away. Things weren’t looking good for him.

The Zhong family elder didn’t comment on the subject.

Su Ping didn’t reply.

He had no other choice but to send the Swamp War Crocodile and the Dark Dragon Hound and lend a hand. The east and north sides were in a state of emergency; he couldn’t sit around and do nothing. Otherwise, the Longjiang Base City would be doomed even before the Heavenly King arrived!

Joanna came out from the pet room and said to Su Ping, “I can be of some help if you can lure that beast king over.”

Su Ping looked at her. He also had the same plan, but he wasn’t sure if the Heavenly King would fall for that trap.

Tang Ruyan questioned Joanna at once, “Aren’t you a legendary battle pet warrior? Why aren’t you at the battlefront?”

Joanna remained silent.

Both Zhong Lingtong and the Zhong family elder were startled by Tang Ruyan’s questioning. This girl named Joanna was a legendary battle pet warrior?!

“System, can you protect Longjiang?” Su Ping asked inwardly. In this critical time, he could only count on the omnipotent system.

The system answered in a low voice, “I can only protect the store.”

“Is there no other way?” The system replied with silence.

There was nothing the system could do. Su Ping’s mind was weighed down. He saw that the Little Skeleton was still inside the cocoon which had shrunk down by a large margin; it was thin enough for Su Ping to faintly see the Little Skeleton inside. He supposed that it would soon wake up.

But he wasn’t sure.

If the wild beasts would have attacked one day later, he could have entered the cultivation site and stayed there for more than ten days. By then, the Little Skeleton would have definitely woken up!

However, for the moment, he could not go to the cultivation site. He was afraid that the Otherworld Heavenly King would show up as soon as he left, flattening the base city to the ground by the time he came out.

Su Ping felt awfully disappointed. He was still too weak. Things would have been completely different if he were at the legendary rank.

While everyone was thinking, they felt a tremble coming from outside.

They could tell that the ground was shaking, and not just in the store!

“What is going on?” The Zhong family elder stood up in alarm.

Su Ping was turning pale.

The agents who were monitoring the devices could not believe what they saw. One of them shouted in fear, “Mr. Su, the south was breached!”

“Breached?” Su Ping was alarmed.

“That is... the Otherworld Heavenly King!” The leader of the agents looked ghastly. “It’s the Otherworld Heavenly King! It’s coming!!”

No more sound.

It was as if time in the store had stopped.

Everyone could sense a chilly sensation running down their spines.

The Otherworld Heavenly King had arrived!

They had prayed for this scenario to happen, but it did arrive!!

Its intimidating name made it impossible for anyone to catch a breath.

Su Ping was panting. The Heavenly King was entering from the south! The Mu family and the Liu family were there, but they had no beast kings. The Heavenly King had chosen the weakest point of entry!

Whoosh!

Su Ping stood up. He was ready to go. “Where are you going?” Tang Ruyan stopped him. “You don’t mean to go there, do you?”

Su Ping gazed at her. He shook off her restraining hand. “I’m the only one who can do this. I must go!”

Tang Ruyan stared at him. Tears coursed down her cheeks.

“Sir...” Zhong Lingtong also wanted to convince him not to go.

“Wait for me!”

Su Ping took one last look at Tang Ruyan before he turned around. “I will be back!”

With that said, he stepped out of the store and flew away.

People hurried to the door, only to see that he was already far in the distance.

The fact that the south wall had been breached was reported to Xie Jinshui at once.

Xie Jinshui felt he could barely stand when he learned that the Otherworld Heavenly King had appeared, breaching the southern wall. His head was getting dizzy.

The Otherworld Heavenly King is here!

Xie Jinshui was deathly pale. He stared at the battlefield. Countless battle pet warriors were fighting the wild beasts; they were gaining the upper hand on that side.

But the cost was blood! However, if the south was breached, the small success that they could attain there would be meaningless!

Xie Jinshui dialed Su Ping’s number, his hand trembling

“Mr. Su...”

Xie Jinshui found the courage to speak. He had to ask Su Ping. There was no other choice.

n

“I’m on my way to the south. How is the east doing?” He heard Su Ping’s voice coming from the other side of the phone. Tears burst out from Xie Jinshui’s eyes. He took a deep breath before he answered. “It is stable here. I will keep it that way even at the cost of my life!”

“Good! I will take care of the south!” Su Ping promised.

He hung up the phone. While he had made that promise, he wasn’t sure that he could deliver, at all. He had said that because he feared that Xie Jinshui would want to mobilize someone from the east to help out in the south. However, that would result in the east being breached as well; no one would be able to save them at that point.

The Otherworld Heavenly King was... at the south!

Could he win?

Could he stall it?

Su Ping was not sure. He had never questioned himself that much, but there was no one else he could turn to. As a matter of fact, he was the protector of all.

Like Xie Jinshui had said... He would also stall the Heavenly King, even at the cost of his life!

It wasn’t a question about whether he could do it. He had to do it!!

...

The south side.

The outer wall was towering, but there was a huge hole at the center!

The hole was over a hundred meters wide. Many cracks had extended on the wall. Many wild beasts had climbed into the base city.

Liu Tianzong and Mu Beihai felt utter fear as they stood on top of the outer wall. There was a figure they had never seen, outside, standing among the wild beasts.

It was a scarlet beast, akin to a fire lotus with countless tentacles in full bloom on the battlefield at that moment. Each tentacle was nearly two hundred meters in diameter. Even the beast kings would look petite, like kitty cats, next to that thing.

“The Otherworld Heavenly King...”

“Why would it come here?!”

The two family heads felt hopeless. Like they had never felt before.

Roar!!

Next to the Heavenly King, three beast kings stepped forward and bellowed. Just like three captains, they led the wild beasts to charge at the outer wall.

The warriors standing on the outer wall were desperate.

They had lost the will to even try. They just stood on the outer wall; they had forgotten to even move.

“Ask for help! Send reinforcements!”

The general that Xie Jinshui had told to stay there to help the two families was shouting into his phone. That was the only way that he could be less scared.

But he wasn’t getting any reply. “Help...”

“We cannot do this!!”

The warriors of the two families, the government, and the volunteers from other base cities were suffering mental breakdowns. They couldn’t do anything, other than shout time and again.

Roar!!

A beast king that looked like a tiger was the first to jump onto the outer wall. It breathed out a fire that melted many battle pet warriors’ astral shields, as well as the people themselves. They died and vanished without leaving a trace!

The others were scared out of their wits. They were already afraid by the prospect of having to fight ninth-rank beasts, let alone beast kings! They were in a mess.

“Run!”

“Run!!”

“We cannot do it!” Everyone threw their armors and fled in disarray.

Liu Tianzong and Mu Beihai, in a fit of panic, began to order their family members to withdraw!

As they faced that horrifying existence, the Otherworld Heavenly King, staying would mean only one thing, death!

They had to run!

Everyone was running. No one was fighting!

But all of a sudden, they heard a person traversing the sky!

That sound was becoming louder and louder, and that person was getting bigger and bigger. Eventually, the noise was so loud that it was deafening!

Many people looked at the sky in fear; they thought it was a flying beast attacking them!

But they saw that it was a human!

Reinforcements!

Mu Beihai and Liu Tianzong, who were also running away, gazed into the sky. The person who was arriving stunned them both.

It’s him!

He’s here!

“Go to hell!!!”

The roar resounded through the clear sky. Su Ping produced a deafening sonic boom as he flew across the sky. His fist burst out with brilliant light, which was the divine energy he had accumulated in his body!

Fist of Exorcist!!

Boom!!

Along with the explosive sound, Su Ping landed and threw a punch at the tiger-like beast king that was climbing the outer wall!

That beast king reacted quickly. Feeling the threat, it breathed out a fire that was mixed with bolts of lightning!

Bang!!!

The sky and the ground were trembling!

That loud noise robbed many people of their hearing; they were only able to see a glaring beam of light. The fire that the beast king had breathed out was dispersed!

Su Ping was still pressing forward. His punch reached the beast king!

Boom!!

The entire outer wall shook. Amid a miserable cry, people saw that the beast king was rolling down the outer wall!

That massive beast king fell to the ground, not being able to move at all for a moment.

The battle pet warriors were stunned.

One punch to defeat the beast king?

Liu Tianzong and Mu Beihai were just as dumbfounded as anyone else.

They were aware that Su Ping was powerful but not to that extent!

That was a beast king!!

Su Ping’s figure was revealed as the dust settled. He stood with his back to the others. As young as he was, he was a sturdy wall able to protect everyone.

The escaping people stopped.

Do we... still have hope?

Mu Beihai and Liu Tianzong looked at each other. They could see the same trace of hesitation in each other’s eyes. Su Ping wasn’t merely facing beast kings, but also a Heavenly King! What the Otherworld Heavenly King could do was beyond imagination. With one punch, the Heavenly King had penetrated the outer wall! Beast kings couldn’t have done that!

Su Ping had already descended while they were wondering if they should leave or stay. He shouted to everyone, “Listen up. Protect the south. We will not retreat!!”

The fleeing battle pet warriors stopped right then.

The people present looked at that young man with doubt. The Heavenly King was there. The beast kings were here... Why would they stay?!

Mu Beihai and Liu Tianzong were also confused.

Why?

They couldn’t answer that question.

Why would Su Ping try so hard?

He could leave the Longjiang Base City. Why would he stay and risk his life with people that could not leave?

Mu Beihai clenched his fists. “All the people of the Mu family, charge forth with me!!” With that said, Mu Beihai ran to the outside, using the hole in the wall.

Liu Tianzong produced a bitter smile. “I cannot believe a kid outdid me after having lived such a long life. Never mind, let me do this, for once in my life!”

With that said, he commanded the Liu family members to return to the battleground with him.

Many people who had been escaping decided to rejoin the battle when they saw Mu Beihai and Liu Tianzong issue their orders.

Su Ping said to Mu Beihai and Liu Tianzong, “I will take care of the Heavenly King. You two guard the hole. Do not allow the wild beasts to barge in!”

Mu Beihai promised, “The Mu family swears to stay here!”

“So does the Liu family!” Liu Tianzong shouted.

Su Ping nodded. He looked to the outside where the Heavenly King was. It stood out in the crowd, being the huge beast king that it was. No wild beast dared to get close to the Heavenly King, which was an incredibly wicked being.

That was the Otherworld Heavenly King. Su Ping could tell that it was even more overwhelming than the average beast kings. As he gazed at the Heavenly King, the two beast kings standing in front of it suddenly charged toward Su Ping as if angered. One of them was of the demon family. It looked human-like but it had four wings; it was holding a long, dark sword. The beast king wore its hair down; underneath that hair was a rotten face. That pair of blood-red eyes were glued on Su Ping as the beast king carried its sword and pressed forward to attack him.